In a press release, “visionary New Zealand brewers – the Yeastie Boys – announced a highly anticipated sale of shares in their business. From January 28th, friends and fans of Yeastie Boys’ deliciously irreverent ales will be able to buy a piece of the world famous brewing company via an equity crowdfunding campaign on PledgeMe. The capital raised will be used for the development of Yeastie Boys’ production in Britain and sales across Europe.
Following Yeastie Boys success at the Wetherspoon’s International Real Ale Festival in early 2014, an event that saw their beer in front of a million people in more than 900 pubs across Britain, the brewing duo have decided to launch a focussed European campaign by brewing in Britain. The Yeastie Boys second shipment to Britain has just left New Zealand but brewing in Britain will be more sustainable, cutting 25% off their price to market and 6-8 weeks off their lead times for orders.
“We’d already thought of brewing in Britain and locked in a Scottish brewery while we were over there in February” said Directive Creator Sam Possenniskie, “but the fact that our first shipment from New Zealand sold out before it even made it halfway to Britain just pushed our decision forward.”
”The rise of new world styles in Britain, especially in the major cities, is phenomenal” says Stu McKinlay, Yeastie Boys’ Creative Director, “we’re starting to see a very similar pattern of market fragmentation in the UK to what we’ve seen in the USA, over the last two decades, and more recently in New Zealand and Australia. Traditional beer styles, brewed in giant factories, are in slow decline but new world styles are growing rapidly. They’re exciting beers, which sell as much on flavour as they do on brand, and that fits with what we’ve seen in wine, slow food, coffee and other similar areas. It’s a movement rather than a trend and our beers are at the forefront of it.”
While Yeastie Boys have been approached by many potential investors over the years, they’d always been interested in growing their business with people who have a passion for the product – not just the market potential. The emergence of equity crowdfunding finally made their dream a reality.
Yeastie Boys plan to raise the capital at the end of January 2015, with the production in Britain planned for April 2015. New Zealand beer lovers will be pleased to know that the move into Europe does not signal a halt in Yeastie Boys’ operations at home.
“We’re still basing everything out of New Zealand with the same lean business model in Britain” said Stu McKinlay, who will set up operations in the northern hemisphere. “New Zealand will always be the home of Yeastie Boys, we’ve still got big plans for Asia, Australia and New Zealand over the next few years. I’ll be back before most people even realise I’m gone!”
Source: Yeastie Boys (http://www.yeastieboys.co.nz/)
