USA, CA: Harmonic Brewing to close its original location and production facility

After almost eight years, Harmonic Brewing announced it will close its original location and production facility in San Francisco's Dogpatch neighborhood at the end of October, CBS News reported on August 10.

"Maybe 10 batches left in this facility," said Harmonic brewmaster and co-founder Eddie Gobbo.

Gobbo says they wanted to stay in business here but they couldn't come to an agreement for a new lease with the property owner.

"It's a labor-intensive, expensive business to run," he said.

Gobbo says operational costs have increased, "rents have stayed the same" and revenue has declined in recent years.

"People have moved out, spending habits have changed, people are at home a lot more, working from home, they're not meeting colleagues out. So, for businesses like us that rely on in-person and full taprooms, we've seen a big hit in revenue. During those times, costs have gone up, rents have stayed the same."

Harmonic's decision comes on the heels of Anchor Brewing's closure as well as other, smaller breweries.

"Our friends Local Brewing and Ferment, Drink, and Repeat," Gobbo said.

As San Francisco loses another brewery, many local restaurants are losing options for pop-ups at breweries, which have served as lifelines for businesses during and after the pandemic.

Gilberth Cab, the co-owner of Gilberth's Latin Fusion in the Dogpatch, says weekly pop-ups over the last three years at Harmonic became an important part of his restaurant's business model.

"We were there every Friday," he said.

The revenue helped with rent and other expenses, he says.

"At this point, we need to figure out what's the next chapter in terms of the business and just try to figure something else out," Cab said.

He's not alone in having to pivot, once again, in recent years.

"We were there on Fridays, there were vendors on Saturdays and Sundays," he said. "Not having that on a weekly basis will be hard, it'll be difficult."

Gobbo says a healthy local craft beer scene is beneficial for San Francisco as a whole.

"We're a worthwhile industry to have here. We're big for our community, we're big for tourism, we make craft products," he said.

Considering the number of brewery closures in recent months, he says he's concerned about the industry's future in San Francisco.

"There are more breweries that will be closing. It impacts everybody," he said. "If we want to attract larger businesses here, we need to give them incentives for their employees to move here. That's all linked to the small businesses."

Gobbo says Harmonic still has a future in San Francisco, it will just look different than it has up until this point. They'll continue to operate their Thrive City taproom at Chase Center, but he says they'll have to find another brewery that will let them produce Harmonic beer.

"We're pretty used to figuring out tough problems - since we've started. This is an industry that is always in survival mode. I think this is just the next step for it," he said.

11 August, 2023