November 10, 2024 • 58 mins
On today’s program, State Auditor , Diana Dizoglio, discusses her victory regarding Question 1 on election day, allowing audits of the state legislature. Don Seiffert, managing editor of the Boston Business Journal, discusses what the new Republican administration means for the states clean energy industry. Deloitte Boston has released a new survey outlining what Massachusetts residents will spend on Christmas gifts this year. Bill Chase of Hi-Tech windows will discuss rising home heating costs. And finally, Dan Kenary. CEO Mass Bay Brewing Company will talk about the beer business this holiday season.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the New England Business Report with Joe short
Sleeve and Kim Carrigan, a weekly round up and discussion
of the top business news impacting our New England economy.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Good morning, everybody, and welcome to the New England Business
Report on this Sunday, November the tenth right to have
you along, I'm Kim Kerro get along with Joe Shortz
leave good morning to use her.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Good morning to you, Kimm Karagan. How are you doing
with the Christmas shopping?
Speaker 2 (00:22):
You know, actually I'm starting to think about it pretty seriously. Yeah.
You know, somebody said to me this last Thursday, only
three weeks until Thanksgiving. I was like, what, Yeah, of
course it was also you know, sixty five seventy degrees
or hotter, so that seemed a lot too.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
What about the four grandkids? You know, it's Christmas, DA
takes on a whole new meeting like this.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
I can only imagine for sure. Well, you know how
I am at my house, Joe, I like the Christmas trees?
Speaker 3 (00:50):
How many do you have?
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Okay, so I need to update you because hit me
over last weekend I went and purchased another.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
Well, got to have another.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
I'm hoping my husband sticks around for Christmas. He's about
ready to get rid of me. I have one, two, three, four, five, Yeah,
I have six.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Well, everybody needs six Christmas trees and they're all flocked. Joe.
I've taught you about flocking on Christmas tree.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
About that, and you have a little the changes of lights, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
That I don't have, but you've mentioned it. Maybe I
could get one of those. Oh okay, we got a
great show coming your way this morning. Lots of terrific guests.
So let's take a look at who is on DAK.
First off, coming up, the state Auditor, Diana Disaglio is
going to join us.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
Now.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
I think everybody probably has a pretty good idea why
we wanted to talk to the state auditor this week.
This past Tuesday, during the election, a question one which
would allow her office to audit the legislature. We've been
talking about this, Joe since we were back on Bloomberg,
you know, and there was right, yeah, they were talking
about the possibility of this. Well it did pass, and
(02:00):
it sure did. And it's it's really interesting because when
you read prior in with for me, when I read
prior to the election, you know about both sides. I
felt like both sides had a pretty decent argument, so
I didn't anticipate that it would pass as big as
it did.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Yeah, seventy two percent of the voter said yes. It
was the widest margin on all the questions. But yeah,
for you know, House Speaker Ron Mariano and Karen Spilk,
I mean, they were dead sent against this, against this,
so they did not want to see this happen. So
I don't know what that does to, you know, Diana
Dezaglio on the Christmas list up there, but.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
You know, I hope she has her own Christmas trees.
I'm not sure anybody's going to share them with her.
This could be something that goes to court, and I'll
be anxious to talk to her a little bit about
whether she anticipates that might happen. Then joining us would
be the managing editor of the Boston Business Journal, Don Seifert,
and he's going to talk to us about some of
(02:52):
the sectors of business that could possibly be affected by
the change of the administration in Washington. You take a moment,
you think about that, you know that's going to trickle down,
certainly to things that are happening in our state. Not
the least of which would be clean energy and life
science in a number of other areas.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
It's log logical anytime that administration changes, that's something like
this would happen. But you know, I look at it
sometimes I go, you know, more Healy as Attorney general.
I don't know how many times she sued the Trump administration. Yes,
I think we lost count. So you know, this particular
president I think has a very short memory. So we'll
see how that does impact things moving forward. Also, Kim,
(03:35):
you know here it is Deloitte is up with their
Christmas survey how much is are individuals going to spend
on Christmas this season? And the number is op The
average person will spend two thousand dollars on Christmas gifts
this holiday season. That's up from seventeen hundred and seventy
five dollars last year. You know that in and of
(03:56):
itself is interesting. But I think it's a little different
this year, which I'm sure you saw as well, is
that people are using a I to help them in
their Christmas shopping and gift cards. Kim, they are pass
they are I got the gift cards. Everybody wants the experience.
I guess what is that the cooking class.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Or trip something like that, right exactly. By the way,
I want to tell you, I used AI the other
day for a recipe and it turned out great. This
was like the first time I'd use it for applicable
things here in the house, and it was pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
Well, tell me how you did it.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Well, I did it off of Apple AI. So I
went in and I told I actually said what I
had in the house, and a recipe came up. I
was just trying to figure out what I was going
to I had a bunch of ingredients, Toddle like, how
will I throw this hole together?
Speaker 3 (04:51):
So it's pretty cool, all right, Okay, Well, now they
want to use it for Christmas shopping. Also on today's program,
and Kim you arranged for this interview, it's with a
Dan Canary. Now he's the CEO of Mass Bay Brewing Company.
Of course, that's Harpoon and Long Trail. A lot of
headlines in the beer industry this fall. None of them
are particularly a great Molsen and cores. We're talking about
(05:14):
weakness in the marketplace. They're talking about trimming sales outlook.
I know that John Chester with the Globes and writing
a lot about consolidation in the beer industry, So a
lot to talk about Dan Canary with.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Absolutely, but there is one one constant I think, and
that's that there is a core group of individuals out
there who love beer and they're always going to drink beer.
You know. It's just that all these I pas and
there's just so many options. You do wonder if that
starts to consolidate some And Kim.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
We've been talking about it, but it all had to
do with that question one on the ballot last week,
and it has to do with the whole idea of
giving the state auditor the power to audit the legislature,
in other words, to you know, take a look at
the book, so to speak. Necessarily. Well, the House Speaker
Ron Marianno, Senate President Karen Spielked never didn't like the idea,
(06:05):
and so they've been pushing back over the past year
and a half or so on this whole idea. State
Auditor Diana Dozaglio, you know, former state rep and then
a state Senator and now has been auditor since January
of twenty twenty three, she joins us. Now, Auditor Dozaglio,
you had a big victory there seventy one percent of
(06:26):
the voters in the state sided with you. Let's get
your reaction to what happened.
Speaker 5 (06:33):
I just want to say thank you to everybody who
came out to vote, Thanks to all the volunteers, Thanks
to all the signature gatherers. We had to get one
hundred thousand signatures just to get this issue on the ballot,
and I want to say thank you to everyone whoill
helped to make that happen. The voters have spoken loudly
and clearly that they want increased transparency, accountability, and accessibility
(06:55):
regarding our state legislature, which, as you know, is ranked
as one of the least it's not the least transparent
state legislature in the entire nation. Folks want access to
financial receipts. They want access to how our legislative leaders
are spending their tax dollars in those state contracts that
they're giving out. They want to make sure those things
(07:16):
are being done legally and in compliance with the law.
You know, I think that it's great that taxpayers across
Massachusetts came together, regardless of party affiliation, crossing party lines
to join forces on making sure that we are making
government work better. Thank you to everybody who helps to
get this across the finish line.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
So water, prior to this passing, you had the ability
to audit any other state entity except the legislature unless
they gave permission. Correct. So why was that the case?
Why was that the case?
Speaker 5 (07:54):
Well, we actually are mandated by law to audit all
state departments, and the legislature was actually always audited up
until recent years. It's actually only been in recent years
that a handful of legislative leaders have balked at the
idea of accountability through the audits that our office provides.
(08:16):
Our office, you know, we're not the spire we are.
We don't go in and talk desks and take people's
cell phones. We have an office full of auditors and
they simply look at process procedures, programmatic efficiencies, and inefficiencies.
It's actually a service that we provide to state entities
to make sure that state entities are aware of some
(08:37):
of the challenges they might have, so that they can
work together with our office to fix those challenges and
to make sure that things are corrected before you know,
situations become really problematic. It's a service that the Auditor's
office provides to state entities and the legislative leaders only
in recent years have refused to participate, causing us to
(08:59):
try to take this matter to court. We were denied
access by the Attorney General who sided with the legislative
leaders and said they don't have to comply, and that
caused us to have to pursue this valid initiative to
make it crystal clear by literally including the words the
General Court in the same language that says all departments,
(09:21):
because they were trying to exempt themselves from what every
other state entity received. And obviously that's problematic. If there's
nothing to hide, you know, open up the books, let
us take a look and let taxpayers know what's going
on up on Beacon Hells bogging.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
With State Auditor Diana Dezaglio. So are we on our
way back to court?
Speaker 5 (09:42):
Well, I've actually been asking Joe to go to court
for the last year and a half to have this
matter adjudicated. It's deeply concerning that the Attorney General's office
has blocked our access to be able to have an
impartial hearing, which is every citizen's constitutional right. She actually
unilaterally made the decision to decide this matter as an
(10:08):
executive branch agent of the Commonwealth, which is a violation
of the separation of powers to exercise the powers of
the court and not allow this matter to be adjudicated.
And it's my belief that legislative leaders know very well
that they're already violating the law. They know very well
that there are not constitutional concerns with this matter, because
(10:32):
what's unknown to folks is they actually audit the executive branch.
They have what's called the Post Audit and Oversight Committee
that has full subpoena authority over all of the governor's
executive branch agencies, and they conduct performance audits and they
have through the years, have had legislative auditors, So they
(10:53):
audit the executive branch in the same way that our
office seeks to audit the legislative branch. What they're essentially
saying is an audit for thee but not for me,
and they're saying that they're the only ones who shouldn't
be subject to this. I don't think that's an argument
that's going to hold up in court, especially since they
(11:13):
themselves aughtit the executive branch.
Speaker 6 (11:16):
So I don't.
Speaker 5 (11:16):
Actually think that that's going to be the route they take.
But if they do I'm happy to have that conversation
in court to adjudicate this matter once and for all
and to fight for what we believe is the right
thing to do. And it's a basic matter of making
sure that there's accountability in all departments of the government.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
So, Auditor having said that, and you're sort of waiting
to see if this ends up back in court, what
are the next steps now that the people have spoken
what happens next? As far as you're concerned.
Speaker 5 (11:44):
Next steps are ensuring that legislators are crystal clear that
their constituencies expect them to uphold the will of the
people on this matter. It's much more likely if they
do choose to ditmis effort, that they would choose to
do so by trying to overturn the law that you
(12:06):
voted for as the people of the Commonwealth. They're no
longer fighting with the Auditor's office on this issue. They
would be fighting with the people that they represent, who
just spoke very loudly that they want transparency, that they
want this to happen. So there is the chance that
these speaker ands andate President could strong arm the membership,
(12:27):
which is something that is not unusual up there, and
that they could try to strong arm the rank and
file legislators into voting to overturn the will of the people.
So please call your legislator let them know that you
expect them to uphold the will of the people if
there's any effort to overturn the law that you just
(12:48):
voted for and passed. And also call the governor's office
and let her know that if there are any attempts
to overturn the law, that you want her to veto
those attempts and that will help us to proceed and
to be able to finally just do our jobs and
conduct an audit.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Talking with State Auditor Diana Dezaglio, Now, you served in
the House where it looks like six or seven years.
You served as a state senator for it looks like
four years here on your resume. What is it you're
looking for? What is it that is being kept from
the public.
Speaker 5 (13:24):
Yeah, I do know where to look. If that's the question.
I do know where to look. I served ten years
as a legislator. I think that's what the speaking speaker
ins and a president are really nervous about, is the
fact that I do have that experience. I do know
where to look and where I would look is exactly
where the audit that I just released said I would look.
(13:44):
We have an audit up on my website. It's seventy
seven pages long, and it's missing a lot of information
that we requested from the legislatives. You can go to
mass dot gov forward slash auditor and take a look
at that. Here are just some of the things we requested, Joe.
We requested access to information about how they are funding
(14:06):
with your tax dollars. Non disclosure roomans to silence their
critics and to you know, hide potential harassment, discrimination, or abuse,
or maybe even outright corruption, right, that's a concern. They
refuse to show us those documents. We're looking for financial
receipts to verify that what they claim that they've spent
(14:28):
on different items that they claim to have purchased, you know,
or different things that they claim to have paid for
on the comptroller's website. We want to see the financial
documentation to back up what they're claiming they spent money on.
They've refused to produce any financial receipts to our office.
