A Toast to Zoe

To celebrate International Women’s Day 2018, we wanted to introduce you to the latest Toaster: Zoe Adelman. Zoe joined Team Toast in January as our London Sales Lead and has spent the last month talking to and sharing our beer with stockists all over the capital. We asked her to tell us a little more about herself and her experience so far …

Why did you join Toast?

I had read about Toast in the press and loved the story and ethos. When I saw you were recruiting, I was determined to be the next member of Team Toast. What could be better than being part of an organisation that gives 100% of its profits to charity, highlights the huge issue of food waste and produces award-winning beer? I spent lots of time swatting up on everything from the local bar scene to the global problems of food production. And here I am!

What were you doing before?

I have had two chapters in my working life prior to joining Toast. Most recently I worked in translation, having gained a Masters in Translation and Interpreting while heavily pregnant!  Prior to that I worked as an International Sales Manager for Scholastic for ten years, travelling the world selling brilliant books and magazines for children and teenagers learning foreign languages.

I volunteered in the not-for-profit sector for many years with The Cinnamon Trust, walking dogs for the elderly, and I volunteer at Restoration Station, a not-for-profit social enterprise run by the addiction recovery charity Spitalfields Crypt Trust.

What are your thoughts on being a woman working in the beer industry?

I am super proud and excited to be the first official brand ambassador for Toast, and to be a woman representing such a progressive social enterprise. I’ve had a great experience chatting stockists around London and have only had positive experiences.

I’ve been reading a lot about the beer industry. Did you know that only 16% of beer drinkers in the UK are women? Yet for craft beer that increases to 37% … it’s a much more diverse market and there’s a huge opportunity for beer companies to broaden their appeal to women. One obvious problem is in the advertising and branding of beer – either it’s targeted at men using sexist imagery and language, or it targets women by playing to gender stereotyping. ‘Women’s beer’ has been marketed by some of the biggest brands (Check out this article: ‘no-one wants pink beer‘) and just this week we saw a campaign by BrewDog with their Pink IPA ‘beer for girls’. I think the intentions were good – it’s great they want to draw attention to an important issue – but it was poorly executed. If you have to explain why something is satirical you’ve already missed your audience. 

Half of Toast’s followers on social media are female and women make up just over 50% of our online customers. At events, we’re talking to a mix of male, female and non-binary customers. Our beer isn’t about gender. It’s about us all doing our bit to fix a global environmental problem, and having a great time doing so!

What are you looking forward to?

2018 is going to be an epic year for Toast as we grow our presence in the UK and move full steam ahead with our international expansion. We’re launching our latest addition to the range – bringing our ‘Born and Bread’ American Pale Ale over from New York and have some exciting collaborations coming up.

I’m so looking forward to getting out to restaurants, bars, pubs, bottle shops, cafes, and events to make sure than a Toast is sold in every corner of London, and meeting customers old and new at events across the city.

Thanks Zoe. We’re so thrilled to have you – and your amazing energy – join Team Toast. If you’d like to chat about stocking Toast in London, drop her a line at zoe@toastbrewing.com