The company has also expanded beyond craft beer to include all beverages. “That’s been the wildest part of what we’ve been doing the last couple of years. We now deal in all beverage. We’ve seen a lot of the RTD’s explode - the vodka sodas, the seltzers, and the lower sugar and lower calorie beverages. Those have really taken off in our large part of our portfolio now. We deal with flavored waters. We deal with cold brew coffees, kombuchas, sparkling teas, juices. Obviously, we were built on beer and it’s still a foundational piece of our portfolio but it’s ever changing to the side of just all beverage,” said Leslie. Leslie credits the emphasis on sustainability and environmental consciousness as a driver of the change to cans. “Who would have thought that water would be in a can? It’s the preferred canister of choice really. It’s also the environmental impact – cans are infinitely recyclable. It’s being driven by the consumer, which is interesting to see.”
However, Leslie emphasizes that Vessel is more than just supplying cans. “Our big value is that there’s no one out there who offers the entirety of goods and services that we do. We have the ability to work with everyone from a very small startup phase where we’re coming in and canning your product to working with multinationals sup- plying them cans in the hundreds of millions. Our offerings allow you to go from that early embryo stage to a developed and real business that can expand into much larger territory,” said Leslie. “Our team is quite knowledgeable, and I believe it’s unparalleled because no one has been exposed to the level of business that we have from the beverage space. We have people on our team who can speak microbiology and understand canning and also understand how the liners may react with their product and speak to the science side of it.” “Our big value is that there’s no one out there who offers the entirety of goods and services that we do.”
The team at Vessel works with customers throughout the canning process, from label design and artwork to packaging needs and the mobile canning process. “We’ve had tremendous support not only from the beer community, but from the beverage community over the last six years. Our growth has been incredible. We’ll be a team of over 100 people by the time this goes to print. We’re a real company now. We need to operate like a real company. We don’t need to just continue growth for growth’s sake. It’s time that the pirates become the Navy. And we don’t mind if there’s still a little bit of pirate in there, but we’re focused on planning, executing and com- municating well. Everyone’s aligned with where we’re going and ensuring if there’s an opportuni- ty for us around the corner, we’re set up to tackle it,” said Leslie. “We’ve had tremendous support not only from the beer community, but from the beverage community over the last six years. Our growth has been incredible. We’ll be a team of over 100 people by the time this goes to print.” “We have people on our team who can speak micro- biology and understand canning and also understand how the liners may react with their product and speak to the science side of it.”
“Until the last two years, major can manufacturers were seeing a decrease in volume year over year. That was largely dictated by the big soda manufacturers seeing loss in volume due to the fact that people aren’t drinking as much soda as they were. Everyone’s aware of the health risks in terms of consumption,” said Leslie. Now everyone is clamoring to get into cans and suppliers are frequently sold out. “It’s a swing in the opposite direction. Metal manufacturers and suppliers were seeing two to 3% loss year over a year, whereas now they’ve moved up to three, four or 5% growth. That swing correlates to billions and billions of cans. After being in a position when they were years ago, shutting down plants, they’re now looking at having to open more because they just can’t keep up with supply. It’s far outweighed by demand,” said Leslie. Vessel has positioned itself in the market as a major supplier to help smaller breweries and customers avoid getting lost in the large minimums.
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JUNE 2020 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • JUNE 2020
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