Anchor SF Cooperative (ASFC), a group of former Anchor Brewing workers, has launched a WeFunder campaign to help its efforts to “carry on the legacy of Anchor Brewing.”
ASFC launched its WeFunder Wednesday, and has raised $45,250 from individual investors, as of press time. The investment money will be used to bid on Anchor Brewing’s assets, with a focus on the San Francisco craft brewery’s intellectual property (IP).
“Anchor SF Cooperative will strive to take Anchor Steam into a new era and drive success that investors and consumers can participate in,” the group wrote on its investment page. “We are the team with experience and relationships to accomplish this!”
As reported Tuesday, Hilco Corporate Finance has taken over the bidding process for Sapporo-owned Anchor and its assets, overseen by an intermediary. Sapporo is considering offers for all of Anchor’s assets – including IP, real estate and brewing equipment – as a package deal, or as individual sales. The deadline for “non-binding indications of interest” is Friday, November 17.
Anchor’s fate has been up in the air since July, when Sapporo shut down the craft brewery’s operations, citing “a combination of challenging economic factors and declining sales since 2016.”
Some Anchor workers responded to the shutdown by organizing ASFC and setting up a GoFundMe campaign, which raised more than $111,000 to help fund attorney fees and other payments to help with efforts to buy the brewery.
ASFC includes a board fo five former Anchor workers:
- Chairman Patrick Machel, a packaging lead and Anchor Union steward, with more than six years at the company;
- Treasurer Dane Volek, a brewmaster who has spent more than 15 years at Anchor;
- Vice chair Nate Diaz, a union steward who has worked in fermentation at Anchor for two years;
- Secretary Ryan Poulos, who worked in packaging at Anchor for two years;
- And communications lead Laura Dutra, who worked in packaging for one year.
The members of the board are the only former employees involved in the co-op’s bid for brewery assets. However, the board is actively in communication with other former employees to update on their progress, and the ASFC plans to hire back anyone who would like to join as worker-owners, if the bid is successful, Vinepair’s Dave Infante reported.
ASFC mapped out its plans for an Anchor relaunch strategy on its WeFunder page, as well as its capital strategy. The company is aiming to raise at least $2 million during its current fundraising period – in addition to its existing GoFundMe capital – which the group believes will cover the expected costs of buying back Anchor’s IP, including brewing recipes and branding rights, as well as “initial restart costs.”
ASFC noted that the $2 million will likely be from WeFunder and “private investment.”
Should the bid for Anchor’s IP be successful, ASFC has two options in mind to relaunch the brand.
Plan A: Brew in the Original Location
In early 2024, ASFC would agree to a lease for Anchor’s Potrero Hill locations from whomever is the new land/building owner. ASFC is not planning to buy the property itself. Once a lease is secured, they would begin brewing Steam Beer, Anchor’s iconic core offering, and distributing it in the San Francisco Bay Area.
By late 2024, ASFC would expect to expand its brewing operations with other established Anchor varieties, and reopen Anchor Public Taps, the bar across the street from the production facility. ASFC would also reward investors with “perks” releases.
By early 2025, ASFC would “begin distribution outside of central California” and expand its packaging, as well as “possibly” bring bottles back to the lineup.
Plan B: Brew in a New Location
With Plan B, ASFC would bring Achor’s recipes and branding to a new location in San Francisco. The group’s roadmap has the establishment of those operations slated for mid-to-late 2024.
By early 2025, ASFC would begin packaging Anchor beers in kegs, and distributing locally.
Growth Milestones and Financials
ASFC also mapped out three phases of growth that it hopes to hit, should its bid succeed.
Phase 1: Relaunch the brand, whether that is in a new location or the existing Anchor facility.
The relaunch strategy would be determined by the accepted bid and ASFC’s funds, as well as where the operations end up.
Phase 2: Begin brewing and distributing locally with kegs and “limited canning.”
This phase would also include the reopening of Public Taps, so local consumers could access pilot beers and possible to-go sales. Included in this phase is the production of Steam Beer, as well as the rest of Anchor’s “traditional beer lineup.” The group also plans to bring back Christmas Ale and other seasonal favorites.
“Anchor Steam [is] a historic, classic and regional speciality,” the group wrote. “We are looking to reverse choices that customers saw as ‘trend-chasing’ by staying with our traditional recipes and avoiding the over-hopped, seltzer-based fads of current times.”
Phase 3: Grow volume and staff “based on sales and market growth.”
This phase includes opening distribution outside of central California and increasing the company’s volume output. It could also include the “possible return to bottle packaging.”
“We know our brewing process and our startup capacity,” ASFC wrote. “With original Anchor equipment, we could start producing at average brewery levels of 150,000 barrels per year of the classic Steam Beer and more. If the brewery were to be moved and new equipment purchased, barrelage could be smaller to start and grow with success.
“Household names like Lagunitas, Goose Island and Stone, have now become national brands with large outside ownership (Heineken, Anheuser-Busch, Sapporo),” the group continued. “We want to stay craft and stay true to our 120+year history and remain independent to avoid being watered down by big market strategy.”
ASFC’s first-year financial projections are based on six assumptions:
- The company would sell 40,000 barrels of Anchor Steam and select beers in Year One;
- The first year of distribution would be only in the San Francisco Bay Area;
- Anchor beer would be “made by [an] experienced, passionate workforce focused on efficiency and cross training;”
- There would be deferred maintenance to facilities spread over four years;
- The company would record 10% growth annually after Year One;
- And the company would expand annually after Year One throughout California “and beyond.”
With those assumptions, ASFC is expecting Year One revenue of more than $10 million, according to the WeFunder page. Cost of goods sold (COGS) would be equivalent to 30% of revenue, and operating expenses, including “market rent” and the cost of an “appropriate workforce,” would be 62% of revenue. Those costs would leave a remaining net profit of 8% revenue.