Former Stone Brewing employees in Escondido laid off as new owner moves production
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- Former employees of California craft beer pioneer Stone Brewing will be laid off as the brand’s new owners shift production to Paso Robles and Kansas City, Mo.
- The decision to cut 220 jobs was made after Sapporo USA sold the brand to new investors this year.
- The popular brand was once a symbol of the West Coast craft beer boom.
- Adding to Southern California’s food-and-drink shake-up, Bumble Bee Foods will shutter its Santa Fe Springs plant by 2027, eliminating more than 230 jobs as it consolidates processing operations.
California craft beer pioneer Stone Brewing is exiting three Escondido locations and laying off hundreds of workers as its new owners move production.
Sapporo USA—which sold Stone Brewing to Firestone Walker Brewing Co. and Duvel Moortgat USA in a deal that closed May 15—plans to lay off a total of 220 employees as the new owners shift production to Paso Robles and Kansas City, Mo.
The Southern Californian layoffs will begin with 58 workers on Oct. 19, according to the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification letters that Sapporo USA filed with the state Wednesday.
Mass layoffs are coming to another San Diego-based food company. Tinned fish giant Bumble Bee Foods plans to close a production facility in Santa Fe Springs “sometime in 2027, most likely in late March 2027,” according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification letter the company filed last week.
Zach Keeling, Sapporo USA CEO, said in a statement that Sapporo USA is winding down the Escondido brewery in phases because it has “not yet found a viable long-term solution” for the site.
Sapporo USA had acquired Stone Brewing in 2022.
Sapporo USA said the layoffs mean it is winding down the Stone Brewing World Bistro and Gardens in Escondido. The popular spot is known for its duck tacos and ceviche.
“This is an understandably difficult time for our Escondido employees and community, and we’re committed to supporting them through this transition,” Keeling said. When the acquisition was announced in April, it noted the Escondido portfolio was excluded from the sale.
How We Made It: Greg Koch and Steve Wagner
Stone Brewing, launched in 1996 in San Marcos by Greg Koch and Steve Wagner, was the poster child of the West Coast craft brewing boom of the 2000s and 2010s. In 2016, it became the first American brewer to operate in Germany, The Times has reported.
By 2018, the craft beer industry’s buzz was starting to wear off.
The pandemic dealt a heavy blow to Southern California’s independent craft breweries.
San Francisco’s Anchor Brewing Co., the maker of the iconic Anchor Steam craft beer, was hemorrhaging money when it was shut down by parent company Sapporo Holdings Ltd. in 2023. Though Chobani yogurt billionaire Hamdi Ulukaya announced he was buying the company in 2024 and pledged to save it, Anchor Steam beer has still not returned to shelves.
The craft beer industry has grown less frothy.
Stone Brewing beer will continue to be made, according to the April acquisition announcement. Production of the Stone portfolio will gradually transition to Firestone Walker’s brewery in Paso Robles, Calif., and Duvel USA’s Boulevard brewery in Kansas City, Mo., the joint statement said.
Firestone Walker and Duvel USA plan to hire a “significant number” of Stone Brewing employees across hospitality, sales and marketing, according to the joint statement.
Firestone Walker, the company behind another popular local brewer, said it was buying Stone to build a Californian craft brewery powerhouse.
“Like Stone, Firestone Walker was founded in 1996 and is widely regarded as one of California’s leading craft brewers,” it said in a statement about the acquisition in April. “Firestone Walker will play a central role in supporting Stone’s future, as the two coastal breweries together represent a powerful expression of California’s craft heritage. Stone Brewing will retain its distinct voice, joining a family of breweries that share a deep respect for beer tradition and culture.”
Duvel USA and Firestone Walker planned to split distribution responsibilities, with Duvel handling the region east of the Rockies and Firestone Walker handling California, the Western U.S., Texas and national accounts, according to the statement.
While the deal didn’t include all of Stone’s facilities, it did include four of its hospitality locations, including its beer garden at Liberty Station in San Diego, a former naval training center turned buzzy food hall, and taprooms in San Diego, Oceanside and Pasadena.
In a separate round of layoffs, Bumble Bee Foods plans to lay off 197 workers on Nov. 19 and estimates that it will lay off another 36 workers when the fish canning facility finally closes.
“This decision is part of an effort to streamline our supply chain and production network by reducing the number of processing points in the value stream,” Bumble Bee Foods spokesperson Arielle Schechtman said in a statement.
