While many craft brewers actively pursue new retail opportunities in convenience stores, grocery chains and large mainstream restaurant accounts, Avery Brewing’s national sales director Ted Whitney said the company is still focusing sales efforts at what he calls ‘low hanging fruit.
“We have very slight market penetration in most places,” he said. “There are a lot of easy targets to hit before we start getting into 7-Eleven and look at a more mass-market approach. The market maturity is such that we can wait a little while; I don’t think the window is about to close.”
But those easy targets can only take a brand so far. Knowing this and preparing for long term growth opportunities, Avery Brewing founder Adam Avery will invest nearly $30 million on a new production facility expansion. The expansion will allow for increased production of the company’s core lineup and expanded production of more high-end, experimental barrel-aged offerings.
Whitney said the project will be financed via a “huge bank loan.”
“It will be our first significant debt as a company but we are absolutely certain that it’s totally worth it,” he said.
In our latest video segment, Whitney discusses new retail opportunities and details the company’s expansion plans.