REUTERS/Rick Wilking
Coors Light is struggling.
- MillerCoors is slashing roughly 350 jobs, the beer giant announced on Tuesday.
- "We are moving quickly and decisively to get our business back on track," MillerCoors CEO Gavin Hattersley said in an email to distributors.
- MillerCoors has struggled to grow sales as millennials ditch beer. Coors Light, specifically, has dragged down business, according to the company.
MillerCoors is slashing jobs as millennials ditch beer.
On Tuesday, the brewer announced it was restructuring, eliminating roughly 350 salaried positions across the company.
"We are moving quickly and decisively to get our business back on track," MillerCoors CEO Gavin Hattersley said in an email to distributors, according to a news report on the company's website.
MillerCoors acknowledged that the move comes after several years of declining sales by volume, as the company struggles to attract drinkers - especially millennials - during a beer industry slump.
Beer consumption among drinkers from 21 to 24 has fallen roughly 3% per year over the last 15 years. Beer penetration fell one percentage point in the US market from 2016 to 2017, while both wine and spirits were unmoved, according to Nielsen data. And, global beer consumption per capita declined by 5.7% from 2012 to 2017, according to Euromonitor data.
In August, Coors' parent company, Molson Coors, reported that sales decreased for the fourth straight quarter. Coors Light's decline significantly contributed to the slump.
"Turning around Coors Light is our most critical priority as a company right now," MillerCoors CEO Gavin Hattersley said in August.
Soon after, the company announced plans to kill Two Hats - a beer aimed at millennials - just six months after its debut, in order to focus on Coors Light.
Roughly 150 of the positions MillerCoors plans to cut are currently open or were eliminated earlier this year, according to the company. MillerCoors is additionally offering employees a voluntary severance program as part of what Hattersley called the company's commitment to "restructuring with dignity and respect for all involved."