West Berkshire Brewery

Idea

Introduction

Our mission is to deliver a range of the highest quality beers that blend a respect for heritage, integrity and provenance with modern methods and styles. We embrace all beer styles and believe that great beer should be the norm and not the exception.

Founded in 1995, West Berkshire Brewery has transformed into one of the best-equipped breweries in the UK. In rapid growth, we are dedicated in our mission to deliver best-in-class beers of all varieties from heritage styles to modern craft beers accessible to everyone.

Following investment in 2017 we moved to our new brewery site and to a brewery designed to make small batch beers at big scale. The business was founded to champion real ale in the resurgence of micro-brewing in 1995; this has evolved to acknowledge that there is no such thing as bad beer, only badly made beer, and our mission is to rectify this by focusing on producing lagers, IPA's and Ales of the very best balance, flavour, drinkability and quality.

Substantial accomplishments to date

Installation and commissioning of new brewery, complete with botlting and canning lines in a purpose built facility. Offices and "cold chain" storage are also onsite.

Since the installation of the new brewery sales revenue grew 86% in year 1 to £6.2m *;

Sales to national supermarkets including Waitrose, Tesco and the Co-Op;

Taproom and Kitchen launched in 2017 and generates sales of £1.4m per annum;

The Depot, Islington, and the Grapes, Oxford, acquired as leasehold pubs.

Joint-Venture Pub company Maverick Pubs was developed and lauched in 2018 and immediately acquired two London freehold pubs;

Contract packaging and brewing business successfully launched, customers include Meantime, Adnams, Greene King, Shepherd Neame, Yeastie Boys, Wadworth's, Black Sheep and demand for our services is growing.

Route to Market partnership developed with one of the biggest national wholesalers as well as distribution via national pub companies and directly to the Independent Free Trade;

Professional business infrastructure has been put in place including a fully departmental strucutre, a professional sales team and an SAP based Enterprise Resource Planning management system.

*source: unaudited management accounts

Monetisation strategy

WBB is vertically integrated with 3 different complementary revenue lines:
1) Beer Sales: With a product portfolio aligned to consumer and customer needs, WBB looks to offer a beer that satisfies every drinker and drinking occasion. Our brands are sold in the On-Trade via pub companies, regional brewers, a route to market partnership with one of the UK's biggest wholesalers and direct delivery sales. In the Off-Trade we have listings with supermarkets such as Waitrose and Tesco and we produce "own brand" beers.

2)Retail & Pub Sales: Including the pubs in our partner, Maverick Pubs, we have 4 pubs operating: 3 in London, 1 in Oxford. Two are freehold and two leasehold. At our brewery site we have our 200-capacity Taproom & Kitchen, a destination venue which generates revenue of £1.4m p.a.

3) Contract Sales:
Our reputation of being a great quality brewer has attracted some of the UK's best-known brands to bottle/brew or can. To date, our customers include Adnams, Meantime, Black Sheep, Wadworth, Shepherd Neame, Yeastie Boys, amongst many others.

Use of proceeds

The proceeds will be used to help fund our strong and continuing growth and to provide the cash runway to continue scaling.
We look to support the continued development of all revenue channels, with demand being demonstrated across all areas of the business.

This will take the following form:

- Support the installation and commissioning of our Fridge Pack Machine, this machine packs bottles and cans into consumer ready retail packs.
- The addition of this machine will augment our line and in turn boost our capability to drive sales in the Off Trade, in our retail outlets and will add a further service to our contract customers.
- Support our marketing initiatives with our pub partners across the South of England
- Provide capital to enable any pub acquisition opportunities as they arise over the coming year.

Investor Perks

Up to £500

Shares in the business and 10% off for life from our shop, online or any of our pubs

£500

all the above plus 50% off voucher for online shop

£1,000

all of the above plus 6 month beer subscription & a brewery tour for 25 people

£5,000

all of the above plus the right to book the Taproom for 50 people or more

£10,000+

all of the above plus a brew day on our 100L pilot kit - work with one of our brewers creating your beer and receive it when it's ready. Lunch in the Taproom included

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