Workers on the famend San Francisco brewery, Anchor Brewing Co., have banded collectively to attempt to rescue the historic establishment often called “America’s oldest craft brewery” — by buying and working it themselves.
Round 40 staff penned a letter on Wednesday to the present homeowners, Sapporo, outlining their intentions, Vinepair reported. The employees’ proposal, which requires working the brewery as a employee co-op, goals to cease Anchor’s belongings from being offered off and hold the establishment alive.
Sapporo, which had acquired Anchor Brewing Co. in 2017 for a reported sum of $85 million, just lately introduced its intention to shut the brewery and dump its belongings.
The staff, represented by Pedro de Sá, a spokesperson for the Anchor union, emphasised that they aren’t looking for “handouts or charity.”
“All we would like is a good shot at having the ability to proceed to do our jobs, make the beer we love, and hold this historic establishment open, de Sá wrote within the letter. “We are not looking for the brewery and model we like to be offered off earlier than we even had an opportunity.”
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The employees’ letter requests Sapporo president Mike Minami to reply and interact in negotiations with the Anchor staff by the tip of the day on Friday.
“We could not go down with out a way of combating for ourselves and the group we love,” Patrick Machel, a employee at Anchor informed Vinepair.
An indication is displayed on the entrance door of the Anchor Brewing Co. in 2017. Justin Sullivan | Getty Photographs
Based in 1896, Anchor has confronted vital adjustments upon Sapporo’s acquisition — together with a taproom, paid excursions, and classy beer kinds — which have been met with detrimental suggestions from staff and placing the brewery’s “craft” standing in jeopardy.
The Anchor staff usually are not the one ones desperate to protect the model’s legacy. Final week, Rhode Island-based brewery, Narragansett Beer, circulated a petition to avoid wasting Anchor, garnering curiosity from a number of non-public fairness buyers, Vinepair reported.
A number of Bay Space entrepreneurs have additionally expressed curiosity in buying the model, together with “serial investor” Mike Walsh, who has arrange a web site to hunt potential buyers, per The San Francisco Chronicle.
“I undoubtedly have sufficient curiosity and entry to capital to place a aggressive supply in so we might purchase it,” he informed the outlet.
Within the Anchor union’s letter, the workers request that Minami responds by the tip of the day on Friday concerning the subsequent steps, notably in “creat[ing] the framework and rais[ing] the funds obligatory for this buy.”
