ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- North American Breweries, the maker of Seagram's Spike and Labatt and Genesee beers, has changed its name to FIFCO USA.
The new name better aligns the business with its parent company, FIFCO, a global beverage company based in Costa Rica, while leveraging FIFCO’s triple bottom-line strategy that prioritizes people, planet and profit, the company said. FIFCO is recognized by the World Economic Forum as one of the most sustainable companies in the world, it said.
“We’re bringing our way of doing business to our beer company in the United States,” said Adrian Lachowski, CEO of FIFCO USA. “The United States provides a great opportunity to expand our business while positively impacting society and the environment by using our triple bottom-line approach. We have already connected our business functions to share best practices across our core markets. We now plan to reduce the footprints of our brands and breweries and create positive value in the communities where we operate.”
The name change follows several other restructuring efforts at the company, including the naming of new chief executive (Lachowski) and chief sales officer (Josh Halpern), a restructuring of the sales team and the addition of 30 new sales positions. The company also recently introduced Seagram’s Spiked, the most successful new product in company’s history, and completed a $50 million investment to transform its Genesee Brewery into a world-class facility, the company said. FIFCO also aligned all professional and functional areas of the company, created a global supply-chain department and added a new supply-chain director and manufacturing director to oversee global operations.
“We’ve done the work to position ourselves for future expansion in the United States,” said Lachowski. “This is the next step to embrace the purpose and values of FIFCO and fully connect our brands to consumers in our core markets. By becoming FIFCO USA, we will leverage FIFCO’s resources, 6,500 employees and best practices throughout the Latin American region and North America to reach our full potential.”
Based in Rochester, N.Y., FIFCO USA is among the 10 largest brewers in the United States. Its portfolio includes Labatt USA in Buffalo, N.Y.; the Genesee Brewing Co. in Rochester. N.Y.; the Magic Hat Brewing Co. in Burlington, Vt.; Portland Brewing Co. in Portland, Ore.; and Pyramid Brewing in Seattle, Wash. FIFCO USA also owns flavored-malt-beverage brands Seagram’s Escapes and Seagram’s Spiked.
FIFCO acquired North American Breweries in 2012.
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