USA, FL: JDub’s Brewing Company forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy

JDub’s Brewing Company has been serving uniquely crafted beer to the Suncoast community for the past 6 years. However, Jeremy Joerger announced the brewery was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in early May on Facebook, WWSB reported on May 30.

“I just couldn’t keep them. I don’t know if the company was going to be around if and when the whole thing ended. You know it’s just bad. There are no words to describe what that felt like and staring to a future nothing good is there in any context,” says Joerger.

Immediately people flooded the comment section asking how they could help keep the brewery afloat.

"I was very grateful for people who come and support us. But it was not enough to say in operations."

Because JDub’s is a brewery and not a restaurant, they couldn’t reopen in Governor DeSantis’ Phase 1 plane.

JDub’s receives a majority of its revenue from alcohol. So far, state officials haven’t provided a plan when places like bars and clubs can reopen. This caused Joerger to file for bankruptcy.

"The money stopped coming in but the creditors kept coming to us expecting payments. And we literally had to make a decision if we’re going to survive this. And how do we survive this? Chapter 11 is the only way because it stopped the creditors from coming, beating on the door we just couldn’t we weren’t sustainable,” explains Joerger.

When a business files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, they are given a certain amount of time to reorganize their finances so they can continue to operate the business and creditors can’t bill them.

Joerger says despite making the hard decision to file for bankruptcy, he says it was the right one.

“I did a lot of self-reflecting because if I didn’t feel the business could get out of this. And If I couldn’t be effective in leading the company through I would’ve straight up closed close shop. It would’ve been Chapter 7 (bankruptcy) instead of Chapter 11 (bankruptcy),” says Joerger.

He says he’s currently looking for another location in Sarasota to restart JDub’s.

Also in the midst of this pandemic, he’s opening another brewery in Orlando called Dub Shack, that opens on June 5th.

30 May, 2020