Boulevard Brewing Company has terminated three additional employees following the conclusion of a month-long independent external investigation into the Kansas City, Missouri-headquartered craft brewery’s operations following allegations that its culture was poisoned by harassment.
That brings the total number of employees who have exited the company to six, including president Jeff Krum, who resigned amid the backlash in January. The employees dismissed this week were not named, and the company would not provide details about their positions or reasons for termination.
The additional firings were among a handful of actions by Boulevard following the conclusion of FineLine HR Consulting’s investigation into the brewery’s culture and release of findings.
FineLine’s investigation determined that “harassment and bad behaviors did occur” at the brewery.
“Employees weren’t always treated professionally and courteously,” Boulevard wrote in a blog post titled “The Path Forward” on its “Commitment to Change” web page.
FineLine also determined that Boulevard needs to formalize its hiring policies and communicate and collaborate better with its Duvel USA sister brand, Brewery Ommegang, in Coopersville, New York.
These three findings stemmed from nearly 70 confidential conversations conducted by Fine Line with current and former employees.
The investigation into Boulevard’s culture began after a whirlwind week in late January in which a Reddit post by a former Boulevard employee recounting instances of workplace and sexual harassment went viral. Another former employee shared her account of sexual assault at the hands of a former co-worker and the lack of support she felt after telling Boulevard’s former human resources director about the incident.
The company first denied that harrassment took place, then reversed its stance, announced it was hiring FineLine to investigate, and fired former chief financial officer Matthew Szymanski. In the middle of that tumultuous week, Krum resigned and founder John McDonald, who stepped down from day-to-day operations after selling the brewery to Duvel Moortgat N.V. in 2013, returned to lead the 32-year-old company. Then-vice president of marketing Natalie Gershon also resigned from her post.
The next step for Boulevard will be to hire a human resources director, which the company expects to complete next week, McDonald told Brewbound. The role has been vacant since December 2020.
“We’ve had a lot of applications,” he said. “We’re down to four, and we hope within the next week to select that position.”
The new HR director will join a restructured leadership team that “will provide the opportunity for breweries to better collaborate on projects and share experiences more regularly,” the post said.
McDonald shared that Duvel Moortgat CEO Michel Moortgat and chief financial and administration officer Seraf De Smedt spent five days at Boulevard last month speaking with employees.
“I think they went home feeling better than they felt when they came over, because they saw a lot of really good people,” he told Brewbound.
Moortgat and the company’s executive team in Belgium is helping Boulevard design the company’s new leadership structure. McDonald’s successor has not been determined.
“We’re looking at our whole team and looking at changes we’ll make,” McDonald said. “We’re talking with Belgium and Michel to figure out what our management structure will look like, and I think we’re maybe a week or two away from announcing all that now.”
In addition to restructuring, Boulevard will work with FineLine to train employees on “clear definitions of what is and is not proper conduct,” the company wrote.
FineLine, which specializes in training and investigations, will also help Boulevard set new standards “for proper business conduct in order to re-establish our company culture.”
The investigation, which began in early February, wrapped up on March 5; Boulevard shared updates throughout the process on its “Commitment to Change” web page.
“This is just the beginning,” the company wrote on the page. “More is ahead to nurture culture, and all employees have been asked to take part in what that looks like and to help drive what the company can do more of, and what it can do better.”
Duvel Moortgat USA VP of sales Bobby Dystrka credited Boulevard’s transparency, commitment, actions and communication to its ability to maintain relationships with wholesaler and retailer partners throughout the crisis.
“Here in Kansas City, we’ve been able to have open dialogue with our retailers and then ultimately our consumers,” he said. “We’re excited about the projects — the beers and seltzers and cocktails — that we’re bringing out this year, and now we’re really committed to having a great year, but prioritizing improving our workplace environment as our top priority.”
McDonald described Boulevard’s staff morale as “improving” in the months since the allegations came to light.
“This was pretty crazy a month ago, and I think people are happy with the progress,” McDonald said. “But we’ve got a long way to go.”