We would also look at state contracts. As you know,
state contracts are given out. There's an RFP process. There's
(14:51):
a procurement process and a bidding process that's required by
laws in many instances. We want to make sure that
where a competitive bidding was supposed to be in place,
for example, that that actually existed and that folks didn't
just give out hundreds of thousands of dollars of your
tax dollars to their friends without a bidding process and
a state contract. So those are the initial concerns that
(15:13):
we would look at. And Phil Great, take a look
at that website.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Way Will.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
Sounds like you've got a lot on your plate there,
and we do appreciate you joining us on the New
England Business Report on this Sunday morning. That, of course
is State Auditor Diana Disaglio. Looking ahead, we're going to
talk with the managing editor of the Boston Business Journal,
Don Seifert, and he's going to talk about what this
new administration Washington, DC means for the clean energy industry
(15:39):
here in Massachusetts.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
You are listening to the New England Business Report on
the Voice of Boston WRKO six 't eighty Joe and
Kim will be right back.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Hi, everybody, It's Kim care or get along with Bill
Chase of High Tech Windows Insiding. Now. Bill, we've been
hearing a lot about your windows being the same windows
installed at the top of Mount Washington, and that these
windows are only sold by high Tech.
Speaker 7 (16:05):
That's right, Kim.
Speaker 8 (16:06):
Our Summer Series windows are designed to keep your house
warm in the window and cool in the summer, and
can withstand the harsh New England weather better than any
other window on the market.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
That sounds great, But what about the cost, Bill, Because
things have been pretty tight for people these days.
Speaker 8 (16:20):
Well, that's a great reason to call us now, Kim.
Our windows are half the price of the big window companies,
and right now we are offering.
Speaker 7 (16:27):
By one window, get one off. But call us now.
This is our bigger sale of the year.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
It sounds terrific. So the best prices and the best
quality call high Tech today at nine seven eight seven
seven one eight nine three nine. That's nine seven eight
seven seven one eighty nine thirty nine. Or visit high
Tech Corp Nott Viiz for a free estimate. Our love.
Speaker 9 (16:56):
All in love with driving a brand new Trusted twenty
twenty four Subaru cross Track starting at twenty five one
ninety five with two point nine percent financing for up
to forty eight months, or lease for just two ninety
nine per month for thirty six months with two thousand
and five forty nine duet signing with standard symmetrical all
(17:17):
wheel drive to take on any terrank and eyesight driver
says technology. The twenty twenty four cross Track is built
for you to confidently explore wherever your full adventures take you.
Fall in love with a brand new twenty twenty four
Subaru Crosstrack. Buy with two point nine percent financing or
lease for just two ninety nine per month. Four Complete
(17:38):
details and define your authorized Subaro retailer. Visit Subaru of
New England dot com.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Fin Hi, everybody, I'm Kim Carrigan.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
And I'm Joe Shortsley. If you want to be part
of the New England Business Report, sponsorships are still available.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
You can email us at any Business Radio at gmail
dot com.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
That's any Business Radio all one word at gmail dot
com and we'll get your business on the show too.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Welcome back, everybody, great to have you with us this morning.
Joe Tuesday's election it certainly will have some consequences when
it comes to business here in the state, and for
that matter, all across the country. Who better to talk
about that than the managing editor of the Boston Business Journal,
Don Seipher. Good to have you with us. Don, You
guys wrote about a number of sectors in the business
(18:44):
world that could be impacted by the change in Washington, DC.
Let's start with the clean energy business here in Massachusetts.
This is an area that our governor has felt very
strongly about and has proposed a lot of dollars going
that way up.
Speaker 4 (19:01):
Yeah, this is I mean, in some ways, the Heey
administration has seen it kind of very similar to the
way that the Patrick administration fifteen years ago saw the
Life Science of initiative, where they poured a lot of
investment into building up the life sciences industry here in Massachusetts.
(19:21):
And that's why we've seen as a very successful model
where you know, where you create a an agency that
that helps these companies to thrive and even invest in
them to you know, for promises to build their employee
base here. Heely has seen this as a as a
big initiative that you know, this could be the next
big thing for Massachusetts. Really that clean energy is there's
(19:43):
going to be more and more demand for that, and
so she's been trying to I mean, it hasn't passed
because of these problems on Beacon Hill. But but I'm
sure that it's not completely dead.
Speaker 9 (19:56):
You know, she's got a.
Speaker 4 (19:56):
Big interest in really growing the clean energy industry in
the state.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
Don ciphers our guests of don Where are the concerns
what what what is this industry concerns about?
Speaker 4 (20:06):
Well, I mean, frankly, it is with the election of
Donald Trump, uh, as someone who has you know, basically
said as much that he does not believe really in
climate change is you know, he's called it a hoax.
He's physically said, uh. You know, even in his victory
speech he talked about a boy boost oil and gas,
you know, calling it liquid gold. And so the worry
(20:29):
is that, uh, is that federal funding and and you know,
federal help really in building the clean energy uh uh
industry is going to or could very well diminished greatly
under Trump president over the next four years. The the
i r A, the Inflation Reduction Act, which you know, uh,
(20:50):
you know, pass under Joe Biden, had a lot of
clean energy uh measures in it, and a lot of
them are are you know, are in danger frankly, especially
if Republicans now as it looks like more and more
likely could also take both the Senate and the House,
and it would be very easy for them to get
rid of a whole lot of a whole lot of
(21:12):
quan energy measures that we're seen as you know, steps
forward under the Biden industry.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
I've done talk to us a little bit about how
many people are employed in this state associated with tween energy.
Speaker 4 (21:26):
So actually I don't I don't remember exactly how many
are are totally employed, but I under you know, under
the Biden inministration, we added almost five thousand jobs, seven
hundred jobs. And we excuse that was under the Trump
administration from twenty seventeen to twenty twenty four thousand, five
(21:47):
thousand jobs. Under Biden's administration, we added nearly seven thousand
jobs in just two years of it, so much faster
rate of growth of the industry under Biden than under Trump.
And even before Trump there was there was a great uh,
a great uh, you know, increase in the number of employees.
So you know, it's kind of does put some numbers
(22:08):
on this speculation that is that the growth of this industry,
you know, it may still grow, but grow a lot
slower than it than it.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
Gets under Biden, Uh, don Seifert.
Speaker 10 (22:18):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
I guess my question is this is, you know, how
big a deal is obviously the federal dollars and as
opposed to say, the state dollars or or private money
as it comes to uh, these clean energy initiatives.
Speaker 4 (22:31):
Yeah, I mean, I mean the federal I mean the
federal money. I mean, the state relies on a great
deal of steral money. Uh. And you know, obviously it's
not just for uh, it's not just for clean energy.
But but you know, I mean if you think about all,
I mean, I think a quarter of the state budget
is really ceteral uh, you know, ceteral money. And if
(22:53):
you take away some of that, I mean we're I mean,
whether or not it's typically targeted clean energy, you know,
mats to there is worry that that you know, Massachusetts
has probably one of the bluest states that there is
that you know there there many well be interested in
just reducing the amount of aid in general. So even
regardless of whether that money is typically going to clean
(23:16):
energy right now, and a reduction in any of our
any of our federal aid is going to affect kind
of everything. So I mean, I think that that's part
of it. You know, you mentioned private investment. I mean, yeah,
there are quite a bit, quite a number of companies
in the state that are that are investing this now.
(23:36):
But but again, you know, and you know that maybe
you could argue that if if they do better under
the Trump presidency, which is seen as more business friendly,
then maybe that investment could go up. You know that
they'd have money, more money to spare. But you know,
who knows that's if that's really going to happen.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
Absolutely all right, Don Seifert, We thank you so much
for being a part of the show this morning, very much.
Appreciate your insight a well. The holiday season it's creeping
up on all of us very clickly, very quickly. So
what can retailers expect here in Massachusetts? Deloitte Holiday survey
is coming up next.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
Kim and Joe, we'll explore more business news that impacts
our New England economy when they return.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
Are you thinking about selling your home but hesitant because
of your low rate mortgage, or concerned it might sell
too quickly, leaving you without a place to go. I'm
Joe Shortzleeve and we hear you. These are real concerns
for many homeowners today, but I've got good news. Lamachi
Areality has faced these challenges head on and comes equipped
with solutions they use daily with their clients. Curious about
(24:42):
the innovative approaches, Lamachi are Reality employees to help you
sell your home while securing your next one, Visit want
tobseller dot com.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
Fall in love with the all new tw.
Speaker 9 (25:00):
Forester starting at twenty nine six ninety five with three
point nine percent financing for up to forty eight months
or lease for just three nineteen per month for thirty
six months with three thousand, two nineteen duet signing. The
fully redesigned twenty twenty five Forester is equipped with the
latest in Subaru safety technology like upgraded standard symmetrical all
(25:21):
wheel drive and eyesight drivers says technology to keep you
safe on every fall adventure. Fall in love with the
twenty twenty five Subaru Forester file with three point nine
percent financing for up to forty eight months or lease
for just three nineteen per month with three thousand, two
nineteen duet signing.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
Four complete details and to find.
Speaker 9 (25:40):
Your authorized Subero retailer, Visit Subaru of New England dot com.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
Fu Hi Everybody, It's Kim Kare or get along with
Bill Chase of high Tech Windows and Siding. Now, Bill,
we've been hearing a lot about your windows being the
same windows installed at the time top of Mount Washington,
and these windows are only sold by high Tech.
Speaker 7 (26:03):
That's right, Kim.
Speaker 8 (26:04):
Our Summer Series windows are designed to keep your house
warm in the winter and cool in the summer and
can withstand the harsh New England weather better than any
other window on the market.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
That sounds great. But what about the cost, Bill, Because
things have been pretty tight for people these days.
Speaker 8 (26:18):
Well, that's a great reason to call us now, Kim.
Our windows are half the price of the big window companies,
and right now we are offering buy one window, get
one off.
Speaker 7 (26:28):
But call us now. This is our biggest sale of
the year.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
It sounds terrific. So the best prices and the best
quality call high Tech today at ninety seven eight seven
seven one eight nine three nine. That's nine seven eight
seven seven one eighty nine thirty nine, or visit high
Tech Corp dot viiz for a free estimate.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
The New England Business Report on WRKO is brought to
you in part by Lamachia Realty Lomachia Reealty you will
guide you to your success. Visit La Macchiarealty dot com and.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
Welcome back to the New England Business Report on this
Sunday morning. Still ahead, we're gonna be talking with the
CEO of the mass brewing company, Dan Canary about beer sales.
And we're also going to find out about that survey
that's out from Deloitte to talk about how much we're
spending on Christmas this year. We already talked about Question
one kim with the state Auditor there allowing the auditor
(27:27):
to audit the legislatrip there on Beacon Hill. Well, Question
three also passed, and I'm taking a look at the
Boston Globe here, and Question three grants uber and lyft
drivers the right to organize labor unions in Massachusetts for
the very first time. It passed narrowly. It was the
closest vote of the five referendums of the ballot. Not
(27:47):
officially called until last Wednesday, but ninety five percent of
the precinct reporting say that you know, fifty four percent
approved the vote. What it takes effect next month, gig
drivers will be able to vote to umannon unionize and
negotiate contracts. And that's something that they haven't been able
to do anywhere in the country.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
Yeah, they said it's going to take a while. You know,
this is not going to be something that happens overnight.
It'll take a while to organize and to unionize.
Speaker 10 (28:14):
You know.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
It's really funny because I think a lot of people
were very torn on that question, and because there was
you know, the anti was that you know, gig drivers
have said over and over, we don't want anybody controlling anything.
We want to do this on our terms. So it'll
be interesting to see the kind of pressure once a
(28:36):
union begins on those who maybe don't want to be
part of the union.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
Okay, time to break out the wallet and decide what
you're going to be spending on Christmas gifts this year.
You know, Kim's been buying Christmas tree after Christmas tree
after Christmas tree. Many of us are just going to
be buying straight up gifts. How much are we going
to spend them? Well, we all like to know that number,
right But the folks over at Deloitte they have a
number for you, and they're going to share it with
us right now. They have a survey out about Christmas
(29:02):
shopping and joining us to talk about. That is Anthony Jardam.
He is a principal there at Deloit. Anthony, Before we
get into that Christmas spending number, tell us about Deloitte.
What is it exactly?
Speaker 11 (29:13):
You guys do absolutely, thank you, Joe. Deloitte is a
global professional services network that offers as a range of
services including audit and assurance consulting, financial advisory, risk advisory,
and tax and legal expertise.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
All right, okay, so every year you do this survey.
How do you do the survey? How do you come
up with the number.
Speaker 11 (29:33):
This is, believe it or not, the thirty eighth year
that we have done this survey. We have rolled it
out to about four hundred and forty consumers from the
Boston area and we did it around the time period
of August thirtieth to September seventeenth this year.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
Okay, and tell us exactly what you found.
