FIFCO USA is an American brewing company based in Rochester,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. Established as North American Breweries by

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

investment firm

KPS Capital Partners KPS Capital Partners is an American investment company that manages KPS Special Situation Funds, a family of investment funds. KPS specifically invests out of two funds raised in October 2019: KPS Special Situations Fund V ($6.12 billion) and KPS ...

to manage its brewery acquisitions (

Genesee Brewing Company Genesee Brewing Company ( ) is an American brewery located along the Genesee River in Rochester, New York. From 2000 to 2009, the company was known as the High Falls Brewing Company. In 2009, High Falls was acquired by the capital investment fi ...

Pyramid A pyramid () is a structure whose visible surfaces are triangular in broad outline and converge toward the top, making the appearance roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be of any polygon shape, such as trian ...

, and Magic Hat), the company has been owned by the Costa Rican food and beverages company Florida Ice & Farm Co. (FIFCO) since December 2012. In 2018, the company changed to its present name. In March 2020, FIFCO USA named Piotr Jurjewicz as the company's new Chief Marketing Officer.

Labatt USA

In 2009, the company purchased Labatt USA, subsidiary of the Canadian

Labatt Brewing Company Labatt Brewing Company Limited () is a Anheuser-Busch InBev-owned brewery headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1847, Labatt is the largest brewer in Canada. In 1995, it was purchased by Belgian brewer Interbrew. In 2004, Interb ...

, including the American rights to its core Labatt products (such as Blue, Blue Light, and Labatt 50) and agreed to brew those brands on Labatt USA's behalf until 2012. This sale was mandated by the

U.S. Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of federal laws and the administration of justice. It is equi ...

for competitive reasons following InBev's merger with Anheuser-Busch, since Budweiser and Labatt Blue were both among the top brands in

upstate New York Upstate New York is a geographic region of New York (state), New York that lies north and northwest of the New York metropolitan area, New York City metropolitan area of downstate New York. Upstate includes the middle and upper Hudson Valley, ...

, despite the latter having less than 1% market share in the U.S. overall. The sale did not include U.S. rights to Labatt products not carrying the Labatt label, such as Kokanee or Alexander Keith's, which are now distributed in the U.S. by Anheuser-Busch. Moreover, the underlying

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...

(such as the Labatt

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a form of intellectual property that consists of a word, phrase, symbol, design, or a combination that identifies a Good (economics and accounting), product or Service (economics), service f ...

s) remains the property of the Canadian Labatt firm. In addition, the sale did not affect Labatt's Canadian operations in any way;

Anheuser-Busch InBev Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV, known as AB InBev, is an American-Belgian Multinational corporation, multinational Drink industry, drink and brewing company, brewing company based in Leuven, Belgium. It is the largest brewer in the world, and in 20 ...

retains full control of the Labatt brand portfolio within Canada. On April 25, 2017, Labatt USA and

Pegula Sports and Entertainment Pegula Sports & Entertainment (PSE) was an American sports and entertainment company based in Buffalo, New York. The company was established after billionaire Terry Pegula combined his sports, property and entertainment assets into one company. ...

partnered on a project to develop the Pegula owned 79 Perry Street in the Cobblestone District in Buffalo into a mixed-use facility, including a small test brewery called the "Labatt House", a restaurant called "The Draft Room", and retail, commercial and residential space. The company relocated its Labatt USA headquarters from Fountain Plaza to the building's second floor in November 2018 and PSE moved its headquarters to the building's third and fourth floor in 2019.

References

External links

* {{beer-stub Manufacturing companies based in Rochester, New York Beer brewing companies based in New York (state) American beer brands American subsidiaries of foreign companies