Sapporo Holdings Ltd. is planning to set up a brewery in the U.S. by the end of 2024, as the top-selling Japanese beer in the American market seeks to expand its market share and cut costs.
"I would like to have a production base on the West Coast,” Hiroyuki Nose, Sapporo Breweries’ vice president of marketing, said in an interview. "We make and import most of it from Canada and there are logistical costs. This is a challenge for us.”
The Tokyo-based beverage maker hasn’t been able to scale up beer brewing in North America — its largest overseas market, according to Nose, who’s set to become president of alcoholic drinks business Sapporo Breweries at the end of March. Sapporo may also look at acquiring a brewery or expanding its contract manufacturing in the U.S. as part of the efforts, he said, declining to share more details such as investment or the brewing capacity being planned.