Groups of potential buyers have begun reaching out to Craft Beer Cellar founders Kate Baker and Suzanne Schalow about purchasing their Belmont, Massachusetts-based bottle shop and Trinktisch European Food Hall since they announced plans to sell last week.
Brewbound caught up with Baker to discuss the decision, the interest they’ve received so far, and what’s next for her and Schalow.
Baker shared that four different groups of people have inquired about the business so far.
“It’s also something that it’s just not gonna happen overnight,” she said. “It’s easy to get overexcited, but you have to talk yourself down a little bit.
“We are encouraged by having such interest so early.”
Although Baker and Schalow are open to selling the businesses separately, the interest they’ve received thus far has been acquiring the package.
“There’s a lot of complementary aspects to having Craft Beer Cellar and Trinktisch right next door to each other,” Baker said, noting that the restaurant’s customers have often stopped by the bottle shop after, to purchase packages of the beers they’ve tried during dinner.
The timeline for a sale is “open ended,” but Baker said the hope is “by the end of the year” the business will be transitioning to new owners and she and Schalow will be in advisory roles.
Baker admitted that the last year and half has been difficult for her and Schalow, with no work-life balance. Baker added that the ideal buyers will have help to divide duties and avoid the grind that they’ve experienced amid labor shortages and the aftermath of the pandemic.
“We didn’t do this because we don’t want to work,” Baker said of offering the businesses for sale. “We love to work, but we absolutely must stop the 14-hour work days six to seven days a week. It’s just not tenable any longer. We’re not old, but we are not 30 years old anymore.”
That’s why she’s been encouraged by the groups that have reached out, with multiple people involved, who will be able to “take something that we think is pretty cool and push the needle forward and make it even better and introduce some changes and streamline efficiencies.”
“All the people that have shown interest have some varying degree of prior experience and beer knowledge – which of course is paramount – restaurant work, etc.,” she said. “We’re not just going to pack our bags and drop the keys on the desk and run away. This means way more to us than that. We want to make sure that we’re leaving all that we’ve done and all that we’ve poured our souls into in good hands and that’s the main goal.
“Our challenge is to not have it leave any sort of a gaping, glaring hole, but to encourage people that we’re leaving it in the hands of somebody that can take it to the next level,” Baker continued. “In fact, we encourage whoever comes in here to do it better because it deserves it and so do the people of Belmont and the surrounding communities.”
Nevertheless, Baker said she and Schalow are “100% completely at peace with” the decision to sell the businesses. Still, she called the decision to sell “bittersweet,” as she and Schalow have built a loyal customer base after 13 years.
“We’ve had a good run,” Baker said. “We’ve had some bumps in the road. We’ve had some great successes. We still love what we do. We are just tired.”
Baker admitted that looking at the long-term for the business has been difficult to focus on while putting “so much into the everyday just to run the businesses.”
“It’s become exhausting, quite frankly,” she said. “That’s OK. We recognize that and we’ve made our decision and we’re hopeful for continued positive conversations forward.”
Although Baker and Schalow are looking to sell their Belmont bottle shop and restaurant, they are not fully exiting the beer, hospitality or restaurant space. They’ll continue to franchise the Craft Beer Cellar business.
“We’ve got a solid group remaining, and we’d like to do everything we can to continue to support them and to help them grow,” Baker said.