BrewDog chief executive James Taylor has stood down, three months after the business was sold to US fmcg conglomerate Tilray Brands.
Taylor was appointed BrewDog CEO in March last year, having originally joined the Scottish brewer as its chief financial officer in November 2023. He took on the role after James Arrow quit less than a year after the departure of BrewDog founder James Watt.
Prior to joining BrewDog, Taylor held senior leadership roles at childcare company Mayborn.
A BrewDog spokesperson told The Grocer: “James successfully led BrewDog through its ownership transition. We thank him for his contributions and wish him every success in the future.”
It is understood that BrewDog will not seek a direct replacement for Taylor, with the brewer now sitting under the Tilray international business, led by Rajnish Ohri.
BrewDog was sold in a pre-pack administration deal to Tilray in March for an initial consideration of £33m.
It came after weeks of speculation, following the appointment of restructuring firm AlixPartners in February.
Since buying BrewDog in March, Tilray had pumped around £50m into the business, CEO Irwin Simon told The Times earlier this week.
The funds are understood to have been spent on re-establishing supply chains and the workforce, with the bar estate also being deep-cleaned and given a maintenance overhaul.
“It’s four months into it and I am really happy we acquired this,” Simon said. “It’s a phenomenal brand, phenomenal assets, phenomenal opportunities. We probably put another £50m back into this business from a cash flow and an investment standpoint.
“We were the ones funding payroll and inventories, ingredients and stuff like that. It’s in a good place but there’s still a lot of work to do.”
Last month, The Grocer revealed BrewDog’s retail sales had nosedived following the brand’s restruture and subsequent pre-pack sale to Tilray.
Since BrewDog appointed advisors to run an accelerated sales process in mid-February, sales of its beers in the off-trade fell by £10.5m (22.5%) year on year, on volumes down 21.7%, NIQ data to mid-May showed.
Sales over the past 52 weeks declined by £24.1m (11.8%) to £181.0m.
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