GEORGIA TODAY spoke to Veli Dinçel, General Manager of EFES Georgia to find out how the company has been excelling in 2024.
How would you describe the first half of 2024 for your company?
Well, I would say that the year 2024 turned out to be interesting and full of challenges.
In 2024, we launched new and highly successful brands on the market, and we have already started several big corporate responsibility projects. To further reduce the impact on the environment, we started working on a number of green initiatives aiming at the creation of a better world for future generations.
Compared with 2023, we can confidently state that the company has experienced overall growth for our business. In particular, the beer category within key accounts has shown impressive expansion in 2024 so far. Furthermore, we have observed a moderate increase in the HoReCa segment, encompassing the beer and CSD categories. Our beer and CSD production, compared to the same period of 2023, increased significantly.
At the beginning of the year, the company offered Georgian consumers a new variety of Georgian premium craft beer, Taati NEIPA.
The portfolio of the Taati brand already includes two types of beer: the well-known Taati New Zealand Pils and the novelty of the year – Taati NEIPA. NEIPA is a New England Indian Pale Ale, distinguished by its aroma and moderate bitterness. The beer is brewed using four types of high-quality malt and three selected flavor hops. The special brewing method gives unique characteristics to the beer.
Beck’s is back on the Georgian market with a very interesting “Beck’s is Back” campaign. How did the consumer receive return?
Beck’s is quite an interesting brand and is much more than just beer. Beck’s is a lifestyle, innovation and courage. We have very good feedback form our consumers, as Beck’s is N1 German beer. Brewed according to the ‘beer purity law’, Beck’s is made with only three ingredients – malt, hops, and water.
A new variety of Natakhtari Zigzag was added to the portfolio of non-alcoholic beverages. What lead to it?
We always try to offer innovative products tailored to our consumers. We used the same approach in this case. We made the decision as a result of consumer research. This time, the research showed a growing demand for refreshing and citrus flavors, and the obvious favorite in this regard was the lemon and lime mix. As a result, the new Natakhtari Zigzag flavor mix with lemon and lime was added to the portfolio of non-alcoholic brands, characterized by fresh, citrus notes. The variety of flavors deepens our connection with our loyal consumers, since each new flavor is created according to their diverse wishes and demands.
EURO 2024 was special for Georgians, and Natakhtari beer offered a very interesting and original campaign to fans of the Georgian national team. Tell us more.
Natakhtari beer has been contributing to the development and popularization of Georgian sports for about 15 years. It has been a friend of the fans for a long time, and has been involved in many activities and campaigns. 2024 was a historic year for Georgian football. With the overflowing joy, we wondered what come out as most important to Georgian football fans. We chose to create a platform where fans could express their feelings, giving them the opportunity to translate their emotions into action and share these with the public. The brand asked: “What would you do for the Georgian national team?” and three winners were given tickets to attend the Georgia-Czech Republic match. The most important thing was that more than 5000 ideas came to us completely unexpectedly. It made it difficult to identify the best initiatives, but the high number was a great success for the brand.
What other important achievements can you name concerning core brands?
A fun beer competition was organized by the famous British digital publication LAD Bible. A special challenge was arranged among the beers of the countries participating in Euro 2024, where the winners were identified by three characteristics – taste, packaging and history. It was important that only one beer brand was selected from each country, Georgia was represented by Natakhtari beer, which brought great success to the country and took 4th place. “The country should be proud of you” – this is how LAD Bible assessed Natakhtari beer.
We also ran a very successful campaign with Karva, celebrating the 15th summer of the brand. We created a separate website – ganikarve.ge – which made loyal Karva consumers more active. It has already been established that Karva has become the main guide for young people at summer music festivals and other entertaining events.
EFES Georgia considers environmental protection as the main driver of its activities. What are your plans for reducing environmental impact and developing green production this year?
To further reduce environmental impact and promotion of green manufacturing, the company focuses on initiatives such as (1) supply chain optimization to reduce transportation emissions, (2) implementation of innovative waste reduction and recycling programs. In our enterprise, we do not produce such waste that ends up in the trash can: everything is subject to recycling. Our company is a member of the United Nations Global Compact, and this helps us to integrate modern principles of sustainability into our business development.
Tell us more about EFES Georgia’s transition to renewable energy.
