The northward march of Modern Times just took a big leap as they announced their upcoming Belmont Fermentorium. In this instance, the Commons Brewery will give up their space to the growing San Diego employee-owned company as the Portland brewer, who started in his garage as Beetje Brewing will consider his next steps.
Mike Wright, founder of The Commons Brewery, who also owns the 10,000 sq. ft. site where his beer company is currently located, will turn the keys over for the premises at 630 Southeast Belmont Street at the end of the year. New brewery equipment and rebrand the location as “The Belmont Fermentorium.”
To be crystal clear, Modern Times is not acquiring The Commons Brewery. Though the future of Commons is uncertain.
Matt Sandoval will go from the cellar at Modern Times to running the brewing operations in Portland. The Belmont Fermentorium will also include a coffee roaster and eventually food will be part of the project as well . As of now, Modern Times has two locations in San Diego. Is building out locations in Anaheim and Los Angeles and is working on a possible Encinitas location as well.
I have a feeling that more statements like the one below from Mike Wright of The Commons will be seen in the coming years…
“What Happened?
Unfortunately, this is a classic small business cash flow story. Sure, there is plenty of industry nuance and hindsight that can be evaluated, but this boiled down to simple debits and credits. That’s the sinister simplicity of a cash flow problem. Your debt is clearly defined, but revenue is a rollercoaster. The belief was that we’d eventually break out and get past those challenges. We did not.”
The question is, how many breweries can take over for those that have decided to pause or quit?