Can shortage impacts local breweries and canning services

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (KION) Breweries across the nation and here on the Central Coast are seeing the impacts of an aluminum can shortage that started shortly after the pandemic began.

Yes We Can Mobile Solutions Owner/Co-Founder Jose Diaz said he first heard about the shortage in April 2020, and a couple of months later, he lost his main vendor and had difficulties finding inventory.

Breweries and canning companies attribute the bottleneck to the pandemic, which led to more people buying canned food and beverages.

The pandemic has created many shortages from toilet paper to cleaning products, and now, the can shortage has breweries and suppliers in a tight
spot to find inventory.

Jose Diaz, owner and co-founder of Yes We Can Mobile Solutions, a canning service based in the Bay Area, told KION he first heard about the shortage in April of last year, and then a couple of months later, he lost his supplier…

“The main vendor, they said ‘no more cans for you guys. We don’t have any,’” Diaz said. “We began calling people all over the place, all over different countries, just to see if we can get cans. It wasn’t until we decided just to write down a check of $100,000 to one of the big corporations and literally say, ‘hey, we need cans and lids.’”

He says the investment left him with little money but at least he could keep
helping brewers in the Bay Area and Santa Cruz get their products ready for sale because as the pandemic shutdown indoor operations, many people were getting their alcohol to go.

“When economy is doing well, people drink, and when economy is going bad, people drink more. So it seems that that was the reason, I mean. People were staying home,” Diaz said.

Now, a year later, and after months of uncertainty and stress, Diaz says he’s found better vendors and they’re stable.

But some breweries are still feeling the impacts of the shortage. Greater
Purpose Brewing Company in Santa Cruz said for them, the impacts became more apartment when they started canning in house and sourcing their own materials.

“The delays in actually getting materials in house and actually finding
materials that are actually a relatively good price, because if you’re not
careful you know, you can spend 20 cents per can or almost a dollar per can,” General Manager Michael Kostowskyj said.

Kostowskyj said it’s been challenging for breweries that don’t have storage or money up front for cans so they’ve had to adapt to keep going.

“We’ve got the patio going right now, most of our beer is going back into
kegs, so we said, you know what, let’s decrease our to-gos, decrease our
cans because of the canning situation,” Kostowskyj said.

Some breweries have re-wrapped and filled discontinued cans with new
product.

But both Kostowskyj and Diaz say the situation is improving.

The comeback of outdoor dining is providing some relief for
breweries and bars. They’re allowed to open up their patios again if they
serve food. But those that don’t will have to wait until their county reaches the orange tier to open outdoors with modifications.