Sprecher Brewing Co. Inc. has plans to expand locally after experiencing success with its brand nationally.
The company is meeting with Glendale Plan Commissioners tonight to discuss using a building southwest of the brewery for warehousing and distribution. Sprecher also wants to add three loading docks to the warehouse, which is located at 727 W. Glendale Ave.
The company also plans to construct a 30,000 square-foot warehouse directly south of the brewery to store its products, although these plans have not been proposed officially, said Sharad Chadha, Sprecher Brewing Company chief executive officer.
“We’re growing super rapidly,” Chadha said. “I think our soda and beer is getting acceptance, we’re getting national distribution and we’re winning big accounts.”
Much of Sprecher’s distribution agreements were historically confined to the Milwaukee area, said Chadha, who led an investment group that purchased Sprecher Brewing Co. Inc. last year. In
an interview last year with BizTimes, Chadha detailed his ambitious plans to grow the company through new products and a larger distribution footprint, plans of which now appear to be in motion.
Chadha said Sprecher has grown more than 50% year-over-year, which he attributes to signed sales and distribution agreements over the last six months at the national level, including with Kroger, Costco, Walmart and Chicago-based distributor Lakeshore Beverage.
Sprecher also recently launched a new canning line for its soda, beer and seltzers and has plans to hire between 10 and 20 workers for positions in production and operations, plant management, sales and marketing – Sprecher hired 20 employees over the last three months, bringing its total staff to 75.
“We’re doing multiple shifts of logistics and warehousing, so we need people,” Chadha said. “It’s been a little bit of a struggle, but we’ve hired senior people from Coca-Cola, Miller and Anheuser-Busch.
The city recently held a closed-session discussion with Sprecher to update a developer’s agreement with Sprecher, which predates Sprecher’s new ownership group, Chadha said. Although Chadha did not share specific details, the discussion was about honoring the agreement, which involves developing parcels recently purchased by the new ownership group.
After the new group of owners of Sprecher Brewing Co. purchased the company from its founder and chief executive officer Randy Sprecher, the group
acquired both the brewery property and a neighboring site for $3.24 million.
An affiliate of the ownership group, Sprecher Property LLC, acquired the brewery building at 701-711 W. Glendale Ave. for $2.41 million and the neighboring property at 725 W. Glendale Ave., which includes a 33,900-square-foot office building, for $825,000, state records show.
Both properties were sold by Sprecher Brewing Company LLC. The two properties have a total assessed value of $2.78 million, according to city records.
