Moa Brewing is a New Zealand
brewery
A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of be ...
owned by Mallbeca Limited. It was founded in 2003 in
Blenheim by Josh Scott and had an
initial public offering
An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...
in 2012. The company became notorious for its advertising campaigns which pitched the beer as “the domain of aspiring, affluent men”.
It did not make a profit in any year since 2012, and was subsequently sold to Mallbeca in 2021. An industry commenter estimated that the sale price would barely cover the Moa Brewery's physical assets, meaning that the new owners valued the Moa brand at "essentially nothing".
History
Creation
Moa Brewing was founded in Blenheim in 2003 by Josh Scott, the son of winemaker Allan Scott.
Initially, the company was owned 50-50 by Josh and Allan.
Investment and controversy
In August or September 2010, two business incubators bought into the company and acquired 70 percent of it between them.
This included investment firm The Business Bakery, which had been started by Geoff Ross.
Moa faced criticism shortly after for a promotion that suggested that
low-carb beer was only for "
queer
''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against those with same-sex desires or relationships in the late 19th century. Beginning in the lat ...
s". This included printing shirts with the slogan "Low Carb Beers" but with a pink Q over the B. Josh Scott, then the director, said that he had no idea the campaign was planned and only learned about it when he saw posts about it on the internet.
Moa acknowledged the criticism, but did not take down the Facebook ads, and a year later posted pictures of staff wearing the shirts.
At some point, founder Josh Scott sold the company to Geoff Ross, who floated Moa on the stock exchange and turned it into a publicly listed company.
Moa had an
initial public offering
An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...
in 2012, which was over-subscribed; after the IPO Moa was valued at NZ$38 million.
The shareholder prospectus for the IPO led to controversy itself, as it presented a “Mad Men”-like image, with photos of company directors dressed in suits alongside models in white blouses and short skirts, tips on achieving “moments of modern manhood”, ads for 'manly' companies such as Beretta rifles and Aston Martins, and a naked woman on a white horse advertising candles sold by Moa's then-CEO Geoff Ross.
The hashtag "#momentsofmanhood" was mocked on social media. Another campaign in 2016 also faced criticism over a proposed advertising campaign, when a shareholder criticised the portrayal of women in a planned video ad.
In a 2018 article for ''Stuff'', journalist Michael Donaldson said, "Moa has always made great beer, there's no question of that... But in the early years, as a public company, Moa resembled the old ''
Peanuts
''Peanuts'' is a print syndication, syndicated daily strip, daily and Sunday strip, Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz. The strip's original run extended from 1950 to 2000, continuing in reruns afterward. ' ...
'' character
Pig-Pen
Pig-Pen is a fictional character in the comic strip ''Peanuts'' by Charles M. Schulz. While amiable, he is a young boy who is, except on rare occasions, extremely dirty and attracts a permanent cloud of dust.
History
"Pig-Pen" is a nickname. In ...
, obliviously shrouded in a dust-storm of controversy, thanks to its grossly sexist marketing. That feels like ancient history now, with the brewery, although still blokey, adopting a lower-key approach that's more hunting-fishing-tramping."
Kathleen Kuehn, a university media studies lecturer with a focus on the beer industry, found that Moa's general advertising campaigns went very poorly, especially with women. In particular, women in the beer industry that Kuehn interviewed would commonly raise Moa negatively and without prompting.
Initial plans to build their own brewery with the funds from their initial public offering were paused after the proposed brewery suffered from protracted negotiations over
resource consent
A resource consent is the authorisation given to certain activities or uses of natural and physical resources required under the New Zealand Resource Management Act (the "RMA"). Some activities may either be specifically authorised by the RMA or ...
ing issues. Moa subsequently boosted production through a contract with another brewery.
