E-Malt.com News article: USA, TX: Lakewood Brewing Co. amid major growth spurt

Lakewood Brewing Co. is amid a major growth spurt in the company’s two-year history, more than doubling the size of its brewery and partnering with its first third-party distributor, Dallas Business Journal reports.

The company recently bought the building next door to its Dallas brewery and plans to bulldoze it to build a new 14,000 square-foot facility from the ground up. The new building will be connected to its current 11,000 square-foot facility.

It also has entered into partnership with Dallas-based Andrews Distributing, which has a portfolio of more than 10,000 customers that include retailers and grocers across Dallas-Fort Worth.

“We’ve been growing 10 percent month-over-month since we started,” said Wim Bens, founder and president of Lakewood Brewing, adding that Andrews was the next step in the brewery’s development. “What you can expect is more Lakewood in different places.”

With help from Andrews, which has three distribution facilities across Dallas-Fort Worth, Lakewood plans to increase its reach and frequency of deliveries to outlying areas, including Tarrant County and the mid-cities. It also will be able to sell some of its delivery vehicles and move the in-house delivery staff back to the brewery to help support increased production.

For Andrews, adding Lakewood helps bolster its portfolio in an increasingly popular segment.

“Craft beer … is a really big growth engine,” said Mike McGuire, Andrews president, adding that sales of craft beer grew more than 15 percent for the company last year. “It’s very exciting and become very significant for us.”

McGuire said 10 percent of Andrews' sales are in craft beer, translating into the sale of 2.8 million cases a year. Lakewood is the second DFW craft brewery to partner with Andrews, joining Fort Worth-based Rahr & Son’s Brewing Co., which has experienced an annual growth rate of 55 percent since Andrews stepped in.

But the partnership with Lakewood will be a little different than that of Rahr, as the company is in its own internal expansion.

“They’ll be continuously expanding their production, so it’s really about being strategic and smart about growing their brand,” McGuire said.

The two companies courted each other for more than a year before linking up. For Bens, the partnership will help promote the visibility of his four year-round brews, four seasonal varieties, quarterly Legendary Series brew and annual anniversary beer.


18 April, 2014