Samoa Breweries Ltd, the makers of Vailima Beer, is closing its Vaitele brewery and moving operations to Fiji by the end of the year.
Samoa Observer reports Country Manager for the brewery, Moira Simi, confirmed today that after all options were explored to allow brewing to continue in Samoa, the plant will indeed shut down
“Unfortunately, none of the options were commercially viable,” she said.
The company had been operating through trading challenges for several years due to a combination of COVID-19 and other cost challenges, said Simi.
The business is evolving into a sales and distribution operation making it difficult to keep the brewery operations in Samoa.
Vailima will now be brewed at the company’s state-of-the-art Paradise Beverages facilities in Fiji.
“The Vailima brand is loved both in Samoa and overseas and we want to continue that legacy, so it can be enjoyed into the future.”
Simi also confirmed about 50 jobs will be affected with the proposed closure scheduled for 1 November.
“Looking after the wellbeing of our people, both mentally and physically is our priority.”
She added, they will be looking to relocate and find new roles for as many of those affected as possible, as well as redundancy packages.
Samoa Breweries Ltd is majority owned by Paradise Beverages Ltd whose General Manager, Mike Spencer said in a company release this afternoon that it had not taken this decision lightly.
Spencer said, although the local team has done an incredible job operating in a tough environment, Samoa Breweries’ commercial viability has steadily declined over the past five years due to a combination of factors including ageing machinery; and the impact of the measles outbreak in 2019 followed by the disruption caused by COVID-19.
The American Samoa agents for Vailima are GHC Reid.
