WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. -- Heineken USA will greatly expand its beer offers in the United States with the creation of a new venture that will put new focus on its emerging global brands.
The company will launch Five Points Trading Co. on Jan. 1, 2017. The new venture is aimed at incubating a range of popular global beers in the United States. Under this new umbrella, Five Points Trading Co. will assume U.S. importer of record responsibility for Red Stripe, Tiger, Birra Moretti, Affligem, Murphy’s Stout, Prestige, Sagres and Mort Subite.
With the development of Five Points Trading Co., Heineken USA is now able to bring these emerging premium brands back in-house, while giving them new attention by using the resources and expertise of the company’s established distribution network.
Named in reference to the five points of Heineken’s iconic red star and America’s first melting pot neighborhood in lower Manhattan, according to the company, Five Points Trading Co. "will embody the same energy, cultural diversity and entrepreneurial spirit of the historic neighborhood."
The brands, which will be represented by Five Points, are established in the U.S market and currently imported and sold by other importing companies whose contracts are set to expire at the end of 2016.
Five Points Trading Co. will be led by general manager Charles (Chas) Littlefield who, along with his team, will manage the new brands separately from Heineken USA’s current portfolio: Heineken, Dos Equis, Tecate and Strongbow.
“Like its neighborhood namesake, Five Points Trading Co. will provide a nexus for new thoughts, perspectives and cultural exploration, while tapping into the legacy and import expertise of Heineken USA,” Littlefield said. “This portfolio of exceptional beers provides new opportunities to connect with millennial beer drinkers as they become more global and more adventurous with their taste. We are excited for the transition and are already hard at work developing our 2017 go-to-market strategy.
"Keeping the Five Point and Heineken USA portfolios separate will allow our current marketing and sales organization to maintain focus on our four core brands ... while enabling Five Points to direct its energy and resources to developing the potential of these new-to-the-company acquisitions.”
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