Almost 20 years later, Narragansett ranks as one of the top 35 best-selling craft beers in the U.S., and one of the 45-largest overall brewers. Gina Raimondo even taped a Narragansett-themed campaign ad in 2014. Does Narragansetts’ success offer any lessons for other businesses in Rhode Island? And how did an iconic Rhode Island brand bounce back from the edge of extinction? I’m Ian Donnis and this week I’m going in-depth with Chief ‘gansett, Mark Hellendrung.
Ian Donnis: Welcome to The Public’s Radio.
Mark Hellendrung: Thank you Ian. It’s great to be here.
Ian Donnis: Narragansett was a largely forgotten brand when you took it over in 2005. It was doing only about $200,000 a year in business, you’ve had a lot of growth since then. Narragansett is considered one of the top 35 craft brewers in the US and one of the top 45 overall brewers, how did you do it?
Mark Hellendrung: Oof, one account at a time. It’s funny I remember 18 years ago, we would, we would just go out and knock on doors. And I had this like goal. I remember very early on I was like, I want to tell 25 people every day about Narragansett beer and it coming back. And I guess it’s just been a lot of persistence and perseverance and just hard work and a great team and an awesome history and kind of coming from a cool place here in Rhode Island.
Ian Donnis: Did you imagine that this kind of success was possible.
Mark Hellendrung: You know, what’s funny is – Yes, I thought we could be like this. But how we got here I envisioned completely opposite of what we did, because like, I thought we would launch and everyone who kind of grew up with Narragansett and remembered Narragansett would be like, Oh, yes, Narragansett’s back and I’m drinking it again. And we’d really struggle with like, younger demo, new drinkers who had like, never heard of Narragansett and almost the exact opposite happened, where, you know, people who lived through the demise of Narragansett were just, I think they were just, well, part of it, they had just moved on. But then somewhere mad like it moved out of state, and it wasn’t brewed here anymore, or my uncle got fired, or whatever. And whereas for newer, younger drinkers, they’re like, Wow, this is like a really cool story. And I never knew this, and like, Yeah, I’m gonna get behind this campaign. And so it kind of took on a life of its own,
Ian Donnis: You have a lot of history to draw upon in promoting Narragansett because the company was founded in the 1890s. But outside New England, I imagined Narragansett was a lot less well known. So how do you how were you able to gain territory outside of New England?
Mark Hellendrung: Well, I think our success outside of Rhode Island and New England is kind of driven by a couple factors. One is, you know, we have such a great transient, I guess, state. Where tourism is such a big part of it, you know, I live down near Newport now. And you just see, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania cars driving up and down the road. So there’s a lot of that. There are great colleges. It’s amazing. I’ll travel all all through the East Coast. And I’m like, how did we get in this bar and or restaurant? And inevitably, frequently, it’ll be someone who graduated from Johnson Wales or something like that, who’s run in the kitchen or something. So it’s, there’s that great kind of portability. And then I think the other aspect of it was just that with the explosion of craft beer through the 2000s, we sort of kind of rode with that, where craft beer drinkers maybe after having a double IPA, or something like that, they needed something lighter and didn’t necessarily wanted to go to like the big Super Bowl, NASCAR, mega brands, and we kind of fit in that kind of mindspace of like, really good beer, great story, something I can like, really rally behind.
Ian Donnis: Some people call Rhode Island, a tough place to do business. What’s your perspective on that?
Mark Hellendrung: I think every place is a tough place to do business, right? I’m in a competitive industry, we sell you quoted the numbers, we sell a lot of beer, but we’re still puny compared to the big guys. But um, you know, listen, we just built that brewery in, in Providence. I’m sure many of your listeners have been there. It’s a fabulous space. And, you know, the city was great to work with, we actually have some kind of state program backing on the, on the loan or the debt that we have there. It’s, it’s a bond. So, um, you know, it’s, it’s certainly a process, but, you know, the state the city, the community was very supportive of, you know, getting zoning variances and financing and, you know, construction permits, and all of that was through COVID, too. So it was, it was difficult, but it was, you know, it’s why they call it a job and not a vacation.
Ian Donnis: You open that brewery in the Fox Point area in 2021. And you brew some beer there now, I believe most of your beer is still brewed in Rochester, New York. Is that right?
Mark Hellendrung: Yeah, that’s true. So um, yeah, about, you know, 5% of our beer comes out of Providence and the other 95% is, is up in Rochester.
Ian Donnis: and Narragansett has been around so long that it’s inevitably had some intersection with politics. Perhaps best known is how Joe Garrahy worked in sales and promotions for Narragansett years before he wound up becoming the governor of Rhode Island. More recently in 2014, Gina Raimondo during her first run for governor ran a Narragansett themed ad and I’d like to play a clip from that for you.
Gina Raimondo: Remember what Narragansett beer used to mean to Rhode Island? I’m Gina Raimondo, and I was proud to help bring Narragansett back. Now it’s a top selling beer again.
Ian Donnis: So she claimed credit for helping to bring Narragansett back. Was she laying it on a little thicker? Is that right?
