Germany: Warsteiner shedding more than a third of workforce as beer consumption falls

Warsteiner, one of Germany's best-known beer brands, is shedding more than a third of its workforce in its home state of North Rhine-Westphalia this year as it responds to falling beer consumption, Yahoo Finance reported.

The company said on November 10 that it had concluded talks with employee representatives on cutting around 125 jobs at its headquarters in Warstein, reducing the workforce in the western German town to 600 by the end of 2026.

Around a third of the cuts are expected to come through retirements and the expiry of fixed-term contracts.

Whether compulsory redundancies will be needed should become clear later this month, said Isabell Mura, regional chairwoman of the NGG food and hospitality workers' union. Management plans to offer mutually agreed termination deals, and employees can also volunteer to leave.

The family-owned Haus Cramer Group, whose flagship beer is Warsteiner Pilsner, has already closed its brewery in the town of Herford, affecting around 100 employees.

In May, the group announced plans to sell its brewery in the city of Paderborn, which employs more than 100 people. If no buyer is found by year-end, the plant will close and those jobs will be lost.

Together with the cuts announced on November 10 in Warstein, the measures affect more than 330 employees.

Haus Cramer said declining beer consumption in Germany was behind the closures and job cuts. Its three production sites in Bavaria are unaffected.

10 November, 2026