FIFCO USA is an American brewing company based in

Rochester Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area ** History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison ...

, New York. Established as North American Breweries by

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

investment firm

KPS Capital Partners KPS Capital Partners is an American investment company that manages KPS Special Situation Funds, a family of investment funds. KPS specifically invests out of two funds raised in October 2019: KPS Special Situations Fund V ($6.12 billion) and KPS ...

to manage its brewery acquisitions (

Genesee Brewing Company Genesee Brewing Company ( ) is an American brewery located along the Genesee River in Rochester, New York. From 2000 to 2009, the company was known as the High Falls Brewing Company. In 2009, High Falls was acquired by the capital investment fi ...

Pyramid A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilat ...

, and Magic Hat), the company has been owned by the Costa Rican food and beverages company Florida Ice & Farm Co. (FIFCO) since December 2012. In 2018, the company changed to its present name. In March 2020, FIFCO USA named Piotr Jurjewicz as the company's new Chief Marketing Officer.

Labatt USA

In 2009, the company purchased Labatt USA, subsidiary of the Canadian

Labatt Brewing Company Labatt Brewing Company Limited (french: La Brasserie Labatt Limitée) is a Belgian-owned brewery headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1847, Labatt is the largest brewer in Canada. In 1995, it was purchased by Belgian brewer Int ...

, including the American rights to its core Labatt products (such as Blue, Blue Light, and Labatt 50) and agreed to brew those brands on Labatt USA's behalf until 2012. This sale was mandated by the

U.S. Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...

for competitive reasons following InBev's merger with Anheuser-Busch, since Budweiser and Labatt Blue were both among the top brands in

upstate New York Upstate New York is a geographic region consisting of the area of New York State that lies north and northwest of the New York City metropolitan area. Although the precise boundary is debated, Upstate New York excludes New York City and Long Is ...

, despite the latter having less than 1% market share in the U.S. overall. The sale did not include U.S. rights to Labatt products not carrying the Labatt label, such as Kokanee or Alexander Keith's, which are now distributed in the U.S. by Anheuser-Busch. Moreover, the underlying

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...

(such as the Labatt

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from othe ...

s) remains the property of the Canadian Labatt firm. In addition, the sale did not affect Labatt's Canadian operations in any way; Anheuser-Busch InBev retains full control of the Labatt brand portfolio within Canada. On April 25, 2017, Labatt USA and

Pegula Sports and Entertainment Pegula Sports & Entertainment (PSE) is an American sports and entertainment company based in Buffalo, New York. The company was established after multi-billionaire Terry Pegula and his family combined their sports, property and entertainment ass ...

partnered on a project to develop the Pegula owned 79 Perry Street in the Cobblestone District in Buffalo into a mixed-use facility, including a small test brewery called the "Labatt House", a restaurant called "The Draft Room", and retail, commercial and residential space. The company relocated its Labatt USA headquarters from Fountain Plaza to the building's second floor in November 2018 and PSE moved its headquarters to the building's third and fourth floor in 2019.

References

External links

* {{beer-stub Manufacturing companies based in Rochester, New York Beer brewing companies based in New York (state) American beer brands American subsidiaries of foreign companies