SpotlightJune2019

ONE OF CALGARY’S BEST-KNOWN CRAFT BREWERIES GETS OFFER FROM SLEEMAN

WALMART IS RAISING THE AGE TO BUY SMOKES

TIM HORTONS JUMPING ON BEYOND MEAT BANDWAGON WITH BREAKFAST SANDWICHES

RESTAURANT BRANDS INTERNATIONAL SETS BHAG FOR NEW LOCATIONS

Wild Rose Brewery, Alberta’s largest craft breweries could become part of the Sleeman empire, if Wild Rose shareholders vote in favour of an offer by the Guelph-based beer-maker to boost its presence in Western Canada. Wild Rose Brewery has been in operation since 1996 and is one of Calgary’s best-known craft breweries and is now the target of a takeover bid by Sleeman Breweries, the third-largest brewer in Canada and a subsidiary of the Japanese multinational beer giant Sapporo Breweries Ltd since 2006 when itself was bought by Sapporo Breweries Ltd for $400 million to boost it’s presence in Western Canada. Wild Rose is a privately held company and current- ly has 82 employees and, according to its website, produced 17,339 hectolitres of beer last year. Sapporo Breweries Ltd. Canadian brands include Sleeman, Okanagan Spring and Unibroue, while its international portfolio includes labels such as Sapporo, Old Milwaukee and Pabst Blue Ribbon.

Walmart Inc. will stop selling cigarettes, including electronic ones, to buyers under the age of 21 as it follows other retailers’ push to crack down on sales to minors. The world’s biggest retailer has said that the change will go into effect on July 1 at all of its Walmart and Sam’s Club locations in the U.S. The company has also said that in the process it will be halting the sale of fruit- and dessert-flavored vaping product cate- gories that have been particularly popular with teenagers. The move comes amid a surge in youth vaping that has alarmed public health offi- cials. Some pharmacy chains that still sell tobacco products have already announced plans to lift the age to 21.

Toronto-based Restaurant Brands International plans to increase its store count by 55% surpassing 40,000 loca- tions globally, in a Big Hairy Audacious Goal to become one of the world’s largest restaurant companies in the next 10 years. The parent company of Burger King which has 17,823 loca- tions, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen that has 3,120 locations and Tim Hortons with 4,866 locations totalling 25,809 is well below the nearly 38,000 McDonald’s locations and over 50,000 Yum Brands locations with the recent global expansion of Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut brands. Restaurant Brands International has not made it clear if the 14,191 additional stores will be spread equally across all three of its brands if the growth would be to focus on one or two of the brands.

TimHortons is following the success that A&W has in Canada, when it launched a Beyond Meat burger last Summer. The coffee chain giant will test a new line of breakfast sandwiches and wraps that will use a sausage substitute produced by Beyond Meat Inc., the popular Cali- fornia producer of meatless hamburger and sausage patties, at 60 restaurants in and around Toronto area. Tim Hortons said if it proves there is a demand for the Beyond Meat products by its customers that they will launch the two menu items — a Beyond Meat breakfast sandwich and Beyond Meat Farmers Wrap — across the country by the end of the summer.

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JUNE 2019 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE

SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • JUNE 2019

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