Speaker 11 (29:53):
Yes, So what we found was basically, after expressing record
holidays spending intentions in twenty twenty three, our customers are
planning to up their purchases and plan to spend around
approximately one thousand, seven hundred and seventy eight dollars at
an eight percent increase year over year this holiday season.
(30:14):
A couple other indicators Joe, that really stood out to
me is there is an uptick and spend that's really
attributed to a rosier economic outlook, perceived to buy higher prices.
So there's a little bit of inflation concern and an
increase and spend this year as well.
Speaker 3 (30:32):
So tell us about this that this number is now
close to two thousand dollars for the Christmas season and
what does that mean? That number is exactly what I'm
going to spend on all my Christmas spending or that's
just you know, I'm going to spend that on you know,
a family or.
Speaker 11 (30:46):
So yeah, that's per family.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
Okay, all right, Now I understand though that there's a
change this year and that they're saying that, you know,
gift cards they are past a they're out. What's in
this year?
Speaker 11 (30:59):
Yeah, absolutely, So a couple of the categories that really
stood out this year are gifts and experiences that's on
the rise. So it makes a lot of sense. Right
coming out of COVID, We're seeing a lot of families
want to host different events. Uh and you know, food
and beverage is part of that category, or they may
want to go on different you know, travel excursions or
(31:20):
concerts or you know, different types of experiences that they
can provide their families and loved ones.
Speaker 3 (31:28):
Talking with Anthony Jardam, he's a principal at Deloitte, talking
about their new Christmas survey how much money you're going
to spend on Christmas this year? So, and a lot
of people are concerned about the economy, uh, you know,
wondering what's going to happen next. You're saying there's a
little bit of bullishness in your findings.
Speaker 11 (31:46):
Yeah, absolutely, so, a little bit of bullishness in the
overall economic uh situation. And you know that has contributed
to a little bit of optimism on the con to
be improving in the new year. And as we mentioned
at earlier still about those that we surveyed in the
(32:06):
Boston area seven and ten expect higher prices. That is
down a little bit last year which was eight and
ten on an inflation perceptions as well.
Speaker 3 (32:16):
And where are we spending this money? Are we spending
this money in the small retail shops, mom and pops?
Are we spending it online? Where are we spending our dollars?
Speaker 11 (32:27):
Yeah? Absolutely, so, you know when we look at the
areas that we're going to be spending in. Spending in
general is going to be a little bit more online
than in stores, and we're spending the bulk of our
dollars in mass and retail locations. The other interesting thing
is to stretch that wallet. This year, consumers going to be,
(32:50):
you know, looking at a variety of locations for that gift.
So there's going to be a little bit of balance
between loyalty for some of those retailers that they have
historically shopped at and making sure they're getting the best
value and quality for their dollars, so they may go
to a variety of locations to do that.
Speaker 6 (33:10):
Mm hm.
Speaker 3 (33:12):
The other thing I found interesting in your survey has
to do with the use of AI this time around.
How do I use that to go Christmas shopping? Anthony?
Speaker 11 (33:23):
Yeah, I found that really interesting too, Joe. So AI
being used as a tool to find some of those
deals in promotion, So as they're looking to stretch that wallet,
they're looking for advice and guidance and ideas where to
go to get the best deals, and AI has been
a popular tool this year that retailers are leveraging.
Speaker 3 (33:43):
How are you tracking that. How do you know that?
Speaker 11 (33:46):
Yeah, this is based on the survey and those that
we spoke to, we asked, you know you leveraging social media?
Are you leveraging Instagram or inspiration for that treasure hunt
for looking for that value and that perfect gift, And
you know a lot of them said this year, we're
actually leveraging AI as well, Like if you think of
different AI tools Chat, GPT and others that folks are
(34:08):
using on their phones or their laptops to come up
with different ideas and.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
Anything surprising in the survey to you, Anthony, you guys
do this every year. You pull it out and take
a look at the data. What jumped out at you?
Speaker 11 (34:20):
Yeah, you know, we talked a little bit about gift
cards earlier. Right, gift cards was definitely one of the
hot areas last year, but you know we talked about
that being actually one of the area or the categories
that saw the significant decrease and you know a couple
of reasons for that or inflation concerns and a fifty
dollars gift card this year compared to last year might
not be as meaningful. And then if you gave that
(34:41):
level one a gift card last year, you might not
want to give them the same gift again this year.
So that kind of makes sense too.
Speaker 3 (34:49):
But the emphasis now is we're all buying experiences. Now
that's sort of a general title. I mean, whether you know,
I guess it's a cooking class or a weekend at
a hotel, But what is the buying experiences?
Speaker 11 (35:00):
So in experiences as a whole could mean a variety
of different things. So we said travel, it could be
hosting gatherings, and when you're hosting gatherings, you might need
to actually stock up on different types of decorations and accessories,
food and beverage that we mentioned as well. You could
look to, you know, ahead of the calendar and say, hey,
(35:22):
what are some of those concerts that we want to
give as a gift our activities. You know, if you
look back at our back to school survey, which wasn't
too long ago, we saw our big uptick in getting
children enrolled in extracurricular activities. So you know, maybe it's
a gear that you actually need for those activities that
you're going to be enrolling your children in.
Speaker 3 (35:41):
Talking with Anthony Jiardam, he is a principal at Deloitte
talking about their new survey out that which says basically
that we're going to spend about two thousand dollars on
Christmas this year. Now, when I hear that number, I
think of it in terms of that's the number the
presence I'm going to buy. But you mentioned something a
moment ago that kind of got my attention. What about
Christmas decorations for the home? What about what about you know,
(36:01):
Kim's six Christmas trees? What about that number?
Speaker 11 (36:04):
Yeah, exactly. So you know, out of all the categories
we talked about, experiencing being the one that was the
biggest growth, clothing and accessories is the one that has
the larger spend, and that was the same last year too,
So you know, and that isn't really too surprising if
you think about it, because those are definitely areas that
you know, are of Boston shoppers are historically looking at.
(36:28):
But you know, we definitely saw a decrease a little
bit in home decre or furniture and stuff, or even
electronics because you might not he might have actually got
some of those gifts a year ago, might not need
to replace them.
Speaker 3 (36:40):
All right. He's Anthony Jardam of Deloitte. Thank you very
much for sharing this survey with this on the New
England Business Report.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
Well, Joe, as we talk about the holiday season, one
thing that I think all of us have been saying
is that Chure doesn't feel like Mother Nature knows what
time of year it is, but we also know she's
going to catch up and eventually it's going to get
pretty darn cold, and we're all going to need that
heat turned up in our houses and we're going to
hope that we have done all the right things to
insulate and be prepared to save dollars. You have the
(37:10):
heat on it at your house, yes.
Speaker 3 (37:12):
Oh yeah, Kim, but it also takes electricity to power
those Christmas trees.
Speaker 2 (37:18):
They're going crazy. So joining us to talk a little
bit more about making sure that your homes are comfortable
and ways to save money is our friend Bill Chase.
He is the president of High Tech Windows and Siding.
It's great to have you with us, Bill.
Speaker 6 (37:38):
Hi, Kim, Hi Joe. Great to be with you guys.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
Bill, you and ever chatting about this, Bill, and you
gave me some stats associated with heating your home this winter.
Can you share those with our listeners. Some of the
things that you've learned when it comes to cost.
Speaker 6 (37:52):
Yeah, I was reading an article last month and reported
that home heating costs are potentially going to jump up
ten and a half percent this winter, and then consumers
who use electricity will be hit the hardest. They're going
(38:13):
to be bumped up to potentially over thirteen percent. So
that's quite a bit for homeowners out there. And I
know that just from being in the business of thirty
years that homeowners lose eighty percent of their heat and
cooling costs out there. Windows and doors, all right, And.
Speaker 3 (38:34):
That's where you come in, Bill, What how do those numbers?
How do those numbers change once high tech windows has
made a visit to your home?
Speaker 6 (38:44):
Well, Joe, if you our ravage, so our average customer
has about fifteen windows and two doors in their home.
And if you if you think of it this way,
so think of if you have an inefficient window or door,
think of it as a as a size of a
brick of air going out each each window. And then
(39:08):
a few times that. By fifteen windows, it's almost like
keeping a window open in your house all year long.
And just think about the cooling and the heating costs
that is associated with that, So I know that you know,
with our Summit Series Triple pain window, we project that
(39:32):
homeowners can lower their costs up to thirty percent when
the heat and cool you know, heating on, heating and cooling.
Speaker 2 (39:42):
Wow. Wow, that's terrific. And those Summit Series Triple pain windows,
those are the ones that are on Mount Washington, right,
that's correct, which is fantastic.
Speaker 6 (39:54):
I know you miles per hour up there.
Speaker 2 (39:56):
Yeah, if it could keep them warm up there, then
it ought to be able to keep you warm at
their house. Right. So Bill, at this stage of the game,
because you know, I said as we started, we've had
some crazy weather and you know this last week we
back up in the high seventies, but it is going
to get cold and that's going to happen pretty quickly.
How quickly can someone have new windows in their home
(40:17):
if they were to call right now, most of.
Speaker 6 (40:20):
Our installs, we can do them as in as quick
as one day. And because of the custom fit, every
window that we do is measured down to the quarter
inch of custom fit because that's very important to get
the right fit. So we could actually get new windows
(40:40):
installed in your house and within thirty days.
Speaker 3 (40:45):
Bill you're probably a pretty good judge of the local economy,
how homeowners are feeling these days and when they want
to spend money on fixing up their homes. Give us
a snapshot of the well, you know, the homeowner hair
economy at this point.
Speaker 6 (41:03):
Yeah, our business has been knock on wood very good
this year. We offer some terrific finance programs which have
been very popular, so you can you can do it
a couple of different ways with us. We can give
you a low monthly payment or right now, we're doing
a promotion where you can buy the windows now and
(41:27):
pay for them in a year twelve months, no money down,
no payments, no interest for a year, so you could
get brandow windows before the cold winter hits and pay
for them you know, next November.
Speaker 2 (41:44):
Wow, that's quite a deal. And I want to ask
you about your involvement here at w r KO. High
Tech has taken great interest in what's coming up tomorrow,
which is of course Veterans Day and here on WRKO
there is always a radiothon to raise money for the
dav disabled American veterans. Tell me how you guys are
(42:07):
getting involved in that.
Speaker 6 (42:09):
Well, I know that I wouldn't be able to do
what we do at high Tech if it wasn't for
the veterans that have served this country. So it's a
very important cause to me. So for this month, the
month of November, for every Summit Series triple pain window
(42:32):
that we sell, we are going to donate twenty five
dollars to the DAV.
Speaker 2 (42:38):
That's terrific. Great, well, I know that over at the
DAV they appreciate that, and we appreciate you Bill very much.
Here on the New England Business Report. For anybody who
is interested in getting involved, meaning getting them out to
take a look at your home and maybe you'd like
to buy some of those Summit Series triple pain windows
(42:58):
to keep your house warm and then do a good
thing for the DAV. You can reach out at high
Techcorp dot biz, or you can call them at nine
seven eight three eight one sixteen thirty nine. All right,
still come in your way here. We're gonna talk beer.
Who doesn't like that?
Speaker 1 (43:18):
Joe?
Speaker 3 (43:18):
Right on a Sunday morning, there's nothing better.
Speaker 2 (43:21):
Hey, there's football today, right, everybody needs to know about
beer today. Dan Canary, the CEO of Harpoo Brewery, will
be our guest.
Speaker 1 (43:32):
You are listening to the New England Business Report on
the Voice of Boston WRKO six't eighty Joe and Kim
will be right back.
Speaker 2 (43:44):
Hi, everybody, it's Kim kra Get along with Bill Chase
of high Tech Windows Insiding.
Speaker 6 (43:47):
Now.
Speaker 2 (43:48):
Bill, we've been hearing a lot about your windows being
the same windows installed at the top of Mount Washington
and that these windows are only sold by high Tech.
Speaker 7 (43:55):
That's right, Kim.
Speaker 8 (43:56):
Our Summer Series windows are designed to keep your house
warm in than when are and cool in the summer
and can withstand the hash New England weather better than
any other window on the market.
Speaker 2 (44:06):
That sounds great, But what about the cost, Bill, Because
things have been pretty tight for people these.
Speaker 8 (44:10):
Days, Well that's a great reason to call us now, Kim.
Our windows are half the price of the big window companies,
and right now we are offering buy one window, get
one forty percent off.
Speaker 7 (44:20):
But call us now. This is our bigger sale of
the year.
Speaker 2 (44:23):
It sounds terrific. So the best prices and the best
quality call high Tech today at nine seven eight seven
seven one eight nine three nine. That's nine seven eight
seven seven one eighty nine thirty nine, or visit high
Tech Corp dot Viz for a free estimate.