Transitioning our production to renewable energy means shifting all energy sources and production processes to electricity from renewable sources, including solar, wind, hydro, or geothermal energy. EFES Georgia became the first Georgian company to use the mechanism for the purchase and cancellation of certificates of origin of electricity obtained from renewable sources. With this mechanism, which has been operational since 2023, companies are given the opportunity to confirm that the electricity they consume is fully or partially from renewable sources.
We believe that promoting the production and consumption of green energy is important for reducing dependence on fossil fuels. We encourage other representatives of the industry to use the same mechanisms so as to reduce environmental impact and create a greener, more sustainable future, and to increase the demand for green energy, which will ultimately encourage appropriate investments in the field of renewable energy generation.
Tell us about other environmental initiatives.
Based on public support and inter-sector partnerships, we support various environmental efforts, including the National Forestry Agency’s “Forest Friend” program, within the framework of which we fully financed the restoration and maintenance of the forest on an area of approximately 12 hectares. In the municipality of Rustavi, we implemented the project of a separate collection of plastic and engaged in educational and awareness-raising campaigns in this regard.
In addition, environmental principles have been implemented in our company for years, such as energy efficiency and energy saving, waste management, sustainable use of natural resources, environmental awareness raising, etc. Since 2012, a biological wastewater treatment plant has been operating in our factory. This technology is recognized worldwide as one of the best for breweries.
Our entrepreneurship program “GO Green,” which we implemented last year in cooperation with Impact Hub Tbilisi and Startup Büro, assists the promotion of sustainable entrepreneurship in Georgia and the strengthening of startups/ companies/ individuals in this direction.
We have heard a lot about what EFES Georgia is doing in the frames of the entrepreneurship support program. What are you doing now and what are your plans to promote sustainable business in our country?
Kicking off last year and aiming to promote sustainable entrepreneurship and strengthen startups, existing companies and individuals, this year EFES Georgia, in collaboration with Impact Hub Tbilisi, is launching the most large-scale, innovative, and youth-oriented social entrepreneurship program – Social Impact Award 2024. For the first time, the SIA Georgia will be conducted in close partnership with SIA Turkey. With the support of EFES Georgia and Anadolu Efes, participants from both countries will have the opportunity to meet, exchange knowledge, and form international partnerships.
The finals of the Social Impact Award will be held on October 7. The winning teams will receive financial support for implementing their social business ideas and participate in the Social Impact Award international summit in Germany.
How would you assess the competition in Georgia and the Georgian beer market in general?
High competition is good for consumers and for the development of the market as a whole. This is not my opinion; the importance of competition has been proven by centuries of experience in different markets. In times of high competition, consumers get better quality, more diverse products and services tailored to their needs from companies that are involved in the competitive struggle. Competition in Georgia is high due to the large number of players. Despite this, EFES Georgia is the clear market leader in the beer and lemonade sectors.
What is the export potential of the industry and what is the country doing about it?
Currently, EFES Georgia exports beer and lemonade to 23 countries. The direction of export in our company has been developing over the years, both in terms of volume and quantity of markets- it is one of the main priorities and prospects for our growth. From this point of view, we intend to increase our investments and export Georgian products to other countries. Also, we want to activate communication with customers in existing export countries to increase the awareness of our brands and strengthen our position in the markets.
What’s ahead for EFES Georgia?
The year is not over yet, and we are planning many more interesting activities. EFES Georgia will present another series of its leading beer brand Natakhtari, which will be sold in limited quantities. The packaging of the new series will be decorated with the characters of the iconic Georgian poem “The Knight in the Panther’s Skin” brought to life by the hand of the modern Georgian artist Davit Machavariani. This time the heroes of the poem will be depicted visually and with aphorisms on different packages. This year, we improved and made this project even more innovative. By scanning the QR on the can, it becomes possible to see each hero from a different perspective with the help of the Augmented Reality.
At the end of September, Oktoberfest will start in Georgia with our licensed brand Lowenbrau. Compared to last year, this year’s festival will be large-scale and public. Lowenbrau is one of only 6 breweries eligible to participate in Oktoberfest. Come on September 28-29, in Dedaena Park, join us and celebrate a real German festival with real German beer.
Interview by Team GT
