Derek Oland, centre, took the opposite approach of his father’s “sink or swim” style of mentorship when it came to bringing his sons Patrick, left, and Andrew into the family business.Supplied
In an industry dominated in Canada by giants such as Labatt and Molson Coors, Moosehead Breweries holds a rare distinction: it’s the only national beer maker that remains Canadian-owned. Six generations in, the Oland family has no intention of changing that.
“Whenever someone wants to buy us, I ask them: ‘If you were me, which side of the table would you want to be on?’” says Derek Oland, 86, who led the company for nearly four decades before handing the reins to his sons Andrew and Patrick. “They always say they envy us for having our own company to run.”
The Moosehead story began in 1867, when Susannah Oland started brewing her October Brown Ale in her backyard in Dartmouth. The business has remained in the family ever since, relocating to Saint John after the Halifax Explosion of 1917 destroyed the brewery. Andrew has served as president since 2008 and Patrick as chief financial officer since 2011.
But each generation has had to navigate its own path to leadership. When Derek joined Moosehead in the 1960s, his father’s mentorship style was decidedly hands-off. “My father’s way of preparing me was essentially ‘sink or swim,’” says Derek, who differentiated himself by forming a marketing committee to shift the company’s focus beyond sales alone.
The experience taught Derek valuable lessons about leadership that he would later apply differently with his own sons. “Growing up, my parents were very clear that they wanted us to do what we wanted to do,” says Andrew, 58, explaining his elders’ expectations if he or his brother were to join Moosehead: “You have to work outside the family business after postsecondary education. It creates confidence and it allows you to make mistakes and learn.”
Andrew worked at a Halifax shipyard before joining Moosehead in the 1990s in various roles, eventually pursuing an MBA to transition from operations to the commercial side. Patrick started his career in marketing at Beatrice Foods in Toronto. He worked as a chartered professional accountant before starting in 1996 at Moosehead, where he’s spent most of the last 20 years in sales and finance.
The brewery employs about 300 people and generates annual revenues in excess of $100-million, exporting to 15 countries including the United States, England, Germany, China and South Korea.
In Canada, it faces competition from massive multinationals on one side and nearly 1,000 localized Canadian craft brewers on the other. It’s a position that requires a fundamentally different playbook than that of Moosehead’s larger competitors.
The Moosehead brewery in Saint John, circa 1930s or 1940s.Supplied
“A family-owned brewery can’t win by outspending multinationals on advertising, distribution muscle or ‘pay-to-play’ shelf visibility,” says Matthew Bellamy, a history professor at Carleton University who specializes in the brewing industry. “It competes by choosing battles where size matters less: credibility, agility and long-term stewardship.”
The brothers have leaned into those advantages. Moosehead’s independence enables faster decision-making guided by long-term strategy rather than by short-term quarterly results. “We’re very close to our operations,” Patrick, 56, says. “We’re very nimble in terms of how we make decisions.”
That closeness stems from deep employee relationships and institutional knowledge. “We have a lot of continuity of employees,” Patrick adds. “That’s such an element of family businesses: you tend to have a bit more loyalty.”
But independence comes with constraints. Andrew points to one current pressure from Canada’s trade war with the United States: “In the short-term, the biggest challenge is the price of aluminum. Tariffs are a component of that, but the demand for aluminum is skyrocketing,” he says.
The issue is particularly acute for Moosehead, which phased out bottles late last year in response to what the family describes as shifting consumer demand toward cans. While the company maintains an aluminum hedging program to manage price volatility, it can only help so much as prices reach historical highs.
It’s a concrete example of what Mr. Bellamy describes as broader structural disadvantages for small-to-medium family enterprises. “There’s higher input costs, less leverage with retailers, thinner budgets for national marketing and more vulnerability to shocks such as aluminum can prices, barley swings and freight costs,” he notes.
The challenge is compounded by shifting customer behaviour. Canadians are consuming less beer overall, while ready-to-drink cocktails, cannabis and non-alcoholic options are vying for space at the same occasions, Mr. Bellamy adds.
The skyrocketing price of aluminum is currently the biggest short-term challenge for Moosehead, which phased out bottles last year in response to the shifting consumer preference for cans.Supplied
Moosehead has adapted with strategic choices. The company has increased its ready-to-drink business through a partnership with Boston Beer Company’s Twisted Tea brand and has released light beers including Moosehead Light and Cracked Canoe, a 3.5-per-cent alcohol-by-volume offering.
“While certainly our flagship Moosehead Lager that everyone knows is doing very well, we’re also making sure that we respond to the growing categories,” Patrick says.
That balance between protecting the core business and adapting to trends is what makes Moosehead “relatively well-positioned,” Mr. Bellamy says. “It has scale compared to most independents – real production capability, established distribution and brand recognition – without the complexity of a multinational portfolio. It also has a credible ‘independence story’ that can resonate with consumers.”
As Andrew and Patrick look toward the family business’s seventh generation, they’re adopting the same approach their father took with them. Andrew’s three adult children – an architect and two CPAs – attend advisory board meetings virtually but work outside the company. Patrick’s three children have held summer jobs at Moosehead but are currently pursuing their own careers.
“I want them to be happy and live fulfilling lives,” Andrew says. “If Moosehead is part of that, great. If Moosehead is not part of that, then that’s great as well.”
That approach echoes the philosophy Derek instilled in his sons, one that has kept Moosehead independent through six generations. “He has a saying that he doesn’t want to be the biggest, he just wants to be around the longest,” Patrick says.
Have a suggestion of a Canadian multigenerational family business for this regular series? E-mail smallbiz@globeandmail.com.