Speaker 9 (44:41):
Every year, six point three million animals enter shelters across
the country. That's why October is Subru loves Pets Month.
Each October, Subru of New England proudly partners with twelve
non profit animal shelters throughout New England for s any
loves Pets.
Speaker 2 (44:58):
When you post a photo or video of your pet on.
Speaker 9 (45:00):
Social media using hashtag SNE loves Pets, Subaru of New
England will donate five dollars toward our local shelter partners
up to seventy five thousand dollars.
Speaker 7 (45:11):
With your help.
Speaker 9 (45:11):
Through SNE loves Pets, Subar of New England has donated
over five hundred thousand dollars to animal shelters across New England.
Getting involved is easy. Your phone is full of photos
of your furry friend. Postline using hashtag SNE loves Pets
and will donate five dollars to New England animal shelters.
Learn more about hashtag SNE loves Pets at Subaru of
(45:35):
New England dot com. Love It's what makes Subaru Subaru Hi.
Speaker 3 (45:43):
I'm Joe short Sleeve and you need to know that
Navigating today's real estate market. To find your dream home
isn't a simple as a quick online search.
Speaker 2 (45:50):
Hi, everyone, this is Kim Caragan. What you really need
is a realtor who brings not just expertise and dedication
to the table, but also exclusive access to home before
they even hit the market. That's where Lamachia Realty shines.
Speaker 3 (46:04):
Lamachia Reality dot Com. That's Lamachia Realty dot com. Their
relators don't just have a list of homeless for sale,
they have connections to hundreds of potential sellers who are
considering selling but haven't listed their home yet.
Speaker 2 (46:18):
Choosing to work with a Lamachia real Dream means you're
always one step ahead, fully informed, and in the best
position to find your dream home.
Speaker 3 (46:26):
Ready to start your search with the best.
Speaker 2 (46:28):
Head over to Lamachiarealty dot com. That's Lamachiarealty dot com.
Speaker 1 (46:40):
The New England Business Report on WRKO is brought to
you in part by Subaru of New England. Feel the
freedom of a brand new twenty twenty four Subaru featuring
symmetrical all wheel drive. Subaruf New England dot Com.
Speaker 3 (46:53):
Brought to you by high Tech Windows. Their windows are
installed at the top of Mount Washington and are made
in New England for New England weather.
Speaker 2 (47:00):
Well, Joe, there's no two ways about it. We Knew Englanders.
We love our beer, and especially beer that's brewed just
right here in New England. I mean that just makes
it that much better.
Speaker 11 (47:10):
Right.
Speaker 10 (47:10):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (47:11):
It's certainly a big business and we're so happy to
have our next guest with us to talk about it.
Dan Canary is the CEO of Harpoon Brewery and Dan,
great to have you along.
Speaker 10 (47:20):
Great to be with both of you. Thank you.
Speaker 2 (47:22):
We have some history here. We were just talking about that.
You know, we first got to know you back when
we were on Bloomberg and Joe was just talking about
some time that he had to walk out of the building.
That was because you guys were having too many breweries.
Speaker 3 (47:34):
We're leaning on each other as we made it out, and.
Speaker 10 (47:44):
The financial district had had a lot of stuff going on.
Speaker 2 (47:47):
Go hey, Dan on behalf of Joe, who is a
holy Cross alone, tell him what's out there right now
for all of those folks who love holy Cross and
those who don't.
Speaker 10 (48:00):
Yeah, you know, I'm a Worcester guy, grandfather Class of
nineteen fifteen. Life is holy Cross and so we are
doing a Holy Cross hazy ipa with our friends up
in Mount Saint James. So yeah, came out a month
or two ago, kind of the kickoff the football season.
Beautiful purple can, Holy Cross logo. It's a lot of fun.
Speaker 3 (48:20):
And how did that come about? Dan? Seriously? I mean,
you know somebody, I'm sure everybody comes up to you
and says, hey, will you make a beer for me?
But I mean, how did this come about?
Speaker 10 (48:28):
You know, like most good things at life, Joe came
about probably over a beer conversation with the college and saying,
you know what, It's happened with some other schools around
the country, Marquette and Yukon, et cetera. And so I
think got you guys are ever interested? You know, we
would love to do a beer with you. I have
such deep Worcester roots and Holy Cross ties. And so
(48:48):
finally they said, you know what, They talked to the
higher ups up there and I'm Mount Saint James, and
they kind of got the go ahead. And you know,
I think Holy Cross folks and the loves have been
known to have a beer to Joe, and so that
seems to be that there's been some real excitement about it,
So we're having a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (49:07):
So Dan I was doing a little research on beer
and the Brewers Association was out with some stats. It
said the US beer production and imports were down five
percent in twenty three. Well, craft beer volume sales in
declined by one percent. Talk to us about what's happening
there at Harpoon Brewery and how things have been.
Speaker 10 (49:28):
Yeah, No, we are absolutely in a downturn phase in
craft beer and has been for the last two or
three years. You know, we've been at this longer than
almost anyone with brewing perman zero one in MASSACHUSETTSS the
minche late eighties, So we've been through some of these before,
where you know, you have lunch to sustained created growth
and then it cools off and you have to fight
(49:48):
your way through it. So when we started the one
hundred brewers in the entire country, now they're over ten thousand.
You have wine and spirits, RTD cocktails coming and blurring
of the line. You have THHC coming in. You have
overall assumption declining, as you just said. So the pie
is getting a little smaller, and the number of slices
of that pie has grown exponentially. So these basic economics
(50:12):
in the industry are tough and challenging for almost everyone.
There certainly are some exceptions to that, but for the
most part, I know a lot of fellow craft brewers
who were you know, having early work hard for their
for their revenue.
Speaker 3 (50:26):
These days, where are the bright spots Dan?
Speaker 10 (50:30):
You know, certain styles and certain brands Joe, Like in
our portfolio, our Shed brand from Vermont is doing well
hardpoon I p A continues to show some resiliency certain
certain you know pockets uh throughout you know the on
print and excuse me, the owned sales world, like our
beer haul sales here and our two you know beer
(50:51):
gardens up in Vermont continue to do okay. If you
deliver a solid product, people respond to it. But if
you go into the store and you just know, you
know what it's like, if you want to just go
buy a six pack, it can take you twenty minutes
to kind of figure out because they have thirty six
different ideas. All shopping experience has gotten kind of daunting,
and I think consumers are kind of pulling back and saying, like,
(51:13):
wait a second, I'm overmatched right now, and they're taking
their time taking these decisions.
Speaker 3 (51:19):
So all these choices are bad for consumers or bad
for the beer industry.
Speaker 10 (51:23):
You know, Joe, I should explain that carefully because now
the choice is typically a wonderful thing. I mean, we started,
our whole goal was to bring choice and develop your
culture in this country. So it's an awesome thing. But
I'd say this beer is a perishable product. It is
best consumed within ninety or one hundred and twenty, or
maybe on hundred and fifty days of being produced package.
(51:44):
So you have a lot of stuff and it's sitting
on the shelves. That's not good for anybody. So there
is a fine line between choice and quality in some ways.
Even if you go to a bar that has a
gazillion taps and they've got some of these that they're
sitting on the line for a long time, that's not great.
So there is choice overall is a good thing. But
(52:05):
there in our industry there can be a situation where
too much is not necessarily good.
Speaker 2 (52:12):
Dan Canaire, the CEO of Harpoon Brewery, is our guest today, Dan,
So well, how do you differentiate I know you talked
about with Joe just a minute ago, doing that fun
ale for Holy Cross. But what are some of the
things that you guys do to stand out?
Speaker 10 (52:28):
You know, that's a great question and it's never been
more important. I think from so many years it was
a push industry where we just let's get it on
the shells, get on the shells, get on the shells,
focus on sales and distribution. And now it's way more.
You've got to focus as much or more on the
branding side, the pull side to cut through all of
that clutter. You know, we do things like we have
(52:48):
our thirty fifth annual on cover Fest down here. We
interact director word consumers. We do things like the Holy
Cross beer. We came out this fall with a collaborate
collaboration beer with our friends of at ll Bean and
Maine that has done very very well.
Speaker 9 (53:01):
You know.
Speaker 10 (53:01):
Over the years we've done fun things with certain Bruins
players or Dunkin Donuts to Polar to try to generate
that sense that my gosh, Harpin has been a rent
at the beginning of craft beer in New England. They
really are a New England icon. So it's all about
differentiation through branding and consumer experiences. That's at least what
our approach to it is.
Speaker 3 (53:22):
When you say that beer at l Elbean is doing
very very well, what does that mean.
Speaker 10 (53:29):
It's not necessarily a numbers thing, Joe, because we make
relatively limited amounts of something like that. It's more what
we measure is kind of the buzz that it generates,
whether that's online or through certain stores where it's selling.
Where this generated a lot of interest online and buzz,
and people call it where can I get it? Where
can I get it? Holy Cross Beer did the same
thing within that Holy Cross community, and our hope is
(53:51):
that people who love LLBean or love holy Cross or
Mike's Pastry or whoever all these other partners work, people say, wow,
that's awesome that you know Mike's is pairing with Harpoon
or Elbean is we love what that company. Both of
those companies stand for. Both of those brands stand for
quality and New England authentic. They'll be part of our
you know, in our fridge going forward. That's kind of
(54:12):
what we're trying to achieve there.
Speaker 2 (54:14):
Dan, you talked about off the top that there's some
competition out there, not just from the beer industry, but
you know, cocktails in a can or some of these
different siders what are you guys doing at Harpoon Brewery
to combat that?
Speaker 10 (54:27):
Well, you know a couple of things here, Kim. Number
one is we don't have a lot of unlimited resources,
which a lot of these bigger players do that are
introducing like you know, high Noon is a gallow product,
a billion, billion, billions of dollar company that they can
just advertise Boston beer. You know Samun's, They're a multi
billion dollar company with Twisted tea. They can advertise.
Speaker 6 (54:49):
We can't do that.
Speaker 10 (54:50):
So for us, what we try to work more with partners,
like the relationship we have with Duncan, which is really
just built over getting to know those guys, liking them
as people, liking their products, loving how they present themselves,
and building that relationship. Like five years ago we did
this Dunken port a beer and that led to the
Duncan Spiked T's and coffees that we're doing that. So
(55:11):
we try to work more with partners that puts above
our weight to try to get access to those places
in the cooler. But it's never been more confusing. The
lines are blurred between spirits and beer and wine, and
it's cutting through that is certainly a challenge. So having
a partner with a strong brand can help us do that.
Speaker 3 (55:32):
John Chesto the Boston Globe wrote quite a bit about
consolidation in your industry. What does that mean to you
at Harpoon?
Speaker 10 (55:41):
Well, you know, over our years, you know, we purchased
the first We did our first purchase in two thousand
when we bought Vermont's original micro slash craft free catamount.
In twenty seventeen we bought clounches from the north Shore
of Massachusetts, a Gypsy brewer, and then just two and
a half years ago we purchased Long Trail up and
from on them. They also had auto creek and shed.
(56:03):
So this is really nothing new. It's been going on
to some extent for the last really five to ten years,
but absolutely accelerating over the last two to three years.
Like lawn drilled for us, you had night shift selling
to Jack's Abbey for example. You had you had a
number of smaller guys around the region kind of consolidate.
(56:23):
So it's happening. The problem is in our industry, you know,
you know I said this, you Kim, It's that you know,
we sell. When you consolidate, you have excess equipment and
you were selling them for you know, pennies on the
dollar and someone else is just buying it. It's getting
back into the business with a better construction than we had,
so we're not necessarily improving the overall you know, economics
(56:46):
of our industry. I mean, like talking to Jim Cook
about this is like we need to just insist on
stuff being sold for scraps, cutting it up and getting
out of production to have it makes sense interest economically.
Speaker 2 (56:56):
Well, Dan, I just want to say I'm not a
beer big, big, big beer drinker, book boy. I love
that pumpkin ale Ooh that's some good stuff.
Speaker 10 (57:02):
It's nice, isn't it.
Speaker 6 (57:04):
It is?
Speaker 2 (57:07):
Yeah, listen, thank you so much for being a part
of the show today, Dan Canary, the CEO of Harpoon Brewery.
Speaker 3 (57:13):
All right, Kim, that's it in terms of beer talk
on this Sunday morning. Looking ahead now to next week,
there's a brand new female CEO in the city of Boston.