Mark Hellendrung: Well, she was a partner at Point Judith Capital, and they were an investor in instrumental in really bringing in a lot of other investors. And so she was certainly helpful in helping me have enough money to bring back Narragansett beer. And I think, you know, politics is politics and hyperbole is frequently part of that game. And I guess I’ll leave it at that.
Ian Donnis: Speaking of politics, I’d probably didn’t escape your attention that there was a major controversy earlier this year with conservatives scorning Bud Light for using a transgender influencer as an ambassador wonder what was your takeaway from that?
Mark Hellendrung: Well, I think, um, you know, the lesson that not just beer, but anyone who who runs a brand, and especially something like Narragansett beer, where it almost it becomes like a public trust, right? Where it’s, it’s really, it’s not my beer, it’s not my brand. It’s it’s really generations of Rhode Islanders and people who appreciate “Hi neighbor” and “hi neighbor have a ‘gansett.” And remember Curt Gowdy and all that stuff. And so there are… brands don’t necessarily have a voice in some of those more public conversations, or at least they shouldn’t. And I think that’s what we’ve learned through through all this where like, certainly, you know, we can have a beer and have a conversation, but the beer isn’t really part of that conversation, per se. Right. So I think maybe they crossed that line a little bit. And the the reaction is just incredible. Where the you know, the number one beer in America is down 30%, week after week after week. So
Ian Donnis: Speaking of Bud Light, it was eclipsed as the top selling beer in America by Modelo, the Mexican brewer. Modelo makes some really good beers. But what do you make of that from a business perspective? Was that due to this controversy, or were there other factors propelling Modelo’s growth?
Mark Hellendrung: Well, I think so Modelo is is owned by Constellation right and Constellation is also owns Corona and Corona and Modelo from just from a, you know, business owner, a marketing person, a brand person, it’s amazing how Constellation has just been very consistent with managing that brand. And I think, you know, when you stay within your voice and kind of stay in your lane, and we’ve certainly learned that we need to stay in our lane like we just, we are who we are. So I think it takes great discipline and, and so Modelo success is really a reflection of of that discipline, and, you know, you don’t see Modelo Seltzer and you don’t see Modelo non-alcoholic it’s just, it’s just a good drinking beer and with that fighter spirit from Mexico and and so they’ve been very good at that.
Ian Donnis: America’s oldest craft brewer San Francisco-based Anchor Steam announced in July was ceasing operations. I was pretty shocked by that because it’s a very well established brand. Anchor Steam is owned by the Japanese company Sapporo. What’s your I wonder what your reaction was? I think you floated the idea of possibly trying to help to preserve Anchor Steam. Why was it in such financial trouble? And is there any hope for helping to preserve it?
Mark Hellendrung: Well, I think Anchor Steam is kind of a classic American story right where it you know, it’s been around longer than Narragansett, 1800s. Fritz Maytag of the Maytag family fame, bought it in, like the 1970s. And he’s credited with being one of the pioneers of the craft beer movement. And so he did that and all that was done out of a brewery in downtown San Francisco. And so then with it’s kind of a long story, right? But so then, you know, he was the original and then here you are today, there are 11,000 craft breweries, right so we’re all like really fighting in this crowded space. And, you know, Fritz sold the company they had some of some guys come in and they didn’t necessarily run it perfectly. And so now you’ve got this situation where the brand’s declining it’s owned by a foreign company and the real estate is just worth truckloads of money. Right? So it’s, it’s like the real estate is worth more than the brewery. So now everyone’s figuring out like, how do we preserve this real national treasure? I mentioned public trust, like Anchor Steam is Anchor Steam, like anyone who is into craft beer knows of their place in history. And so I think everyone’s trying to, we certainly thought we should have a voice in this conversation of how do we like save something that’s really special, but also understand the realities of urban development and, and rising property values.
Ian Donnis: Quickly, is there any hope for saving that brand?
Mark Hellendrung: It’s gonna go through the arbitration process and my hope is that we can, the community can piece together some sort of solution. I’m optimistic about that.
Ian Donnis: And just wrapping it up, we know that Narragansett went into decline after was acquired in 1965 by Falstaff, a big national Brewer, you’re still a young guy, you got a lot of roadway left in front of you, but what does the future hold for Narragansett,
Mark Hellendrung: I’ve got gas in the tank. If someone offered me a truckload of money, I’d take it probably but it would have to be like the absolute perfect situation that didn’t set us up for what happened in 1965 because it’s it’s too great of a brand too great of a story to go through that again.
Ian Donnis: Mark Helendrung, head of Narragansett brewing, thank you so much for joining us.
Mark Hellendrung: Thank you, Ian. This was awesome.
—
Enrique Sanchez ousted long-serving Providence state Representative Anastasia Williams in 2022. Sanchez is an unapologetic leftist who says he goes all-out for what he believes in. But the freshman Democrat has also gained attention for arguing with police outside illegal sip joints, and for not following some of the diplomatic niceties of the House of Representatives. Now, in an early preview of legislative elections next year, Sanchez already faces a challenger, Lesley Bunnell, who serves on the board of Planned Parenthood of Rhode Island. And indications are that former Rep Williams, who first won her seat back in the 90s, plans to attempt a comeback. You can read more about that in my Friday TGIF column posting around 4 this afternoon on what used to be known as Twitter @IanDon and the publics radio dot org.
