- By Andrew Fortin-Caldera | Examiner staff writer
- Nov 22, 2023 Updated Nov 22, 2023 (SFExaminer.com)
A group of former Anchor Brewing Company union workers have raised more than half of what they asked for in an effort to potentially buy the taphouse’s assets, which are up for auction.
Anchor SF Cooperative, an incorporated group of unionized Anchor employees looking to save the shuttered brewery, have raised more than $168,000 toward a $250,000 goal through a Wefunder campaign as of Wednesday afternoon.
Up for sale is the company’s real estate in Potrero Hill, brewing equipment and intellectual property — including recipes and trademarks for products such as steam beer — that can be purchased individually or as a bundle.
San Francisco public relations executive Sam Singer told The Examiner that potential buyers had until last Sunday to enter their bids, but added that the date was a “soft close” and liquidators will still consider bids that come in late.
“Then, in the coming weeks and months, discussions will be had with bidders for the property, IP and other assets,” Singer said.
No information was available on interested parties or the timeline for the auction, but the company said in July that about two dozen individuals expressed an interest in buying Anchor’s assets. The Anchor SF Cooperative announced last week they were launching an effort to secure Anchor Brewing’s assets.
To that end, the group established a Wefunder campaign seeking donations to help the group enter competitive bids for the assets on sale.
“We would like all the assets and have been working with others to get the whole thing,” Anchor SF Cooperative Chair Patrick Machel told The Examiner. “We know it’s a heavy lift, but we’re hopeful. We have been keeping our options open, and being calculated in our decisions for what’s best for the company and its workers.”
The cooperative has said they would like to buy the business and run it as a worker co-op.
The Wefunder fundraiser marks the latest in a string of efforts by the cooperative to save the historic brewery after its owners announced the taphouse’s closure in July. Anchor said at the time that sales of its brew had declined since 2016, the year before Japanese beer giant Sapporo purchased the brewery for about $85 million.
Singer told The Examiner that Anchor’s money troubles were made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Anchor had invested great passion and significant resources into the company,” Singer said. “Unfortunately, the economic pressures of the pandemic and post-pandemic made the business no longer sustainable and it made the heartbreaking decision to cease operations.”
The news in July of the closure of the 127-year-old brewery was met with a chorus of residents and business owners expressing interest in buying the business.
Two weeks after the announcement of the closure, the group of interested employees said they had partnered with Project Equity to help handle inquiries from those looking to aid the efforts to save Anchor.
That announcement was followed in September by a GoFundMe campaign that raised more than $112,000 after setting a $50,000 goal.
“We are Anchor: we are working class people, many of us Bay Area natives who grew up seeing our family members drink Anchor,” the group said in its September fundraiser. “We take an immense amount of pride in the work that we do. We are now asking for the chance to continue that work.”
