Alfa Brouwerij is a Dutch family-owned independent brewery that was founded in 1870 by Joseph Meens. The brewery is located in Schinnen, a town located in the southernmost province in the Netherlands. It is still owned by the Meens family and is now led by the 4th Meens generation. Initially, Alfa beer was only sold locally, but since 1960 it has been available throughout the Netherlands. In 1993, Alfa Brouwerij began exporting to the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, Greece and Italy.
The water that is used to brew the beer is extracted from an underground spring. The Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport has officially certified the spring, meaning that the water is pure enough to enter the brewing process without undergoing any processing beforehand. As only 15 million liters of water are allowed to be withdrawn from the spring each year, Alfa limits its beer production. This has led them to number their beer bottles to ensure that only the permitted amount of water is used.
Product
The Alfa brewery makes 5 different beers: Oud bruin (Old Brown), Edel pils, Lente bok (Spring bock beer), Dortmunder, Bokbier (bock beer). The focus of this situation analysis is on the Edel pils. The Edel pils is a part of the (Czech) pilsner beer family which is the most widely consumed beer in the world. It contains 5% alcohol by volume. Edel pils is available in different packages: 0.33 L and 0.5 L cans, 0.3 L and 0.5 L bottles, and 20 L and 50 L barrels.
Market Definition
In order to clarify the relative position of Alfa in the market, it is important to define the market:
Product Form Competition
Pilsner – For most people, Alfa is easily substitutable by other pilsners. The need for Alfa
