E-Malt.com News article: USA, OH: Saucy Brew Works to open its third location in Columbus next month

Cleveland's Saucy Brew Works said it will open its third location in what was previously Café Apropos in Columbus next month, though a specific grand opening day has not been officially announced, the Crain's Cleveland Business reported on September 11.

The location, which can seat 190 in a nonpandemic world, includes a small brewing operation, restaurant — which will feature Saucy's signature New Haven-style Apizzas — and coffeehouse.

Indoor and outdoor seating will be available, as well as carryout. According to Saucy, the indoor seating "offers personal swings and small stadium seating designed to provide an exciting and unique dining experience."

"Saucy's Columbus location in Harrison West has been a long time in the making," said Brent Zimmerman, CEO and co-owner of Saucy Brew Works, in a statement. "We have deep roots over multiple generations in Columbus and wanted to make our entrance perfect. We looked at dozens of opportunities in the area, and in Harrison West we fell in love within the first five minutes touring the building. It was a very unique opportunity that didn't exist on the public market. We took control of the space within days of seeing it."

The Columbus location joins Saucy's flagship brewery, taproom and restaurant that opened in 2017 and another location in the Pinecrest mixed-use center in Orange Village that opened in July. The Pinecrest location marked the debut of Saucy Coffee, which will be offered in Columbus as well.

Saucy is in the middle of some ambitious expansion plans that have been partly slowed down by the pandemic (the Columbus location was previously on track to open a bit earlier in the summer).

Saucy is also in progress with opening new brewpubs in Detroit and Independence.

The Detroit location is being completed as part of Bedrock's mixed-use City Modern development and could open this fall.

The Independence location, which will be near the new Topgolf facility off I-77, has been projected to open sometime next year. You can read more about that project here.

To supplement some capital needs and generate some buzz about the company, Saucy launched a $1 million crowdfunding campaign in June. If successful, at least 81.5% of proceeds from the campaign are to be spent on capital improvement projects, according to a corresponding public filing.

Saucy's owners post a pre-crowdfunding valuation for the company of $82.4 million. The owners justify the seemingly high value based on anticipated business of the new facilities coming online.

As of Friday, Sept. 11, Saucy has raised more than $383,000 from 967 investors (you can find the crowdfunding page here) but the campaign only has 11 days left before hitting its original deadline. Saucy representatives did not immediately say whether the company would try to have that deadline extended.

Investors at various funding levels get a return on investment in the form of various perks. They could also get a return in the event of a company acquisition or IPO.


13 September, 2020