Case Study: How one business took the advice of Frank Zappa and bucked the economic gloom in Greece

Macedonian Thrace Brewery SA is the only brewer in Greece which makes its products within the country.

Demetri Politopoulos could not understand why a country like Greece relied on exports to quench its thirst for beers and did not have its own national brewing company.  So he left a well paid job with a chemicals company in the United States and returned home to create the Macedonian Thrace Brewery.

Since its formation in 1996, a growing number of Greeks have made their Vergina beer their drink of choice and, in the process, creating thousands of new jobs in the country and posting a near 40 % sales growth in the past year – despite the country’s financial meltdown.

Demetri was inspired to take the risk of setting up this venture by renowned musician, Frank Zappa. The noted performer was once quoted as saying ‘you are not a country without an airline and a beer’. Greece had an airline; he saw it as his mission to get it a beer.

The lack of competition from the home brew sector was both good news and bad news. It meant that, as the sole producer of truly Greek beer, it had a monopoly of the domestic market. However, seen as foreign companies already had such a stranglehold on the whole market, competing with global giants and their huge marketing budgets was always going to be a big challenge.

And the unassuming brewery owner is also investing to make Greece a brewing powerhouse. Not only does one fifth of turnover go straight back into R&D in his own plant, but he has also linked up with a growing bank of micro-breweries – sharing best practice with them and helping them get their product to market.

Clearly, the difficult economic position of his country has brought challenging times for the company but Demetri believes a tight regulatory regime and the continuing influence of import product has been more of a challenge to the economy. Even so, Demetri seems to be the rare business raising a glass in celebration in Greece this year.