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The chief executive of BrewDog, who turned the brewery he co-founded into the UK’s biggest craft beer brand but was accused of overseeing a “toxic” work culture, has quit after 17 years.
James Watt, who founded the brand with Martin Dickie in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, at the age of 24, will be replaced by the company’s chief operating officer, James Arrow.
Watt said in a LinkedIn post Wednesday that he would remain a member of the board of directors and retain his shares in the company.
“During my time leading BrewDog, there have been ups and downs, highs and lows, crazy successes and incredibly difficult challenges,” Watt wrote in the post.
BrewDog chairman and former Asda boss Allan Leighton said Watt had informed him of his intention to retire from the business last year.
“We subsequently put in place a succession plan by hiring James Arrow as chief operating officer and strengthening the broader senior leadership team,” Leighton said in a statement, adding that Arrow was a “proven leader.”
BrewDog, now the UK’s largest craft beer maker, was one of the biggest success stories of the sector’s rise, raising more than £80 million through an army of small crowdfunding investors, whom the company called equity punks.”
However, in 2021 a group of former employees condemned The “culture of fear” and the company’s misogyny in an open letter. The 60 signatories stated that the brewery sought to “grow at all costs”, encouraged a “toxic” attitude towards junior staff and did not respond to complaints.
Watt initially rejected the claims before acknowledging that changes were necessary.
“I think it is 100 percent fair to say that in the hyper-high growth years, 2015 to 2018, we could have done more to take care of our people,” he said in a 2022 report. interview with the Financial Times. “I apologize to the team members we let down.”
Last January, the brewer took another blow to its reputation as an employer when abandoned a commitment to pay all staff the voluntary living wage.
New staff members will be hired at the legal minimum wage, rather than the higher salaries set by the Living Wage Foundation currently paid to young recruits.
In a letter to staff at the time, the brewer said “difficult decisions” were necessary to restore profitability after a year of “immense challenges.”