Recently, The Durango Brewing Company closed its operations in Durango. The owners’ decision to close and their legal right to maintain the use of the Durango name on their product are based on their belief that their investors would be better served taking this business model in a different direction.
It is their business, their financial risk and their right to do so.
As a former business owner, my issue with the owners of Durango Brewing Company lies in the gutless and insensitive manner in which they treated their local business partners and employees. They claim that it’s normal in the industry to fire employees abruptly when closing a business. Normal, no; Sociopathic, yes!
If the owners had developed any decent level of rapport with the local business and civic community, it would have required little or no amount of effort to network and successfully place employees in other jobs.
Communication, compassion and a sense of responsibility are not necessary to run a successful business, but they are a better way.
Providing a small retention bonus, organizing a job fair and communicating with local vendors would have gone a long way in lessening the blow to these hardworking people.
Leaving Durango in the manner they chose clearly demonstrates they are not deserving of our consumer dollars.
I strongly urge my fellow beer lovers to support those brewers who care for their employees and communities.
Robert Leuchte
Bayfield
