Oh, I am in no way claiming this isn't a risky investment. But I have seen a trend in the microbrew market where a lot of these failures[1] tend to occur as they try to expand. The general pattern is they load up on debt to fund expansion, but hitting even a few bumps during that time (slump in sales, construction delays) can send things into a tailspin. As mentioned in the previous post, the economics of these taprooms are really good (500-600% markup, costs about $1 to make a pint, which they then sell for $5-$7), so microbreweries don't quite face the same pain points that restaurants do (super thin margins). But expanding operations tends to be a huge pain point, because unlike a restaurant, you need to build out the new brewhouse, and then there is a lead time before your brewhouse is pumping out beers (the more sought after beers these days require a decent amount of fermentation/aging). So if you took out a risky loan to finance the expansion, as you can imagine, it only takes a few small things to go south before the whole operation tanks. But if you finance the expansion using equity, you would probably have a lot more flexibility as you don't have to worry about default.
My thought is that crowdfunding could be a good financing option for someone like this[2]. They have already established themselves, but are trying to get to the next stage. If I was local beer fan, I might support them on kickstarter, but if they offered a crowdfunding option, perhaps with some perks like an annual tasting, than I would probably be a lot more enthused. Also keep in mind, that a lot of specialty microbreweries already have 'fan clubs' that cost a few hundred dollars a year. In return, you get access to limited releases. It seems like a creating a 'lifetime fan club' for a few thousand dollars would be doable, with the added bonus that the supporter gets some equity.
My thought is that crowdfunding could be a good financing option for someone like this[2]. They have already established themselves, but are trying to get to the next stage. If I was local beer fan, I might support them on kickstarter, but if they offered a crowdfunding option, perhaps with some perks like an annual tasting, than I would probably be a lot more enthused. Also keep in mind, that a lot of specialty microbreweries already have 'fan clubs' that cost a few hundred dollars a year. In return, you get access to limited releases. It seems like a creating a 'lifetime fan club' for a few thousand dollars would be doable, with the added bonus that the supporter gets some equity.
[1]http://www.sfgate.com/food/article/San-Francisco-s-popular-M... [2]https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/findlaybrewing/findlay-...