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Schlafly CEO Fran Caradonna Discusses 30 Years In St. Louis' Craft Beer Scene

Fran Caradonna has a long history with Schlafly. She's now its CEO.
Emily Woodbury | St. Louis Public Radio
Fran Caradonna has a long history with Schlafly. She's now its CEO.
Fran Caradonna has a long history with Schlafly. She's now its CEO.
Credit Emily Woodbury | St. Louis Public Radio
Fran Caradonna has a long history with Schlafly. She's now its CEO.

In 1990, Fran Caradonna and her then-husband upended St. Louis’ beer scene by starting a distributorship. They wanted to give local drinkers a choice beyond Anheuser-Busch — and, when Schlafly Beer was founded a year later, the Caradonnas’ company naturally became its distributor.

They helped introduce St. Louis to many new craft beer brands, helping to shake up what once felt like a near-monopoly for A-B. And, after the Caradonnas sold their company to Major Brands, they started a craft brewery of their own: O’Fallon Brewery, which they also later sold.   

Last year, Caradonna found herself tapped to be Schlafly’s new CEO, helping position the now 29-year-old brewery in a much-changed beverage landscape. She joined us Thursday for St. Louis on the Air to discuss how St. Louis’ craft beer scene has changed in the last three decades, Schlafly’s expansion plans and what she’s drinking now. 

Caradonna said part of the complication of running Schlafly is that it’s actually two different businesses: a manufacturing business, which ships its product to 15 states across the country, and a pair of brewpubs, with physical locations in Maplewood and the city’s Downtown West neighborhood (a recent acquisition will bring a St. Charles location in the coming months). 

At the pubs, she explained, “we sell directly and communicate directly with consumers. And what a gift that is, because it helps us to be close to our customers, and listen, and understand what they love about beer, and St. Louis and Schlafly.” 

Feedback at the brewpubs, she said, has helped shape the company’s direction. 

“People feel passionate about our products, just like we do,” she said. “And it’s such a gift, and such a joy, to be in business and offer a product they like as much as we do.”

Caradonna also took questions from callers.

St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is hosted by Sarah Fenske and produced by Alex Heuer, Emily Woodbury, Evie Hemphill and Lara Hamdan. The engineer is Aaron Doerr and production assistance is provided by Charlie McDonald.

Send questions and comments about this story to feedback@stlpublicradio.org.

Copyright 2021 St. Louis Public Radio. To see more, visit St. Louis Public Radio.

Sarah Fenske joined St. Louis Public Radio as host of St. Louis on the Air in July 2019. Before that, she spent twenty years in newspapers, working as a reporter, columnist and editor in Cleveland, Houston, Phoenix, Los Angeles and St. Louis. She won the Livingston Award for Young Journalists for her work in Phoenix exposing corruption at the local housing authority. She also won numerous awards for column writing, including multiple first place wins from the Arizona Press Club, the Association of Women in Journalism (the Clarion Awards) and the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. From 2015 to July 2019, Sarah was editor in chief of St. Louis' alt-weekly, the Riverfront Times. She and her husband, John, are raising their two young daughters and ill-behaved border terrier in Lafayette Square.