She's Maura Sullivan and she's now in charge of the
Arc of Massachusetts. A fascinating story. Somebody who came to
the Ark of Massachusetts looking for help with her two
(57:35):
boys and rose through the ranks and now sits at
the intersection of hundreds of millions of dollars in state
and federal programs. Maur Sullivan took over this week for
Leo Sarkissian, who retired. We'll talk to her next Sunday
morning on the New England Business Support on w RKO,
the Voice of Boston AM six eighty
This is the New England Business Report with Joe short
Sleeve and Kim Carrigan, a weekly round up and discussion
of the top business news impacting our New England economy.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Good morning, everybody, and welcome to the New England Business
Report on this Sunday, November the tenth right to have
you along, I'm Kim Kerro get along with Joe Shortz
leave good morning to use her.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Good morning to you, Kimm Karagan. How are you doing
with the Christmas shopping?
Speaker 2 (00:22):
You know, actually I'm starting to think about it pretty seriously. Yeah.
You know, somebody said to me this last Thursday, only
three weeks until Thanksgiving. I was like, what, Yeah, of
course it was also you know, sixty five seventy degrees
or hotter, so that seemed a lot too.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
What about the four grandkids? You know, it's Christmas, DA
takes on a whole new meeting like this.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
I can only imagine for sure. Well, you know how
I am at my house, Joe, I like the Christmas trees?
Speaker 3 (00:50):
How many do you have?
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Okay, so I need to update you because hit me
over last weekend I went and purchased another.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
Well, got to have another.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
I'm hoping my husband sticks around for Christmas. He's about
ready to get rid of me. I have one, two, three, four, five, Yeah,
I have six.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Well, everybody needs six Christmas trees and they're all flocked. Joe.
I've taught you about flocking on Christmas tree.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
About that, and you have a little the changes of lights, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
That I don't have, but you've mentioned it. Maybe I
could get one of those. Oh okay, we got a
great show coming your way this morning. Lots of terrific guests.
So let's take a look at who is on DAK.
First off, coming up, the state Auditor, Diana Disaglio is
going to join us.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
Now.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
I think everybody probably has a pretty good idea why
we wanted to talk to the state auditor this week.
This past Tuesday, during the election, a question one which
would allow her office to audit the legislature. We've been
talking about this, Joe since we were back on Bloomberg,
you know, and there was right, yeah, they were talking
about the possibility of this. Well it did pass, and
(02:00):
it sure did. And it's it's really interesting because when
you read prior in with for me, when I read
prior to the election, you know about both sides. I
felt like both sides had a pretty decent argument, so
I didn't anticipate that it would pass as big as
it did.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Yeah, seventy two percent of the voter said yes. It
was the widest margin on all the questions. But yeah,
for you know, House Speaker Ron Mariano and Karen Spilk,
I mean, they were dead sent against this, against this,
so they did not want to see this happen. So
I don't know what that does to, you know, Diana
Dezaglio on the Christmas list up there, but.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
You know, I hope she has her own Christmas trees.
I'm not sure anybody's going to share them with her.
This could be something that goes to court, and I'll
be anxious to talk to her a little bit about
whether she anticipates that might happen. Then joining us would
be the managing editor of the Boston Business Journal, Don Seifert,
and he's going to talk to us about some of
(02:52):
the sectors of business that could possibly be affected by
the change of the administration in Washington. You take a moment,
you think about that, you know that's going to trickle down,
certainly to things that are happening in our state. Not
the least of which would be clean energy and life
science in a number of other areas.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
It's log logical anytime that administration changes, that's something like
this would happen. But you know, I look at it
sometimes I go, you know, more Healy as Attorney general.
I don't know how many times she sued the Trump administration. Yes,
I think we lost count. So you know, this particular
president I think has a very short memory. So we'll
see how that does impact things moving forward. Also, Kim,
(03:35):
you know here it is Deloitte is up with their
Christmas survey how much is are individuals going to spend
on Christmas this season? And the number is op The
average person will spend two thousand dollars on Christmas gifts
this holiday season. That's up from seventeen hundred and seventy
five dollars last year. You know that in and of
(03:56):
itself is interesting. But I think it's a little different
this year, which I'm sure you saw as well, is
that people are using a I to help them in
their Christmas shopping and gift cards. Kim, they are pass
they are I got the gift cards. Everybody wants the experience.
I guess what is that the cooking class.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Or trip something like that, right exactly. By the way,
I want to tell you, I used AI the other
day for a recipe and it turned out great. This
was like the first time I'd use it for applicable
things here in the house, and it was pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
Well, tell me how you did it.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Well, I did it off of Apple AI. So I
went in and I told I actually said what I
had in the house, and a recipe came up. I
was just trying to figure out what I was going
to I had a bunch of ingredients, Toddle like, how
will I throw this hole together?
Speaker 3 (04:51):
So it's pretty cool, all right, Okay, Well, now they
want to use it for Christmas shopping. Also on today's program,
and Kim you arranged for this interview, it's with a
Dan Canary. Now he's the CEO of Mass Bay Brewing Company.
Of course, that's Harpoon and Long Trail. A lot of
headlines in the beer industry this fall. None of them
are particularly a great Molsen and cores. We're talking about
(05:14):
weakness in the marketplace. They're talking about trimming sales outlook.
I know that John Chester with the Globes and writing
a lot about consolidation in the beer industry, So a
lot to talk about Dan Canary with.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Absolutely, but there is one one constant I think, and
that's that there is a core group of individuals out
there who love beer and they're always going to drink beer.
You know. It's just that all these I pas and
there's just so many options. You do wonder if that
starts to consolidate some And Kim.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
We've been talking about it, but it all had to
do with that question one on the ballot last week,
and it has to do with the whole idea of
giving the state auditor the power to audit the legislature,
in other words, to you know, take a look at
the book, so to speak. Necessarily. Well, the House Speaker
Ron Marianno, Senate President Karen Spielked never didn't like the idea,
(06:05):
and so they've been pushing back over the past year
and a half or so on this whole idea. State
Auditor Diana Dozaglio, you know, former state rep and then
a state Senator and now has been auditor since January
of twenty twenty three, she joins us. Now, Auditor Dozaglio,
you had a big victory there seventy one percent of
(06:26):
the voters in the state sided with you. Let's get
your reaction to what happened.
Speaker 5 (06:33):
I just want to say thank you to everybody who
came out to vote, Thanks to all the volunteers, Thanks
to all the signature gatherers. We had to get one
hundred thousand signatures just to get this issue on the ballot,
and I want to say thank you to everyone whoill
helped to make that happen. The voters have spoken loudly
and clearly that they want increased transparency, accountability, and accessibility
(06:55):
regarding our state legislature, which, as you know, is ranked
as one of the least it's not the least transparent
state legislature in the entire nation. Folks want access to
financial receipts. They want access to how our legislative leaders
are spending their tax dollars in those state contracts that
they're giving out. They want to make sure those things
(07:16):
are being done legally and in compliance with the law.
You know, I think that it's great that taxpayers across
Massachusetts came together, regardless of party affiliation, crossing party lines
to join forces on making sure that we are making
government work better. Thank you to everybody who helps to
get this across the finish line.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
So water, prior to this passing, you had the ability
to audit any other state entity except the legislature unless
they gave permission. Correct. So why was that the case?
Why was that the case?
Speaker 5 (07:54):
Well, we actually are mandated by law to audit all
state departments, and the legislature was actually always audited up
until recent years. It's actually only been in recent years
that a handful of legislative leaders have balked at the
idea of accountability through the audits that our office provides.
(08:16):
Our office, you know, we're not the spire we are.
We don't go in and talk desks and take people's
cell phones. We have an office full of auditors and
they simply look at process procedures, programmatic efficiencies, and inefficiencies.
It's actually a service that we provide to state entities
to make sure that state entities are aware of some
(08:37):
of the challenges they might have, so that they can
work together with our office to fix those challenges and
to make sure that things are corrected before you know,
situations become really problematic. It's a service that the Auditor's
office provides to state entities and the legislative leaders only
in recent years have refused to participate, causing us to
(08:59):
try to take this matter to court. We were denied
access by the Attorney General who sided with the legislative
leaders and said they don't have to comply, and that
caused us to have to pursue this valid initiative to
make it crystal clear by literally including the words the
General Court in the same language that says all departments,
(09:21):
because they were trying to exempt themselves from what every
other state entity received. And obviously that's problematic. If there's
nothing to hide, you know, open up the books, let
us take a look and let taxpayers know what's going
on up on Beacon Hells bogging.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
With State Auditor Diana Dezaglio. So are we on our
way back to court?
Speaker 5 (09:42):
Well, I've actually been asking Joe to go to court
for the last year and a half to have this
matter adjudicated. It's deeply concerning that the Attorney General's office
has blocked our access to be able to have an
impartial hearing, which is every citizen's constitutional right. She actually
unilaterally made the decision to decide this matter as an
(10:08):
executive branch agent of the Commonwealth, which is a violation
of the separation of powers to exercise the powers of
the court and not allow this matter to be adjudicated.
And it's my belief that legislative leaders know very well
that they're already violating the law. They know very well
that there are not constitutional concerns with this matter, because
(10:32):
what's unknown to folks is they actually audit the executive branch.
They have what's called the Post Audit and Oversight Committee
that has full subpoena authority over all of the governor's
executive branch agencies, and they conduct performance audits and they
have through the years, have had legislative auditors, So they
(10:53):
audit the executive branch in the same way that our
office seeks to audit the legislative branch. What they're essentially
saying is an audit for thee but not for me,
and they're saying that they're the only ones who shouldn't
be subject to this. I don't think that's an argument
that's going to hold up in court, especially since they
(11:13):
themselves aughtit the executive branch.
Speaker 6 (11:16):
So I don't.
Speaker 5 (11:16):
Actually think that that's going to be the route they take.
But if they do I'm happy to have that conversation
in court to adjudicate this matter once and for all
and to fight for what we believe is the right
thing to do. And it's a basic matter of making
sure that there's accountability in all departments of the government.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
So, Auditor having said that, and you're sort of waiting
to see if this ends up back in court, what
are the next steps now that the people have spoken
what happens next? As far as you're concerned.
Speaker 5 (11:44):
Next steps are ensuring that legislators are crystal clear that
their constituencies expect them to uphold the will of the
people on this matter. It's much more likely if they
do choose to ditmis effort, that they would choose to
do so by trying to overturn the law that you
(12:06):
voted for as the people of the Commonwealth. They're no
longer fighting with the Auditor's office on this issue. They
would be fighting with the people that they represent, who
just spoke very loudly that they want transparency, that they
want this to happen. So there is the chance that
these speaker ands andate President could strong arm the membership,
(12:27):
which is something that is not unusual up there, and
that they could try to strong arm the rank and
file legislators into voting to overturn the will of the people.
So please call your legislator let them know that you
expect them to uphold the will of the people if
there's any effort to overturn the law that you just
(12:48):
voted for and passed. And also call the governor's office
and let her know that if there are any attempts
to overturn the law, that you want her to veto
those attempts and that will help us to proceed and
to be able to finally just do our jobs and
conduct an audit.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Talking with State Auditor Diana Dezaglio, Now, you served in
the House where it looks like six or seven years.
You served as a state senator for it looks like
four years here on your resume. What is it you're
looking for? What is it that is being kept from
the public.
Speaker 5 (13:24):
Yeah, I do know where to look. If that's the question.
I do know where to look. I served ten years
as a legislator. I think that's what the speaking speaker
ins and a president are really nervous about, is the
fact that I do have that experience. I do know
where to look and where I would look is exactly
where the audit that I just released said I would look.
(13:44):
We have an audit up on my website. It's seventy
seven pages long, and it's missing a lot of information
that we requested from the legislatives. You can go to
mass dot gov forward slash auditor and take a look
at that. Here are just some of the things we requested, Joe.
We requested access to information about how they are funding
(14:06):
with your tax dollars. Non disclosure roomans to silence their
critics and to you know, hide potential harassment, discrimination, or abuse,
or maybe even outright corruption, right, that's a concern. They
refuse to show us those documents. We're looking for financial
receipts to verify that what they claim that they've spent
(14:28):
on different items that they claim to have purchased, you know,
or different things that they claim to have paid for
on the comptroller's website. We want to see the financial
documentation to back up what they're claiming they spent money on.
They've refused to produce any financial receipts to our office.
