Bira 91 faces employee woes, supply strain

BENGALURU: Craft beer maker Bira 91 is experiencing elevated unrest amongst each present and former workers, who’ve cited points corresponding to pending salaries, unreimbursed allowances, and unresolved dues.These issues linger months after the corporate started a restructuring train that was by no means formally labelled a layoff.
A former gross sales employee reported, “I was told to serve a two-month notice after resigning in December, but in January, it was suddenly cut short by a month. They promised to clear my dues, but I’ve been waiting 90 days now. The latest update says it may come by May 31.”
Multiple workers knowledgeable TOI that wage delays started in November 2024, with reimbursements for journey and each day bills halted across the similar interval. In January 2025, a number of employees members had been both reassigned to completely different cities or instructed to change roles. A former employee acknowledged, “I was in marketing and told to move into sales in another state. This was the case for 70% of us. Those who didn’t accept were told to resign.”
Internally, the workforce reported a continued decline within the firm’s monetary well being since final yr. A former advertising govt highlighted a substantial discrepancy between anticipated and achieved outcomes. “In 2023, Bira aimed for ambitious sales targets but ended up doing only 40% of it. Hiring and spending were based on much higher growth expectations. It became unsustainable.”
The similar employee famous vital advertising outlays, with an estimated Rs 200-250 crore spent on a five-year ICC sponsorship concluding in 2023, together with a number of IPL group partnerships. “We created demand with ATL and BTL campaigns, but there was no stock on shelves. Vendors weren’t paid, raw material didn’t arrive, and breweries stopped operating. The Rs 80 crore loss blamed on labelling was just a cover.” Bira 91 didn’t reply to TOI’s request for remark.
The firm modified its authorized identify in 2023, necessitating product relabelling throughout numerous states. This coincided with delayed funds to distributors and a list scarcity throughout the summer season. Employees reported that operational disturbance prolonged into the height beer season. Industry observers attribute these challenges to overextension. Vinod Giri, Director General of the Brewers Association of India, commented, “New brands hoping to disrupt beer must walk a fine line between growth and uniqueness.Expanding too fast with the wrong state mix or unused capacity can quickly become unsustainable.”
Sanjay Jain, an alcobev market observer and founding accomplice at Taj Capital, added, “Beer is a volume game. Bira had a strong niche identity but pivoted too quickly to scale. Venture capital often misreads the unit economics of beer – it’s not FMCG.”
Bira 91, based in 2015, secured roughly $457 million from traders corresponding to Sofina, Kirin Holdings, MUFG Bank, and Peak XV Partners. The most up-to-date funding spherical of $25 million closed final yr. The firm’s income fell 22% to Rs 638 crore within the 2023-24 monetary yr, whereas web losses widened to Rs 748 crore, partly resulting from a list write-off linked to the labelling transition