Here’s a big opportunity for someone who wants to get into the brewing game: Emporium — a profitable, successful business is — for sale!
You heard that right. Profitable, successful.
Given that, why, I asked Paul Finney of Emporium, does he want to sell his brewery, which includes the taproom, a mini golf layout and escape rooms.
“We’ve been going 10 years now,” says Finney, as he prefers to be known. “Longest job I’ve ever had and by a long chalk as well. But we’ve got two young daughters. One’s at school and one will be at school next year.
“We want to be able to be a family and go away for holidays and whatnot. So we just feel it’s the right time to move on. And someone can pick it up and run with it.
“The business is profitable. I think someone called it a unicorn the other day because we actually bought a house by having a brewery rather than selling the house to keep the brewery going!
“It’s a cool little business. And I’m sure someone will hopefully take it on and nurture it and keep it going.”
Finney and his wife Laura own the property and buildings in which the brewery is located and he reckons most of the value is in the land and buildings.
Here’s the link to the real estate ad for Emporium.
“I think what we’ve built here is quite different to what a lot of other breweries are. We’ve got the brewery, we’ve got the mini golf course, we’ve got the escape rooms. It’s a whole sort of package thing, which is probably why we’re not struggling like a lot of other breweries are.”
He notes that when it rains, people book escape rooms and when it’s sunny, they want to play mini golf.
Those two aspects of the business mean they have different ways people can find them.
“I always joke with people, there’s no money in beer, but thankfully there’s money in mini golf.
“I feel like we’re insulated from that industry pressure of ‘oh God, I’ve got to sell a heap of kegs or I’ve got to drop my pricing so I can get movement on the supermarket shelf’.”
When the brewery sells — and Finney is realistic that it could take “two months or two years” — he thinks that will be the end of brewing for him.
“I’ve had my time with beer probably. I want a job where you get paid for going on holiday.
“We’ve done 10 years and you know our story — we’ve had earthquakes, beer distributors go bust, pandemics and then a credit crunch at the end as well. So that and having two young kids running around eventually tires you out.
We’ve done 10 years and you know our story — we’ve had earthquakes, beer distributors go bust, pandemics and then a credit crunch at the end as well. So that and having two young kids running around eventually tires you out.
Paul Finney
“And I’m not the sort of person that would be happy to staff it and manage the thing. I’m not a very good manager. I like to make the beer. That’s what I enjoy doing the most. I just couldn’t give up that part of it and get someone else to do it.
“And you don’t want to hold on to something way past when you should have let it go because you then begin to resent it — we’ve had a great time in the last 10 years.”
Finney says the brewery has a lot of room to grow as he’s intentionally kept it relatively small.
“The brewery takes up a quarter of the building. It’s tiny really so there’s plenty of space to build bigger if you really want to.
“It could suit someone who’s got a contract brand or a brand they want to start — you can buy Emporium and have an immediate amount of turnover and then build your brand on the side. Or if you’ve got a contract brand already going, you know, you can build up both.”