We would also look at state contracts. As you know,
state contracts are given out. There's an RFP process. There's
(14:51):
a procurement process and a bidding process that's required by
laws in many instances. We want to make sure that
where a competitive bidding was supposed to be in place,
for example, that that actually existed and that folks didn't
just give out hundreds of thousands of dollars of your
tax dollars to their friends without a bidding process and
a state contract. So those are the initial concerns that
(15:13):
we would look at. And Phil Great, take a look
at that website.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Way Will.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
Sounds like you've got a lot on your plate there,
and we do appreciate you joining us on the New
England Business Report on this Sunday morning. That, of course
is State Auditor Diana Disaglio. Looking ahead, we're going to
talk with the managing editor of the Boston Business Journal,
Don Seifert, and he's going to talk about what this
new administration Washington, DC means for the clean energy industry
(15:39):
here in Massachusetts.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
You are listening to the New England Business Report on
the Voice of Boston WRKO six 't eighty Joe and
Kim will be right back.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Hi, everybody, It's Kim care or get along with Bill
Chase of High Tech Windows Insiding. Now. Bill, we've been
hearing a lot about your windows being the same windows
installed at the top of Mount Washington, and that these
windows are only sold by high Tech.
Speaker 7 (16:05):
That's right, Kim.
Speaker 8 (16:06):
Our Summer Series windows are designed to keep your house
warm in the window and cool in the summer, and
can withstand the harsh New England weather better than any
other window on the market.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
That sounds great, But what about the cost, Bill, Because
things have been pretty tight for people these days.
Speaker 8 (16:20):
Well, that's a great reason to call us now, Kim.
Our windows are half the price of the big window companies,
and right now we are offering.
Speaker 7 (16:27):
By one window, get one off. But call us now.
This is our bigger sale of the year.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
It sounds terrific. So the best prices and the best
quality call high Tech today at nine seven eight seven
seven one eight nine three nine. That's nine seven eight
seven seven one eighty nine thirty nine. Or visit high
Tech Corp Nott Viiz for a free estimate. Our love.
Speaker 9 (16:56):
All in love with driving a brand new Trusted twenty
twenty four Subaru cross Track starting at twenty five one
ninety five with two point nine percent financing for up
to forty eight months, or lease for just two ninety
nine per month for thirty six months with two thousand
and five forty nine duet signing with standard symmetrical all
(17:17):
wheel drive to take on any terrank and eyesight driver
says technology. The twenty twenty four cross Track is built
for you to confidently explore wherever your full adventures take you.
Fall in love with a brand new twenty twenty four
Subaru Crosstrack. Buy with two point nine percent financing or
lease for just two ninety nine per month. Four Complete
(17:38):
details and define your authorized Subaro retailer. Visit Subaru of
New England dot com.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Fin Hi, everybody, I'm Kim Carrigan.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
And I'm Joe Shortsley. If you want to be part
of the New England Business Report, sponsorships are still available.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
You can email us at any Business Radio at gmail
dot com.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
That's any Business Radio all one word at gmail dot
com and we'll get your business on the show too.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Welcome back, everybody, great to have you with us this morning.
Joe Tuesday's election it certainly will have some consequences when
it comes to business here in the state, and for
that matter, all across the country. Who better to talk
about that than the managing editor of the Boston Business Journal,
Don Seipher. Good to have you with us. Don, You
guys wrote about a number of sectors in the business
(18:44):
world that could be impacted by the change in Washington, DC.
Let's start with the clean energy business here in Massachusetts.
This is an area that our governor has felt very
strongly about and has proposed a lot of dollars going
that way up.
Speaker 4 (19:01):
Yeah, this is I mean, in some ways, the Heey
administration has seen it kind of very similar to the
way that the Patrick administration fifteen years ago saw the
Life Science of initiative, where they poured a lot of
investment into building up the life sciences industry here in Massachusetts.
(19:21):
And that's why we've seen as a very successful model
where you know, where you create a an agency that
that helps these companies to thrive and even invest in
them to you know, for promises to build their employee
base here. Heely has seen this as a as a
big initiative that you know, this could be the next
big thing for Massachusetts. Really that clean energy is there's
(19:43):
going to be more and more demand for that, and
so she's been trying to I mean, it hasn't passed
because of these problems on Beacon Hill. But but I'm
sure that it's not completely dead.
Speaker 9 (19:56):
You know, she's got a.
Speaker 4 (19:56):
Big interest in really growing the clean energy industry in
the state.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
Don ciphers our guests of don Where are the concerns
what what what is this industry concerns about?
Speaker 4 (20:06):
Well, I mean, frankly, it is with the election of
Donald Trump, uh, as someone who has you know, basically
said as much that he does not believe really in
climate change is you know, he's called it a hoax.
He's physically said, uh. You know, even in his victory
speech he talked about a boy boost oil and gas,
you know, calling it liquid gold. And so the worry
(20:29):
is that, uh, is that federal funding and and you know,
federal help really in building the clean energy uh uh
industry is going to or could very well diminished greatly
under Trump president over the next four years. The the
i r A, the Inflation Reduction Act, which you know, uh,
(20:50):
you know, pass under Joe Biden, had a lot of
clean energy uh measures in it, and a lot of
them are are you know, are in danger frankly, especially
if Republicans now as it looks like more and more
likely could also take both the Senate and the House,
and it would be very easy for them to get
rid of a whole lot of a whole lot of
(21:12):
quan energy measures that we're seen as you know, steps
forward under the Biden industry.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
I've done talk to us a little bit about how
many people are employed in this state associated with tween energy.
Speaker 4 (21:26):
So actually I don't I don't remember exactly how many
are are totally employed, but I under you know, under
the Biden inministration, we added almost five thousand jobs, seven
hundred jobs. And we excuse that was under the Trump
administration from twenty seventeen to twenty twenty four thousand, five
(21:47):
thousand jobs. Under Biden's administration, we added nearly seven thousand
jobs in just two years of it, so much faster
rate of growth of the industry under Biden than under Trump.
And even before Trump there was there was a great uh,
a great uh, you know, increase in the number of employees.
So you know, it's kind of does put some numbers
(22:08):
on this speculation that is that the growth of this industry,
you know, it may still grow, but grow a lot
slower than it than it.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
Gets under Biden, Uh, don Seifert.
Speaker 10 (22:18):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
I guess my question is this is, you know, how
big a deal is obviously the federal dollars and as
opposed to say, the state dollars or or private money
as it comes to uh, these clean energy initiatives.
Speaker 4 (22:31):
Yeah, I mean, I mean the federal I mean the
federal money. I mean, the state relies on a great
deal of steral money. Uh. And you know, obviously it's
not just for uh, it's not just for clean energy.
But but you know, I mean if you think about all,
I mean, I think a quarter of the state budget
is really ceteral uh, you know, ceteral money. And if
(22:53):
you take away some of that, I mean we're I mean,
whether or not it's typically targeted clean energy, you know,
mats to there is worry that that you know, Massachusetts
has probably one of the bluest states that there is
that you know there there many well be interested in
just reducing the amount of aid in general. So even
regardless of whether that money is typically going to clean
(23:16):
energy right now, and a reduction in any of our
any of our federal aid is going to affect kind
of everything. So I mean, I think that that's part
of it. You know, you mentioned private investment. I mean, yeah,
there are quite a bit, quite a number of companies
in the state that are that are investing this now.
(23:36):
But but again, you know, and you know that maybe
you could argue that if if they do better under
the Trump presidency, which is seen as more business friendly,
then maybe that investment could go up. You know that
they'd have money, more money to spare. But you know,
who knows that's if that's really going to happen.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
Absolutely all right, Don Seifert, We thank you so much
for being a part of the show this morning, very much.
Appreciate your insight a well. The holiday season it's creeping
up on all of us very clickly, very quickly. So
what can retailers expect here in Massachusetts? Deloitte Holiday survey
is coming up next.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
Kim and Joe, we'll explore more business news that impacts
our New England economy when they return.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
Are you thinking about selling your home but hesitant because
of your low rate mortgage, or concerned it might sell
too quickly, leaving you without a place to go. I'm
Joe Shortzleeve and we hear you. These are real concerns
for many homeowners today, but I've got good news. Lamachi
Areality has faced these challenges head on and comes equipped
with solutions they use daily with their clients. Curious about
(24:42):
the innovative approaches, Lamachi are Reality employees to help you
sell your home while securing your next one, Visit want
tobseller dot com.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
Fall in love with the all new tw.
Speaker 9 (25:00):
Forester starting at twenty nine six ninety five with three
point nine percent financing for up to forty eight months
or lease for just three nineteen per month for thirty
six months with three thousand, two nineteen duet signing. The
fully redesigned twenty twenty five Forester is equipped with the
latest in Subaru safety technology like upgraded standard symmetrical all
(25:21):
wheel drive and eyesight drivers says technology to keep you
safe on every fall adventure. Fall in love with the
twenty twenty five Subaru Forester file with three point nine
percent financing for up to forty eight months or lease
for just three nineteen per month with three thousand, two
nineteen duet signing.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
Four complete details and to find.
Speaker 9 (25:40):
Your authorized Subero retailer, Visit Subaru of New England dot com.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
Fu Hi Everybody, It's Kim Kare or get along with
Bill Chase of high Tech Windows and Siding. Now, Bill,
we've been hearing a lot about your windows being the
same windows installed at the time top of Mount Washington,
and these windows are only sold by high Tech.
Speaker 7 (26:03):
That's right, Kim.
Speaker 8 (26:04):
Our Summer Series windows are designed to keep your house
warm in the winter and cool in the summer and
can withstand the harsh New England weather better than any
other window on the market.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
That sounds great. But what about the cost, Bill, Because
things have been pretty tight for people these days.
Speaker 8 (26:18):
Well, that's a great reason to call us now, Kim.
Our windows are half the price of the big window companies,
and right now we are offering buy one window, get
one off.
Speaker 7 (26:28):
But call us now. This is our biggest sale of
the year.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
It sounds terrific. So the best prices and the best
quality call high Tech today at ninety seven eight seven
seven one eight nine three nine. That's nine seven eight
seven seven one eighty nine thirty nine, or visit high
Tech Corp dot viiz for a free estimate.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
The New England Business Report on WRKO is brought to
you in part by Lamachia Realty Lomachia Reealty you will
guide you to your success. Visit La Macchiarealty dot com and.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
Welcome back to the New England Business Report on this
Sunday morning. Still ahead, we're gonna be talking with the
CEO of the mass brewing company, Dan Canary about beer sales.
And we're also going to find out about that survey
that's out from Deloitte to talk about how much we're
spending on Christmas this year. We already talked about Question
one kim with the state Auditor there allowing the auditor
(27:27):
to audit the legislatrip there on Beacon Hill. Well, Question
three also passed, and I'm taking a look at the
Boston Globe here, and Question three grants uber and lyft
drivers the right to organize labor unions in Massachusetts for
the very first time. It passed narrowly. It was the
closest vote of the five referendums of the ballot. Not
(27:47):
officially called until last Wednesday, but ninety five percent of
the precinct reporting say that you know, fifty four percent
approved the vote. What it takes effect next month, gig
drivers will be able to vote to umannon unionize and
negotiate contracts. And that's something that they haven't been able
to do anywhere in the country.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
Yeah, they said it's going to take a while. You know,
this is not going to be something that happens overnight.
It'll take a while to organize and to unionize.
Speaker 10 (28:14):
You know.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
It's really funny because I think a lot of people
were very torn on that question, and because there was
you know, the anti was that you know, gig drivers
have said over and over, we don't want anybody controlling anything.
We want to do this on our terms. So it'll
be interesting to see the kind of pressure once a
(28:36):
union begins on those who maybe don't want to be
part of the union.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
Okay, time to break out the wallet and decide what
you're going to be spending on Christmas gifts this year.
You know, Kim's been buying Christmas tree after Christmas tree
after Christmas tree. Many of us are just going to
be buying straight up gifts. How much are we going
to spend them? Well, we all like to know that number,
right But the folks over at Deloitte they have a
number for you, and they're going to share it with
us right now. They have a survey out about Christmas
(29:02):
shopping and joining us to talk about. That is Anthony Jardam.
He is a principal there at Deloit. Anthony, Before we
get into that Christmas spending number, tell us about Deloitte.
What is it exactly?
Speaker 11 (29:13):
You guys do absolutely, thank you, Joe. Deloitte is a
global professional services network that offers as a range of
services including audit and assurance consulting, financial advisory, risk advisory,
and tax and legal expertise.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
All right, okay, so every year you do this survey.
How do you do the survey? How do you come
up with the number.
Speaker 11 (29:33):
This is, believe it or not, the thirty eighth year
that we have done this survey. We have rolled it
out to about four hundred and forty consumers from the
Boston area and we did it around the time period
of August thirtieth to September seventeenth this year.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
Okay, and tell us exactly what you found.
Speaker 11 (29:53):
Yes, So what we found was basically, after expressing record
holidays spending intentions in twenty twenty three, our customers are
planning to up their purchases and plan to spend around
approximately one thousand, seven hundred and seventy eight dollars at
an eight percent increase year over year this holiday season.
