BrewDog founder James Watt has told CGTN about his excitement for the craft beer maker's expansion plans in China. Currently Chinese sales account for less than 1 percent of their revenue and their only bar in the country is in Shanghai. 

But it would seem the business landscape is about to change significantly after the Scotland-based company signed a joint venture with Budweiser China to produce its beers at their Putian Craft Brewery in Fujian province, and sell them through its new partner's sales and distribution network.

"China is a huge beer market. It's in fact, the biggest beer market globally and we've got global aspirations as a business," Watt told CGTN, who described the partnership as "transformational", adding it would bring the craft brewery to "every corner of the world's biggest beer market."

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"We've been in the Chinese market since 2015, but a small part in the deal that we've done with Budweiser is going to help us scale our business in China and help get a beer into many people's hands as possible. 

"We've been in the Chinese market since 2015, but a small part in the deal that we've done with Budweiser is going to help us scale our business in China and help get a beer into many people's hands as possible. 

"COVID has delayed a lot of plans in a lot of different places, but hopefully that is behind us. We're just excited about moving forward. We want to open 10 more bars over the next five years and also get as much of our beer into distribution as possible."

Punk IPA, Lost Lager, Elvis Juice and Hazy Jane have helped turn BrewDog into a household name in the UK. Expansion into new countries will help drive sales higher ahead of an initial public offering (IPO). The company had originally planned a flotation in 2020, but it was shelved during the coronavirus pandemic.

The company makes about 45 percent of its revenues from running bars and venues. In 2021, the last year for which results are available, it made an operating loss of $6.6 million on revenues of $344 million.

It is the company's second tie-up in Asia following a deal with Asahi in Japan in 2021, which BrewDog says helped it double its sales in the country.

Regarding its strategies to compete with big foreign and domestic brands already with a foothold in China, Watt said: "China is the world's biggest beer market at the moment. It just makes up 1 percent of our sales globally, so that's quite small for us. 

"We want to scale there the same way that we have in every other country we've had success. So taking our passion for fantastic beer, putting the taste flavor back into people's beer glasses and focusing on community and sustainability as we look to develop our business and share the passion we've got with as many people as we can in China.

"Brexit and inflation has been very tough in the UK and it's a very tough place to do business at the moment. As we look to scale our business, a lot of the scale of future growth has to come from international sales." BrewDog has well-established businesses in the U.S., Australia, Germany, France and Italy and Watt told the Global Business program it is keen add China to the list.

And was an IPO still part of the plans for Watt and his company?  

"That is very much part of the thinking," Watt added. "The markets have been hit by the kind of shock wave of COVID and in the UK, the cost of living and inflation environment. 

"That makes it very difficult for higher growth companies to IPO at the moment. But it's very much part of our plans, very much part of our thinking and something that we're moving towards and something we'd love to do when the time is right for the business and for the markets."

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