Recovering from Crowdfunding '19 [with Redchurch Brewery]

Ithis week's episode of the Hop Forward Podcast, we catch up with Redchurch Brewery's Head of Operations, Rachael Reynolds, to talk about recovering from crowdfunding and the troubles that plagued the brewery in 2019. In essence, crowdfunding is a great idea, allowing die-fans and casual followers the opportunity to make a difference to a project; to do good while allowing others to brew good. As a relatively new practise, those looking to crowdfund have largely had to navigate through uncharted water. Although crowdfunding finds an unlikely beginning in 18th century Germany, where German authors would take cash pre-orders for books they had yet to write, it wasn’t until 2001 when a website called ArtistShare became the internet’s first fan-funding platform and became the blueprint for today’s modern crowdfunding sites, such as IndieGoGo and Kickstarter. For a season, it seemed as if crowdfunding was the golden ticket to securing the growth capital required to kickstart or take a brewing venture to the next level. Brewers across the globe took to platforms such as Kickstarter, Crowdcube, and Seedrs to reach out directly to their fans and ask their communities for cash in exchange for perks and merch, and - as time went on - shares and part ownerships, many of which came with inflated valuations. But what happens when crowdfunding leaves a sour taste in people’s mouths? Most notably in the UK, when people think of brewery crowdfunding, two names often arise - Woolwich based Hop Stuff Brewery, which raised over £1.5m through investors only to have the brewery seized by the landlord after failing to make rent on account of unpaid debts, delayed accounts and other financial difficulties. The second is Harlow based brewery, Redchurch. But after the social media storm has died down, what becomes of a business like Redchurch Brewery? How do the news owners or the staff, the few faithful who endured the chaos, re-emerge and pick up the pieces? How do you go about rebuilding damaged consumer and customer relationships and tell them things are different now? How do you rebuild trust in a brewery and brand that’s had its name tainted and dragged through the mud by the actions of individuals who no longer represent the business? How do you reassure those who had their fingers burned first time around? This is one of the many challenges that the team at Redchurch have been asking as they look to re-establish themselves in the market. I was fortunate enough to get some time with Rachael at BrewLDN in February, to drink some beer and to hear their side of the story - casualties themselves of the poor decisions made by the original founders, albeit in a much different way. But I don’t want to give too much away…! What I want to do is to allow them to tell their side of the story, because there is always another side to the story...! --- BREWERY SHOUTOUTS Every week, we're giving brewery shoutouts and exclusive offers for our podcast listeners to some of the UK's best brewers and beer businesses. These are breweries we've known and loved, or have supported the podcast in some way. Make sure you check out their beers...! THE CHESHIRE BREWHOUSE - Fantastic beers with brilliant artwork from Shane and the team. Get an exclusive mixed case from their webshop using the code HF12 from this link: Click here to shop now FULL CIRCLE BREW CO - New beers from Newcastle upon Tyne's newest brewery. Great collab series, specials and core range not to be missed. Click here and use the code HOPFORWARD TURNING POINT BREW CO - Disco balls and more, including a range of collaboration with some of the UK's biggest names in beer. Use the code APRIL20 for 15% off your order on their webstore. --- Follow us on social media hopforward.beer to find out how we can get you ahead in the brewing and beer business through branding, marketing, and business development.