The group has said it will offer laid-off workers “severance, outplacement services, and benefits consistent with their terms of employment”.
The announcement arrives a month after the Jack Daniel’s owner reported a 5% year-on-year decline in net sales for the first half of the fiscal year which it attributed to the sale of Finlandia and Sonoma‑Cutrer.
“I want to express my sincere gratitude to our employees, particularly those impacted by these changes, for their dedication and contributions to Brown‑Forman,” said president and chief executive, Lawson Whiting.
“We are committed to supporting them through this transition and are confident that these strategic initiatives will ensure the company endures for generations to come.”
Brown-Forman established its own cooperage in 1945 but has said it will now source barrels from an external supplier and expects to receive $30 million from selling cooperage assets.
The American whiskey sector is facing a number of challenges as younger adults are drinking less and the return of President-elect Donald Trump could see the category caught in the crossfire of another trade war.
Trump has threatened to impose new tariffs with his return to the White House that could mirror the trans-Atlantic trade dispute from his first term that caused steep declines in exports to the European Union.
These headwinds arrive alongside the news from the Kentucky Distillers’ Association that a record 14.3 million barrels of bourbon are currently aging in Kentucky which could potentially lead to a market surplus.
