Brewdog boss James Watt steps down from CEO role

The boss of Scottish beer giant Brewdog is to step down from his role as CEO of the company.

James Watt said he would move to a newly-created position of “captain and co-founder” and retain his shares in the company.

His role will be taken over by chief operating officer James Arrow.

Mr Watt co-founded the Scottish brewery and pub group in Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, in 2007 alongside Martin Dickie.

In a statement Mr Watt said: “During my time at the helm of BrewDog, there have been highs and lows, up and downs, crazy successes and incredibly hard challenges.

“When I look back on the last 17 years my overwhelming feeling is one of gratitude.”

Brewdog now has breweries and pubs worldwide but has retained its headquarters in Ellon, Aberdeenshire.

Mr Watt’s tenure has been marked by controversy in recent years.

The company has faced criticism for its marketing campaigns and its workplace culture.

The firm was accused by former workers in an open letter in 2021 of having a “culture of fear” within the business with “toxic attitudes” to junior staff.

In 2022 several ex-Brewdog workers accused Mr Watt of inappropriate behaviour in a BBC Disclosure investigation.

Lawyers for Mr Watt said the allegations were false. Ofcom rejected complaints that Brewdog and Mr Watt were unfairly treated by the programme.

In January, Brewdog also faced a backlash after revealing it would no longer hire new staff on the real living wage, instead paying the lower legal minimum wage.

Last year, the firm expanded into the Chinese market in a joint venture with brewing giant Budweiser.

Brewdog’s revenue grew to £321.2m in the 2022-23 financial year.

Company chairman Allan Leighton said “few have accomplished” what Mr Watt has.

He said: “I am especially pleased he will continue to offer his insight, creative genius and energy to the board.”

Mr Watt will be replaced by James Arrow, who was hired as chief operating officer last September as forward planning for Mr Watt’s replacement.

He was previously managing director of Boots Opticians.

Before this, he spent a decade at Dixons Carphone, where he held senior roles across e-commerce, trading, operations, sales and transformation.

It’s hard to imagine James Watt giving up for long on his brewing dream. Remaining on the board and as co-founder and captain, he will be a tough act for James Arrow to follow and to control.

Watt’s relentless energy and enthusiasm, which drove some of his staff to very strong and public criticism of his management style, is constantly sparking ideas and ambitions – for new products, for outrageous ways of promoting them, and to get the community of loyal “punks” he built up to drink his beer and invest in it.

He says he wants to “continue to build fantastic start-ups” and start new ventures of his own, as well as “continuing to help Brewdog build an amazing business”.

If he can stand back, that leaves a more conventional team and approach to growing the company’s output and global portfolio of bars and hotels.

They also want to get Brewdog back into profit after three years of significant losses, driven by higher energy prices, supply chain disruption and rapid expansion of its on-trade.

The new chief executive, hired last year from Boots Opticians, and chairman Allan Leighton, who led Asda, the Co-operative Group and Royal Mail, will probably want to focus on preparing for a stock market float.

That has been long delayed by poor market conditions, and the controversies that embattled the chief executive.

Another deadline for that looms later this year, which might help explain why James Watt now has more time also for “travelling and adventures” and “spending more time with family and loved ones”.