JDW replaces Coors with Carlsberg
JD Wetherspoon is planning to replace key Coors draught products with Carlsberg draught products on 17 September.
Industry sources suggest that the move — a major blow for Coors — comes as the Coors supply contract finishes this month.
Tuborg will replace Coors Light and Carlsberg will replace Carling. The move is rumoured to be based on price and would end what appeared to be a very close working relationship between Wetherspoon and Coors.
Asked about the move, Wetherspoon chief executive John Hutson told The Morning Advertiser: "It's hard to deny the story."
It was just a year ago that Wetherspoon revealed that Coors Light, a product launched through Wetherspoon, was its third-best selling lager — and the pub chain is now the largest retailer of the product in the UK.
Tim Martin, chairman of Wetherspoon, said at the time. "I think people are confused by the term light, they think it's very low in alcohol, so we made it clear it's 4.5%. People have tried it, and they like it."
Martin also reported in September 2008 that Coors Light was outselling Stella Artois and claimed the beer fills a good niche in the market between beers with 4% alcohol content and those with 5%.
Molson Coors also supported the launch with roadshows, staff training, advertising spending, a good selling price and staff incentives, the chairman said.
"We haven't just stacked it on the bar and hoped it would sell."
He noted that the beer doesn't give quite the same margins as other lagers. "We've probably sacrificed a bit of margin as our contribution to the show," he said.
