Whole Foods Sees Demand for Virginia Beer

By Jeff Maisey

David Gouveia, the Senior Category Merchant, Adult Beverage for Whole Foods Market’s Mid-Atlantic/Southeast/Southwest regions, noticed something trending upward in early 2023 — demand for local, independent craft beer in Virginia.

If you’ve ever been to a Whole Foods Market, chances are you’ve noticed highlighted local produce, seafood, and craft beers and cider.

On a recent visit to my Virginia Beach Whole Foods, one of 15 in the Commonwealth, I found a large variety of made-in-Virginia craft beer products, including Old Bust Head, O’Connor, Starr Hill, Bingo, St. George, Young Veterans, Hardywood Park, Three Notch’d, Smartmouth, Midnight Brewery, Legend, Pale Fire, Alewerks, and Aslin Beer Co. to name a few.

I recently talked with Mr. Gouveia to learn more about what he’s seeing in the craft beer marketplace at Whole Foods Market locations.

VEER: Matt Griffin from Hop & Wine Distributors shared with us your insights into recent trends at Whole Foods locations in Virginia. What are you seeing?

David Gouveia : What we saw in 2022 was that national craft beer beat out local craft as far as units and sales.

We’re seeing a dynamic shift in 2023, especially in post-Dry January with local brands gaining market share in shelf space as well as total sales dollars. We’re really looking positive for Virginia local.

VEER: Why do you think local, Virginia craft products are gaining strength at Whole Foods this year?

David Gouveia : I feel this is essentially local brands putting in new strategies.

The last two years, they were extremely focused on survival, whereas this year, they’re taking some approaches focusing on in-house sales in addition to creating an impactful retail business by focusing on accounts that are closer to the breweries instead of expanding their brands (to outside markets). It’s essentially bringing local back locally.

Since Whole Foods started, we’ve really prioritized local producers, so we’re really excited about this trend.

VEER: When you look at Virginia brands, which are doing best in terms of sales? Or, are you seeing more upward trends related to beer style?

David Gouveia : I think one of the reasons we are seeing the breweries trending up is because they’re willing to be nimble and focus on what the customers are looking for. They can move quicker than a national brand.

We’re seeing craft honing in on traditional European styles. We’re seeing a lot of Kolsch, Mexican-style lagers, and Belgian styles.

VEER: From the Virginia craft packaged products, are you seeing more bottled six-packs or cans in four-packs and 12-packs?

David Gouveia : Another trend we’re seeing is variety packs, which is really a local craft opportunity in Virginia. We’re seeing a lot of the national brands winning with variety packs and we see a lot of local brands capitalizing on that.

And then, you have brands such as Three Notch’d and Solace, which are cans. Then, you’ll see Port City, which has bottles. Even cider brands are producing variety packs. Potter’s Craft Cider will be introducing a variety pack shortly.

VEER: How are Virginia craft brands promoted, merchandised within Whole Foods stores?

David Gouveia : Within my position, I really focus on local brands. I oversee a third of the country.

We love brands that come in and support demos. It gets our customers excited; it gets our community excited. It gives them (breweries) an opportunity to talk about their specific brand. We love to focus on brands that are philanthropic by nature; that support their local communities, and that are really cause focused. Those are the brands we really love to support.

VEER: If a local Virginia brewery wants to have their craft product sold at their nearby Whole Foods Market, what is the best approach to getting on your shelves, whether through a major distributor or small service?

David Gouveia : Developing a relationship with your distributor is definitely important. For us, it’s about partnerships. If you’re willing to support us with a great partnership with what’s new and exciting…we’re all about creating partnerships with our local suppliers.

VEER: Craft beer and cider producers put a big effort in their packaging to stand out from the competition on retail shelves. Various design strategies emphasize color, brand logo identity, and style — as in IPA — to catch the eye of consumers overwhelmed by the selection. What do you see as being key to successful packaging?

David Gouveia : I think the Whole Foods shopper is really in-tune with the brands and the quality of beer as opposed to packaging. The packaging obviously helps depending on what products are side by side.

If everyone is in-tune with these loud, colorful labels, if you have a flat, clean label I think you’re going to stand out. And vice versa if the shelf is filled with these clean designs. But, I’ll revert back to the Whole Foods customer being more in-tune with the quality and the style as opposed to packaging.

VEER: How does Whole Foods determine brand placement on the shelves? Obviously, a craft beverage brand is going to prefer to be positioned at eye-level as opposed to the bottom of the shelf at ankle level.

David Gouveia : It’s at random, essentially. There are some guardrails that are utilized, but at the end of the day it’s based on style or regional location.

VEER: As a beer style, IPAs are top of sales in the craft realm. Are you seeing that at Whole Foods as well?

David Gouveia: Yeah, IPAs — that’s what’s selling. As I mentioned earlier, I’m seeing a lot of growth in high quality craft European styles. A lot of local craft brewers are focusing on consolidating an assortment and creating a high quality product, as opposed to some national brands trying to be everything to everyone.

In addition, we’re seeing a local cider revival as well. Local ciders are really winning, especially in Virginia. They’re utilizing local apples.

VEER: Regarding cider products, are cans more successful than 750-ml bottles?

David Gouveia : Cans are definitely winning. A lot of cideries are able to play around with new flavor combinations.