Granville Island Brewing (GIB) general manager Jim Lister envisions substantial growth at the 28-year-old craft brewery that he joined in March.
It might not be the 50-fold sales growth that the 43-year-old helped Sleeman Breweries achieve in Alberta between 1998, when the company sold 200,000 litres of beer, and 2003, when those sales had touched 10 million litres.
But GIB will likely see double-digit percentage increases annually in sales, Lister told Business in Vancouver between sips of coffee in his company's Granville Island taproom.
GIB produces approximately 7.5 million litres of beer and $22.2 million in revenue annually.
Its evolution is likely to follow the path that Sleeman blazed when Sleeman acquired new brands, integrated them into a cohesive distribution network and watched sales rocket.
Sleeman owned craft brands such as Okanagan Spring and Shaftesbury when Lister arrived in 1998. It later acquired Old Milwaukee, Unibroue, Rainier and Upper Canada.
Lister doubts GIB will make any immediate acquisitions, but he is looking out for reputable B.C.-based craft brewing companies that may be up for sale and would add value to GIB and its corporate parent, Ontario's Creemore Springs Brewery Ltd.
Creemore, which is a Molson Coors Brewing Co. (NYSE:TAP) subsidiary, bought GIB in 2009 from Andrew Peller Ltd. (TSX:ADW.A) for an undisclosed price.
The move came with both the good news that GIB's new owner had deep pockets and the bad news that longtime tax breaks would be eliminated.
GIB had been paying a $1.16-per-litre tax to the BC Distribution Branch (BCLDB) as a markup fee because it brewed less than 16 million litres annually. Now that it's part of a company that brews more than 16 million litres annually, the tax rate has jumped to $1.75 per litre.
Despite being owned by Molson, GIB runs operations separately and maintains the image of being a small brewer.
Its Granville Island pub is attached to a retail store and a small brewery that produces about 200,000 litres of beer a year, including each of the company's 12 limited release products.
It's also where brewmaster Vern Lambourne tests recipes.
The facility sets GIB apart from competing brewers who have no visible brew pub while simultaneously anchoring the company to its namesake neighbourhood.
"It's vitally important for our brand," Lister said after showing a visitor through the brewery portion of the facility.
"It gives us roots. It's what keeps us rooted in the Vancouver business community, the Vancouver community."
GIB spent $500,000 on the brew pub in December. About $300,000 of that investment was invested in a new bottling machine and other equipment for the brewery.
The rest went into building a new glass wall to make brewery operations more visible and into improving a small kitchen where pizza and other food can be prepared.
The remaining 7.3 million litres of GIB's beer is made at the Molson brewery, a short walk away on Burrard Street, on a contract basis.
Lister describes the relationship with Molson as arm's-length. It's as though GIB had simply chosen a random large brewer to produce its beer, he said.
One irony about being sold to one of the world's largest brewers is that GIB's off-site production was moved closer to its Granville Island roots.
Most of the company's products were previously brewed at an Andrew Peller facility in the Okanagan.
"Now we're owned by a brewer who has tremendous technological experience and has arguably some of the world's best brewing expertise in a world-class facility," Lister said. "They're brewing it for us, and the beer's never been better."
Molson bought Creemore in 2005 and helped fund significant growth at that craft brewery, which produces slightly more beer annually than does Granville Island.
Lister said that success encouraged Molson executives to buy GIB.
Brewing is in Lister's blood. His father worked for distillers and wine distributors when Lister was growing up in Coquitlam, and since he completed a sales and marketing diploma at British Columbia Institute of Technology in 1993, he has worked almost exclusively in the liquor business.
First came a sales representative job at Moosehead Breweries Ltd.
Then came a similar post at Mark Anthony Group, where Lister sold wine, Mike's Hard Lemonade and Corona-branded beer that Mark Anthony owner Anthony von Mandl had an exclusive contract to sell in Canada on behalf of Mexico's Grupo Modelo.
Sleeman Breweries recruited Lister in 1996, when the then-public company was completing its acquisition of Okanagan Spring Brewery.
Lister worked at Sleeman for 14 years. During that time, he had four geographic moves and worked in six positions that culminated in his being named sales director for Western Canada.
He also watched the company evolve from being public to being owned by Japan's Sapporo Brewery after a $400 million takeover in 2004.
During a brief hiatus from Sleeman in 2006, Lister tried his hand at business strategy with a startup loyalty card company.
"He has strategic business sense," said Brent Otterman, who was Lister's boss for most of the time that he worked for Sleeman.
Otterman, who now works for Alberta's Hudson's Taphouse pub chain, told BIV that Lister understands how to grow beer ventures after having watched Sleeman expand so fast in Alberta.
One of the key business lessons learned was to avoid relying on a single product or brand.
Sleeman had been banking heavily on its honey brown lager. But Otterman said it achieved much success by bringing in new brands that could be funnelled through the same distribution chain.
GIB's partnership with Creemore is similar.
When Molson bought GIB, all of GIB's sales were in B.C.
Today, about 90% of GIB's sales are in B.C. and much of the remaining 10% is in Alberta. Creemore recently started distributing GIB in Ontario.
Lister and his wife have two daughters, aged five and eight. Much of his leisure time is spent with his girls at activities such as ballet and soccer, which his wife coaches.
Athletic himself, Lister once had a dream of playing professional football.
He played the sport during his several years studying business at Simon Fraser University. Reality, however, eventually kicked in.
"I realized that football wasn't going to be something that was going to work for me," said Lister, who is five foot, 10 inches. "I just didn't grow big enough." •
