New Opportunities for Work Integration in Rural Areas: The ‘Social Flavour’ of Craft Beer in Italy

Abstract

The last decade has seen a flourishing of social agriculture cooperatives and the exponential growth of the craft beer sector in Italy. Social microbreweries (social cooperatives that operate in the craft beer sector) have started emerging but have not yet been a focus of research. This paper explores the relationship between social agriculture and microbreweries in Italy, bridging the gap between social agricultural cooperation and craft beer production. It deploys a qualitative multiple case study methodology, based on the in-depth analysis of three case studies: Vecchia Orsa, one of the oldest social microbreweries in Italy; Pintalpina, which operates in a unique alpine setting; Articioc, established by a group of friends with a love of craft beer. This research suggests that the craft beer sector provides important opportunities for social innovation in social cooperatives, with a particular focus on the work integration of vulnerable people. In addition, this paper highlights different pathways for scaling social microbreweries, including focusing on organisational growth (growing the size of the business), scaling out (impacting greater numbers) and scaling deep (impacting cultural roots). Different scaling approaches are united by a common scaling strategy: network and partnership building. This emerges as an essential action to increase the impact of social microbreweries.

Community‐Based Social Enterprises as Actors for Neo‐Endogenous Rural Development: A Multi‐Stakeholder Approach☆

“…Studies conducted within European rural areas have shown the contribution of social enterprises to their socio‐economic development through the creation of new or previously non‐existent services in diverse fields such as eldercare, childcare, transportation, affordable housing, café‐shops, culture‐leisure festivals or tourism (Liddle, McElwee, and Disney 2012; Vestrum 2014; Healey 2015; Mottiar, Boluk, and Kline 2018; Kelly et al 2019). Often associated with the provision of these services, rural social enterprises have also played a significant role in the retention and/or provision of community assets, such as buildings or other infrastructures (Aiken, Taylor, and Moran 2016) and in the creation of local employment, usually targeting those most vulnerable within their rural localities (Sforzi and Colombo 2020). Furthermore, research on European rural social enterprises have also shown their contribution to the environment through the development of sustainable forestry, community renewable energy, sustainable and organic agriculture, alternative food networks or through educational programs and recycling initiatives that enhance environmental awareness within the local population (Elsen and Fazzi 2021; Jacuniak‐Suda and Mose 2014; Morrison and Ramsey 2019).…”

Design of Automatic Integration Algorithm for Popular Science Microanimation Works in the Context of New Media

“…e development of new media has also led to the arrival of the era of short reading. Microblog and microfilm are becoming more and more popular [12]. As the pace and intensity of work increase, people's time becomes more and more fragmented.…”

Correlation between beer consumption per capita and number of active breweries in the selected European countries

“…There has been a change in consumer preferences since in 1980 the beer consumption per capita was 16.7 l and in 2012 it has increased to 29.5 l, which caused the significant growth in beer production between this period from 8,569,096 hl to 13,482,000 hl (Garavaglia, 2018). Even though the absence of historic brewing tradition can be considered as a negative characteristic of the Italian brewing industry, the number of microbreweries rapidly increased from 206 to 862 between the years 2008 and 2018 (Sforzi and Colombo, 2020). Nowadays, the brewing sector has a major impact on the Italian economy and enterprises are focusing on sustainability, innovations, and responsible drinking.…”