(30:14):
A couple other indicators Joe, that really stood out to
me is there is an uptick and spend that's really
attributed to a rosier economic outlook, perceived to buy higher prices.
So there's a little bit of inflation concern and an
increase and spend this year as well.
Speaker 3 (30:32):
So tell us about this that this number is now
close to two thousand dollars for the Christmas season and
what does that mean? That number is exactly what I'm
going to spend on all my Christmas spending or that's
just you know, I'm going to spend that on you know,
a family or.
Speaker 11 (30:46):
So yeah, that's per family.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
Okay, all right, Now I understand though that there's a
change this year and that they're saying that, you know,
gift cards they are past a they're out. What's in
this year?
Speaker 11 (30:59):
Yeah, absolutely, So a couple of the categories that really
stood out this year are gifts and experiences that's on
the rise. So it makes a lot of sense. Right
coming out of COVID, We're seeing a lot of families
want to host different events. Uh and you know, food
and beverage is part of that category, or they may
want to go on different you know, travel excursions or
(31:20):
concerts or you know, different types of experiences that they
can provide their families and loved ones.
Speaker 3 (31:28):
Talking with Anthony Jardam, he's a principal at Deloitte, talking
about their new Christmas survey how much money you're going
to spend on Christmas this year? So, and a lot
of people are concerned about the economy, uh, you know,
wondering what's going to happen next. You're saying there's a
little bit of bullishness in your findings.
Speaker 11 (31:46):
Yeah, absolutely, so, a little bit of bullishness in the
overall economic uh situation. And you know that has contributed
to a little bit of optimism on the con to
be improving in the new year. And as we mentioned
at earlier still about those that we surveyed in the
(32:06):
Boston area seven and ten expect higher prices. That is
down a little bit last year which was eight and
ten on an inflation perceptions as well.
Speaker 3 (32:16):
And where are we spending this money? Are we spending
this money in the small retail shops, mom and pops?
Are we spending it online? Where are we spending our dollars?
Speaker 11 (32:27):
Yeah? Absolutely, so, you know when we look at the
areas that we're going to be spending in. Spending in
general is going to be a little bit more online
than in stores, and we're spending the bulk of our
dollars in mass and retail locations. The other interesting thing
is to stretch that wallet. This year, consumers going to be,
(32:50):
you know, looking at a variety of locations for that gift.
So there's going to be a little bit of balance
between loyalty for some of those retailers that they have
historically shopped at and making sure they're getting the best
value and quality for their dollars, so they may go
to a variety of locations to do that.
Speaker 6 (33:10):
Mm hm.
Speaker 3 (33:12):
The other thing I found interesting in your survey has
to do with the use of AI this time around.
How do I use that to go Christmas shopping? Anthony?
Speaker 11 (33:23):
Yeah, I found that really interesting too, Joe. So AI
being used as a tool to find some of those
deals in promotion, So as they're looking to stretch that wallet,
they're looking for advice and guidance and ideas where to
go to get the best deals, and AI has been
a popular tool this year that retailers are leveraging.
Speaker 3 (33:43):
How are you tracking that. How do you know that?
Speaker 11 (33:46):
Yeah, this is based on the survey and those that
we spoke to, we asked, you know you leveraging social media?
Are you leveraging Instagram or inspiration for that treasure hunt
for looking for that value and that perfect gift, And
you know a lot of them said this year, we're
actually leveraging AI as well, Like if you think of
different AI tools Chat, GPT and others that folks are
(34:08):
using on their phones or their laptops to come up
with different ideas and.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
Anything surprising in the survey to you, Anthony, you guys
do this every year. You pull it out and take
a look at the data. What jumped out at you?
Speaker 11 (34:20):
Yeah, you know, we talked a little bit about gift
cards earlier. Right, gift cards was definitely one of the
hot areas last year, but you know we talked about
that being actually one of the area or the categories
that saw the significant decrease and you know a couple
of reasons for that or inflation concerns and a fifty
dollars gift card this year compared to last year might
not be as meaningful. And then if you gave that
(34:41):
level one a gift card last year, you might not
want to give them the same gift again this year.
So that kind of makes sense too.
Speaker 3 (34:49):
But the emphasis now is we're all buying experiences. Now
that's sort of a general title. I mean, whether you know,
I guess it's a cooking class or a weekend at
a hotel, But what is the buying experiences?
Speaker 11 (35:00):
So in experiences as a whole could mean a variety
of different things. So we said travel, it could be
hosting gatherings, and when you're hosting gatherings, you might need
to actually stock up on different types of decorations and accessories,
food and beverage that we mentioned as well. You could
look to, you know, ahead of the calendar and say, hey,
(35:22):
what are some of those concerts that we want to
give as a gift our activities. You know, if you
look back at our back to school survey, which wasn't
too long ago, we saw our big uptick in getting
children enrolled in extracurricular activities. So you know, maybe it's
a gear that you actually need for those activities that
you're going to be enrolling your children in.
Speaker 3 (35:41):
Talking with Anthony Jiardam, he is a principal at Deloitte
talking about their new survey out that which says basically
that we're going to spend about two thousand dollars on
Christmas this year. Now, when I hear that number, I
think of it in terms of that's the number the
presence I'm going to buy. But you mentioned something a
moment ago that kind of got my attention. What about
Christmas decorations for the home? What about what about you know,
(36:01):
Kim's six Christmas trees? What about that number?
Speaker 11 (36:04):
Yeah, exactly. So you know, out of all the categories
we talked about, experiencing being the one that was the
biggest growth, clothing and accessories is the one that has
the larger spend, and that was the same last year too,
So you know, and that isn't really too surprising if
you think about it, because those are definitely areas that
you know, are of Boston shoppers are historically looking at.
(36:28):
But you know, we definitely saw a decrease a little
bit in home decre or furniture and stuff, or even
electronics because you might not he might have actually got
some of those gifts a year ago, might not need
to replace them.
Speaker 3 (36:40):
All right. He's Anthony Jardam of Deloitte. Thank you very
much for sharing this survey with this on the New
England Business Report.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
Well, Joe, as we talk about the holiday season, one
thing that I think all of us have been saying
is that Chure doesn't feel like Mother Nature knows what
time of year it is, but we also know she's
going to catch up and eventually it's going to get
pretty darn cold, and we're all going to need that
heat turned up in our houses and we're going to
hope that we have done all the right things to
insulate and be prepared to save dollars. You have the
(37:10):
heat on it at your house, yes.
Speaker 3 (37:12):
Oh yeah, Kim, but it also takes electricity to power
those Christmas trees.
Speaker 2 (37:18):
They're going crazy. So joining us to talk a little
bit more about making sure that your homes are comfortable
and ways to save money is our friend Bill Chase.
He is the president of High Tech Windows and Siding.
It's great to have you with us, Bill.
Speaker 6 (37:38):
Hi, Kim, Hi Joe. Great to be with you guys.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
Bill, you and ever chatting about this, Bill, and you
gave me some stats associated with heating your home this winter.
Can you share those with our listeners. Some of the
things that you've learned when it comes to cost.
Speaker 6 (37:52):
Yeah, I was reading an article last month and reported
that home heating costs are potentially going to jump up
ten and a half percent this winter, and then consumers
who use electricity will be hit the hardest. They're going
(38:13):
to be bumped up to potentially over thirteen percent. So
that's quite a bit for homeowners out there. And I
know that just from being in the business of thirty
years that homeowners lose eighty percent of their heat and
cooling costs out there. Windows and doors, all right, And.
Speaker 3 (38:34):
That's where you come in, Bill, What how do those numbers?
How do those numbers change once high tech windows has
made a visit to your home?
Speaker 6 (38:44):
Well, Joe, if you our ravage, so our average customer
has about fifteen windows and two doors in their home.
And if you if you think of it this way,
so think of if you have an inefficient window or door,
think of it as a as a size of a
brick of air going out each each window. And then
(39:08):
a few times that. By fifteen windows, it's almost like
keeping a window open in your house all year long.
And just think about the cooling and the heating costs
that is associated with that, So I know that you know,
with our Summit Series Triple pain window, we project that
(39:32):
homeowners can lower their costs up to thirty percent when
the heat and cool you know, heating on, heating and cooling.
Speaker 2 (39:42):
Wow. Wow, that's terrific. And those Summit Series Triple pain windows,
those are the ones that are on Mount Washington, right,
that's correct, which is fantastic.
Speaker 6 (39:54):
I know you miles per hour up there.
Speaker 2 (39:56):
Yeah, if it could keep them warm up there, then
it ought to be able to keep you warm at
their house. Right. So Bill, at this stage of the game,
because you know, I said as we started, we've had
some crazy weather and you know this last week we
back up in the high seventies, but it is going
to get cold and that's going to happen pretty quickly.
How quickly can someone have new windows in their home
(40:17):
if they were to call right now, most of.
Speaker 6 (40:20):
Our installs, we can do them as in as quick
as one day. And because of the custom fit, every
window that we do is measured down to the quarter
inch of custom fit because that's very important to get
the right fit. So we could actually get new windows
(40:40):
installed in your house and within thirty days.
Speaker 3 (40:45):
Bill you're probably a pretty good judge of the local economy,
how homeowners are feeling these days and when they want
to spend money on fixing up their homes. Give us
a snapshot of the well, you know, the homeowner hair
economy at this point.
Speaker 6 (41:03):
Yeah, our business has been knock on wood very good
this year. We offer some terrific finance programs which have
been very popular, so you can you can do it
a couple of different ways with us. We can give
you a low monthly payment or right now, we're doing
a promotion where you can buy the windows now and
(41:27):
pay for them in a year twelve months, no money down,
no payments, no interest for a year, so you could
get brandow windows before the cold winter hits and pay
for them you know, next November.
Speaker 2 (41:44):
Wow, that's quite a deal. And I want to ask
you about your involvement here at w r KO. High
Tech has taken great interest in what's coming up tomorrow,
which is of course Veterans Day and here on WRKO
there is always a radiothon to raise money for the
dav disabled American veterans. Tell me how you guys are
(42:07):
getting involved in that.
Speaker 6 (42:09):
Well, I know that I wouldn't be able to do
what we do at high Tech if it wasn't for
the veterans that have served this country. So it's a
very important cause to me. So for this month, the
month of November, for every Summit Series triple pain window
(42:32):
that we sell, we are going to donate twenty five
dollars to the DAV.
Speaker 2 (42:38):
That's terrific. Great, well, I know that over at the
DAV they appreciate that, and we appreciate you Bill very much.
Here on the New England Business Report. For anybody who
is interested in getting involved, meaning getting them out to
take a look at your home and maybe you'd like
to buy some of those Summit Series triple pain windows
(42:58):
to keep your house warm and then do a good
thing for the DAV. You can reach out at high
Techcorp dot biz, or you can call them at nine
seven eight three eight one sixteen thirty nine. All right,
still come in your way here. We're gonna talk beer.
Who doesn't like that?
Speaker 1 (43:18):
Joe?
Speaker 3 (43:18):
Right on a Sunday morning, there's nothing better.
Speaker 2 (43:21):
Hey, there's football today, right, everybody needs to know about
beer today. Dan Canary, the CEO of Harpoo Brewery, will
be our guest.
Speaker 1 (43:32):
You are listening to the New England Business Report on
the Voice of Boston WRKO six't eighty Joe and Kim
will be right back.
Speaker 2 (43:44):
Hi, everybody, it's Kim kra Get along with Bill Chase
of high Tech Windows Insiding.
Speaker 6 (43:47):
Now.
Speaker 2 (43:48):
Bill, we've been hearing a lot about your windows being
the same windows installed at the top of Mount Washington
and that these windows are only sold by high Tech.
Speaker 7 (43:55):
That's right, Kim.
Speaker 8 (43:56):
Our Summer Series windows are designed to keep your house
warm in than when are and cool in the summer
and can withstand the hash New England weather better than
any other window on the market.
Speaker 2 (44:06):
That sounds great, But what about the cost, Bill, Because
things have been pretty tight for people these.
Speaker 8 (44:10):
Days, Well that's a great reason to call us now, Kim.
Our windows are half the price of the big window companies,
and right now we are offering buy one window, get
one forty percent off.
Speaker 7 (44:20):
But call us now. This is our bigger sale of
the year.
Speaker 2 (44:23):
It sounds terrific. So the best prices and the best
quality call high Tech today at nine seven eight seven
seven one eight nine three nine. That's nine seven eight
seven seven one eighty nine thirty nine, or visit high
Tech Corp dot Viz for a free estimate.
Speaker 9 (44:41):
Every year, six point three million animals enter shelters across
the country. That's why October is Subru loves Pets Month.
