Vagabund Brauerei

Idea

Introduction

Three Americans travel across the Atlantic to Berlin, bond over music and beer, and form a band. The band didn’t make it, but its spirit of creativity and improvisation led to the foundation of Vagabund Brauerei in 2011. From our early beginning as a brewpub till today, we have strived to pair German beer craftsmanship with American brewing creativity. We have grown together with the craft beer industry, developing over 190 styles of beer, while being voted RateBeer's best Brewpub in Germany for 7 years in a row. In 2021 we opened our brand new production facility just down the street from our original location where we can brew 20 times as much per batch while cutting costs, improving on quality, and staying true to our vision. For us, beer is more than just a thirst quencher. It is part of the social fabric of our lives. And it is part of a larger sensory experience that includes music, food, and good people. This is the vision that we want to bring to new customers in Europe.

Substantial accomplishments to date

- Business incorporated in October 2011

- Crowdfunding campaign in 2013 (€22,295 pledged from almost 200 early supporters), press coverage from the Washington Post, Die Zeit, NYT, etc.

- Opening of our first nano brewery and on-trade location (the Taproom) in July 2013

- Voted RateBeer's best Brewpub Germany for the first time in 2014 (and every single year since then)

- Taproom's production at capacity in 2016

- Start of the expansion project - location scouting in 2017

- Signature of the long-term lease for our new brewery and bar (the Kesselhaus) in 2018, new shareholders onboard

- Received institutional support for equipment and renovation costs

- Start of the renovation at the Kesselhaus (End of 2018)

- COVID: within 6 weeks pivot from serving almost exclusively restaurants, bars and bottleshops to focussing on sales to supermarkets and other retail outlets growing 72% offsite since January 2020*

- Opening of the Kesselhaus to the public in the summer of 2021

- Meininger’s International Craft Beer Award Gold Medal (Session IPA) won in 2021

* Based on unaudited management accounts

Monetisation strategy

We generate revenue through the production and sale of our craft beer both on- and off-trade, catering to both B2B and B2C customers in Germany and the rest of Europe.

* B2B sales
- Signed a growing number of grocery stores belonging to large retailer chains (EDEKA, REWE, BUDNI stores in Berlin and other large German cities)
- Expanded our footprint of bars and restaurants in Berlin and other large German cities (crucial for brand recognition)
- Listed with several craft beer webshops in Germany and abroad (beerwulf.com, kalea.at, craftbeer-shop.com, etc.)
- Listed with the leading Ultra-Fast Grocery Delivery Platforms in Germany (Gorillas, Flink, in Berlin and other large German cities - Hamburg, Frankfurt, Düsseldorf...)
- Growing our Direct B2B sales (direct sales to corporate, organization of on-site events, etc.)

* B2C sales - Germany and Europe
- Through our on-trade operations on our two locations (Taproom and Kesselhaus)
- Webshop sales with delivery throughout the EU

Use of proceeds

The amount raised will be used to fund the following activities:

- 50% of the sum will go towards hiring a new salesperson who will focus on export sales (EU and UK)

- 25% of the sum will go towards creating a dedicated marketing budget for our German and European expansion, and cover expenses for at least one year

- 25% of the sum will serve as an operations buffer with a focus on expenses supporting growth.

Our stretch goals if we go over our target:

- Purchase of further fermentation tanks to expand production

- Purchase of additional equipment to improve production efficiency or extend our product range (e.g. towards hard seltzer, non-alcoholic and low-ABV beer)

- Further investment in marketing