Point Brewery Creates 10 New Jobs this Year

08 Oct 2014 --- Stevens Point Brewery has created 10 new jobs this year as sales of its handcrafted beers, hard ciders and gourmet sodas continue to grow with help from an improving economy and positive business climate in its core Wisconsin markets.

The new employees include a Packaging Manager, a fourth Brewer for Brewmaster Gabe Hopkins’ team, an Inventory Control Materials Planner, two maintenance workers and five more second-shift packaging employees, including a Shift Supervisor and a Quality Technician. The second shift in the packaging department, added after an expansion of brewing capacity in 2013, was the first in the brewery’s history.

Point Brewery created the new positions because growing consumer demand for its products shows no sign of slowing down, according to Joe Martino, Stevens Point Brewery Operating Partner. The brewery’s production volume is up almost 20% year-to-date through the end of September compared with 2013, he reported.

Fueling the growth are Ciderboys Cider Co. hard ciders, first introduced in late 2012, and new products and packages like summer seasonal Point Coast Radler and the IPA variety 12-pack introduced earlier this year. Keeping up with the ever-growing demand for Ciderboys hard ciders, available in 22 states, is a top priority in particular, Martino said. “We have been continuously increasing our hard cider production from month to month.  Expanding our packaging second shift quickly became necessary in order for us to meet the challenge,” he said.

Martino also credits favorable economic conditions in Wisconsin, Point Brewery’s home state and most important market, for the decision to create the new jobs. “Wisconsin’s current business environment is conducive to continued investment, including investment in people,” he said. “We’re proud to help grow the state’s economy by creating new jobs and we’re confident the business environment will continue to be positive for small regional businesses like ours.”