Each October, Subru of New England proudly partners with twelve
non profit animal shelters throughout New England for s any
loves Pets.
Speaker 2 (44:58):
When you post a photo or video of your pet on.
Speaker 9 (45:00):
Social media using hashtag SNE loves Pets, Subaru of New
England will donate five dollars toward our local shelter partners
up to seventy five thousand dollars.
Speaker 7 (45:11):
With your help.
Speaker 9 (45:11):
Through SNE loves Pets, Subar of New England has donated
over five hundred thousand dollars to animal shelters across New England.
Getting involved is easy. Your phone is full of photos
of your furry friend. Postline using hashtag SNE loves Pets
and will donate five dollars to New England animal shelters.
Learn more about hashtag SNE loves Pets at Subaru of
(45:35):
New England dot com. Love It's what makes Subaru Subaru Hi.
Speaker 3 (45:43):
I'm Joe short Sleeve and you need to know that
Navigating today's real estate market. To find your dream home
isn't a simple as a quick online search.
Speaker 2 (45:50):
Hi, everyone, this is Kim Caragan. What you really need
is a realtor who brings not just expertise and dedication
to the table, but also exclusive access to home before
they even hit the market. That's where Lamachia Realty shines.
Speaker 3 (46:04):
Lamachia Reality dot Com. That's Lamachia Realty dot com. Their
relators don't just have a list of homeless for sale,
they have connections to hundreds of potential sellers who are
considering selling but haven't listed their home yet.
Speaker 2 (46:18):
Choosing to work with a Lamachia real Dream means you're
always one step ahead, fully informed, and in the best
position to find your dream home.
Speaker 3 (46:26):
Ready to start your search with the best.
Speaker 2 (46:28):
Head over to Lamachiarealty dot com. That's Lamachiarealty dot com.
Speaker 1 (46:40):
The New England Business Report on WRKO is brought to
you in part by Subaru of New England. Feel the
freedom of a brand new twenty twenty four Subaru featuring
symmetrical all wheel drive. Subaruf New England dot Com.
Speaker 3 (46:53):
Brought to you by high Tech Windows. Their windows are
installed at the top of Mount Washington and are made
in New England for New England weather.
Speaker 2 (47:00):
Well, Joe, there's no two ways about it. We Knew Englanders.
We love our beer, and especially beer that's brewed just
right here in New England. I mean that just makes
it that much better.
Speaker 11 (47:10):
Right.
Speaker 10 (47:10):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (47:11):
It's certainly a big business and we're so happy to
have our next guest with us to talk about it.
Dan Canary is the CEO of Harpoon Brewery and Dan,
great to have you along.
Speaker 10 (47:20):
Great to be with both of you. Thank you.
Speaker 2 (47:22):
We have some history here. We were just talking about that.
You know, we first got to know you back when
we were on Bloomberg and Joe was just talking about
some time that he had to walk out of the building.
That was because you guys were having too many breweries.
Speaker 3 (47:34):
We're leaning on each other as we made it out, and.
Speaker 10 (47:44):
The financial district had had a lot of stuff going on.
Speaker 2 (47:47):
Go hey, Dan on behalf of Joe, who is a
holy Cross alone, tell him what's out there right now
for all of those folks who love holy Cross and
those who don't.
Speaker 10 (48:00):
Yeah, you know, I'm a Worcester guy, grandfather Class of
nineteen fifteen. Life is holy Cross and so we are
doing a Holy Cross hazy ipa with our friends up
in Mount Saint James. So yeah, came out a month
or two ago, kind of the kickoff the football season.
Beautiful purple can, Holy Cross logo. It's a lot of fun.
Speaker 3 (48:20):
And how did that come about? Dan? Seriously? I mean,
you know somebody, I'm sure everybody comes up to you
and says, hey, will you make a beer for me?
But I mean, how did this come about?
Speaker 10 (48:28):
You know, like most good things at life, Joe came
about probably over a beer conversation with the college and saying,
you know what, It's happened with some other schools around
the country, Marquette and Yukon, et cetera. And so I
think got you guys are ever interested? You know, we
would love to do a beer with you. I have
such deep Worcester roots and Holy Cross ties. And so
(48:48):
finally they said, you know what, They talked to the
higher ups up there and I'm Mount Saint James, and
they kind of got the go ahead. And you know,
I think Holy Cross folks and the loves have been
known to have a beer to Joe, and so that
seems to be that there's been some real excitement about it,
So we're having a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (49:07):
So Dan I was doing a little research on beer
and the Brewers Association was out with some stats. It
said the US beer production and imports were down five
percent in twenty three. Well, craft beer volume sales in
declined by one percent. Talk to us about what's happening
there at Harpoon Brewery and how things have been.
Speaker 10 (49:28):
Yeah, No, we are absolutely in a downturn phase in
craft beer and has been for the last two or
three years. You know, we've been at this longer than
almost anyone with brewing perman zero one in MASSACHUSETTSS the
minche late eighties, So we've been through some of these before,
where you know, you have lunch to sustained created growth
and then it cools off and you have to fight
(49:48):
your way through it. So when we started the one
hundred brewers in the entire country, now they're over ten thousand.
You have wine and spirits, RTD cocktails coming and blurring
of the line. You have THHC coming in. You have
overall assumption declining, as you just said. So the pie
is getting a little smaller, and the number of slices
of that pie has grown exponentially. So these basic economics
(50:12):
in the industry are tough and challenging for almost everyone.
There certainly are some exceptions to that, but for the
most part, I know a lot of fellow craft brewers
who were you know, having early work hard for their
for their revenue.
Speaker 3 (50:26):
These days, where are the bright spots Dan?
Speaker 10 (50:30):
You know, certain styles and certain brands Joe, Like in
our portfolio, our Shed brand from Vermont is doing well
hardpoon I p A continues to show some resiliency certain
certain you know pockets uh throughout you know the on
print and excuse me, the owned sales world, like our
beer haul sales here and our two you know beer
(50:51):
gardens up in Vermont continue to do okay. If you
deliver a solid product, people respond to it. But if
you go into the store and you just know, you
know what it's like, if you want to just go
buy a six pack, it can take you twenty minutes
to kind of figure out because they have thirty six
different ideas. All shopping experience has gotten kind of daunting,
and I think consumers are kind of pulling back and saying, like,
(51:13):
wait a second, I'm overmatched right now, and they're taking
their time taking these decisions.
Speaker 3 (51:19):
So all these choices are bad for consumers or bad
for the beer industry.
Speaker 10 (51:23):
You know, Joe, I should explain that carefully because now
the choice is typically a wonderful thing. I mean, we started,
our whole goal was to bring choice and develop your
culture in this country. So it's an awesome thing. But
I'd say this beer is a perishable product. It is
best consumed within ninety or one hundred and twenty, or
maybe on hundred and fifty days of being produced package.
(51:44):
So you have a lot of stuff and it's sitting
on the shelves. That's not good for anybody. So there
is a fine line between choice and quality in some ways.
Even if you go to a bar that has a
gazillion taps and they've got some of these that they're
sitting on the line for a long time, that's not great.
So there is choice overall is a good thing. But
(52:05):
there in our industry there can be a situation where
too much is not necessarily good.
Speaker 2 (52:12):
Dan Canaire, the CEO of Harpoon Brewery, is our guest today, Dan,
So well, how do you differentiate I know you talked
about with Joe just a minute ago, doing that fun
ale for Holy Cross. But what are some of the
things that you guys do to stand out?
Speaker 10 (52:28):
You know, that's a great question and it's never been
more important. I think from so many years it was
a push industry where we just let's get it on
the shells, get on the shells, get on the shells,
focus on sales and distribution. And now it's way more.
You've got to focus as much or more on the
branding side, the pull side to cut through all of
that clutter. You know, we do things like we have
(52:48):
our thirty fifth annual on cover Fest down here. We
interact director word consumers. We do things like the Holy
Cross beer. We came out this fall with a collaborate
collaboration beer with our friends of at ll Bean and
Maine that has done very very well.
Speaker 9 (53:01):
You know.
Speaker 10 (53:01):
Over the years we've done fun things with certain Bruins
players or Dunkin Donuts to Polar to try to generate
that sense that my gosh, Harpin has been a rent
at the beginning of craft beer in New England. They
really are a New England icon. So it's all about
differentiation through branding and consumer experiences. That's at least what
our approach to it is.
Speaker 3 (53:22):
When you say that beer at l Elbean is doing
very very well, what does that mean.
Speaker 10 (53:29):
It's not necessarily a numbers thing, Joe, because we make
relatively limited amounts of something like that. It's more what
we measure is kind of the buzz that it generates,
whether that's online or through certain stores where it's selling.
Where this generated a lot of interest online and buzz,
and people call it where can I get it? Where
can I get it? Holy Cross Beer did the same
thing within that Holy Cross community, and our hope is
(53:51):
that people who love LLBean or love holy Cross or
Mike's Pastry or whoever all these other partners work, people say, wow,
that's awesome that you know Mike's is pairing with Harpoon
or Elbean is we love what that company. Both of
those companies stand for. Both of those brands stand for
quality and New England authentic. They'll be part of our
you know, in our fridge going forward. That's kind of
(54:12):
what we're trying to achieve there.
Speaker 2 (54:14):
Dan, you talked about off the top that there's some
competition out there, not just from the beer industry, but
you know, cocktails in a can or some of these
different siders what are you guys doing at Harpoon Brewery
to combat that?
Speaker 10 (54:27):
Well, you know a couple of things here, Kim. Number
one is we don't have a lot of unlimited resources,
which a lot of these bigger players do that are
introducing like you know, high Noon is a gallow product,
a billion, billion, billions of dollar company that they can
just advertise Boston beer. You know Samun's, They're a multi
billion dollar company with Twisted tea. They can advertise.
Speaker 6 (54:49):
We can't do that.
Speaker 10 (54:50):
So for us, what we try to work more with partners,
like the relationship we have with Duncan, which is really
just built over getting to know those guys, liking them
as people, liking their products, loving how they present themselves,
and building that relationship. Like five years ago we did
this Dunken port a beer and that led to the
Duncan Spiked T's and coffees that we're doing that. So
(55:11):
we try to work more with partners that puts above
our weight to try to get access to those places
in the cooler. But it's never been more confusing. The
lines are blurred between spirits and beer and wine, and
it's cutting through that is certainly a challenge. So having
a partner with a strong brand can help us do that.
Speaker 3 (55:32):
John Chesto the Boston Globe wrote quite a bit about
consolidation in your industry. What does that mean to you
at Harpoon?
Speaker 10 (55:41):
Well, you know, over our years, you know, we purchased
the first We did our first purchase in two thousand
when we bought Vermont's original micro slash craft free catamount.
In twenty seventeen we bought clounches from the north Shore
of Massachusetts, a Gypsy brewer, and then just two and
a half years ago we purchased Long Trail up and
from on them. They also had auto creek and shed.
(56:03):
So this is really nothing new. It's been going on
to some extent for the last really five to ten years,
but absolutely accelerating over the last two to three years.
Like lawn drilled for us, you had night shift selling
to Jack's Abbey for example. You had you had a
number of smaller guys around the region kind of consolidate.
(56:23):
So it's happening. The problem is in our industry, you know,
you know I said this, you Kim, It's that you know,
we sell. When you consolidate, you have excess equipment and
you were selling them for you know, pennies on the
dollar and someone else is just buying it. It's getting
back into the business with a better construction than we had,
so we're not necessarily improving the overall you know, economics
(56:46):
of our industry. I mean, like talking to Jim Cook
about this is like we need to just insist on
stuff being sold for scraps, cutting it up and getting
out of production to have it makes sense interest economically.
Speaker 2 (56:56):
Well, Dan, I just want to say I'm not a
beer big, big, big beer drinker, book boy. I love
that pumpkin ale Ooh that's some good stuff.
Speaker 10 (57:02):
It's nice, isn't it.
Speaker 6 (57:04):
It is?
Speaker 2 (57:07):
Yeah, listen, thank you so much for being a part
of the show today, Dan Canary, the CEO of Harpoon Brewery.
Speaker 3 (57:13):
All right, Kim, that's it in terms of beer talk
on this Sunday morning. Looking ahead now to next week,
there's a brand new female CEO in the city of Boston.
She's Maura Sullivan and she's now in charge of the
Arc of Massachusetts. A fascinating story. Somebody who came to
the Ark of Massachusetts looking for help with her two
(57:35):
boys and rose through the ranks and now sits at
the intersection of hundreds of millions of dollars in state
and federal programs. Maur Sullivan took over this week for
Leo Sarkissian, who retired. We'll talk to her next Sunday
morning on the New England Business Support on w RKO,
the Voice of Boston AM six eighty
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.