Moa's management and directors came under some criticism from Milford Asset Management, a NZ Fund manager, as the share price fell from its listing price of $1.25 to 55c in July 2014. In 2020 an auditor raised doubts that the brewery was a 'going concern'. As part of its 2020 annual report, Moa noted that it had shifted from glass bottles to cans for much of its range, which helped to improve market share, though it still reported an annual loss of $1.4 million.
Sale of 2021
In 2021, Moa Brewing was sold for $1.9 million to Mallbeca Limited, a firm associated with its current chief executive, Stephen Smith. Prior to the sale, Moa Brewing was owned by Moa Group. Moa Group had purchased a hospitality company, Savor, in 2019, and when selling its brewing arm it announced that it would be continuing solely with the hospitality business and changed its name to Savor Limited.
In the decade prior to this sale, Moa had reported substantial losses. A beer industry commenter estimated that the sale price of $1.9 million would have barely covered the physical assets – the land where the brewery is sited, the plant, the taproom, and stock on hand – and so concluded that the Moa brand was valued at essentially nothing by the new owners.
Smith said in 2021 that Moa's history of advertising "made me sick" and said, "What they were thinking back then, only they can comment on. I think it was a pretty lazy way to attempt to disrupt and build the brand, personally.”
Present day
Moa Brewing is owned by Mallbeca Limited, a firm associated with Moa's current chief executive, Stephen Smith. It is privately owned and is no longer listed on any
share market. Moa Brewing remains based out of Blenheim.
Mallbeca said in March 2021 that it is rebuilding the brand and business, that it wishes to move on quickly from the past, and that it will be taking the business back to its beginnings in
Marlborough
Marlborough may refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Marlborough, Wiltshire, England
** Marlborough College, public school
* Marlborough School, Woodstock in Oxfordshire, England
* The Marlborough Science Academy in Hertfordshire, England
Austral ...
. Mallbeca said that Moa will develop "new and relevant beers to keep the innovation alive within the business", and that it is planning to re-enter the Australian market. Also in March 2021, Moa announced a partnership with
Foodstuffs
Food is any substance consumed by an organism for nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or fungal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is ingest ...
under which Moa beer and cider will exclusively be sold through Foodstuffs' wholesale, grocery and liquor stores.
Moa's Blenheim operations has its own cellar door. According to the cellar door manager in 2019, this had become one of the more profitable parts of the business.
Notable staff
* Founder Josh Scott completed a Diploma in Viticulture and Wine Production from the
Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology
Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology (NMIT) is a public tertiary education institution at the top of the South Island in New Zealand. NMIT's main campus is in Nelson with other campuses in Blenheim, Marlborough, Woodbourne and Richmond. I ...
and in 2015 he became New Zealand's only Certified
Cicerone
Cicerone ( ) is an old term for a guide who conducts visitors and sightseers to museums, galleries, etc., and explains matters of archaeological, antiquarian, historic or artistic interest. The word is presumably taken from Marcus Tullius Cicero, ...
.
* In 2007, Moa Brewing hired David Nicholls, a former head brewer for
Heineken
Heineken Lager Beer ( nl, Heineken Pilsener), or simply Heineken () is a pale lager beer with 5% alcohol by volume produced by the Dutch brewing company Heineken N.V. Heineken beer is sold in a green bottle with a red star.
History
On 15 Febr ...
,
which included managing Heineken plants in
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...
and in
Saint Lucia
Saint Lucia ( acf, Sent Lisi, french: Sainte-Lucie) is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. The island was previously called Iouanalao and later Hewanorra, names given by the native Arawaks and Caribs, two Amerindian ...
.
Nicholls left Moa in November 2020 to start his own brewery.
* Current managing director and owner Stephen Smith was with
Lion
The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphi ...
for over 15 years in senior executive roles in both New Zealand and Australia.
Awards
Moa Brewing's Southern Alps White IPA won Champion New Zealand Beer at the 2018 New Zealand Beer Awards, an annual award ceremony by the
Brewers Guild of New Zealand.
External links
References
2003 establishments in New Zealand
Breweries of New Zealand
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