Crowdfunding campaign: Brewery asks for money and pays beer interest

Created: 05/25/2022, 08:08

By: Andreas Daschner

Michael Schweinberger.

© Bernhard Huber Munich

Investing, although money is tight after Corona: That’s what Maisach’s brewery boss Michael Schweinberger wants.

He is therefore breaking new ground and starting a crowdfunding campaign.

Anyone who subscribes to shares gets beer interest.

Maisach - Interest on beer, that's what I advise you - that's the name of the campaign in which everyone can become a part of the Maisach brewery.

On the Internet at www.conda.de/zins-auf-bier/ anyone can buy shares in the 466-year-old traditional brewery worth between 100 and 25,000 euros.

Term: ten years.

The aim is to collect 300,000 euros by the end of July.

Maisach brewery: Enjoyment certificates

But you don't have to give your money away for free.

There is a – in the truest sense of the word – beer interest: At the end of the year, the interest of six to seven percent is paid out in the form of so-called participation certificates.

For these there is either beer at the brewery or they can be redeemed as a voucher in more than 30 restaurants in the region.

Of course, the idea of ​​crowdfunding in the brewery industry is not entirely new.

The Giesinger brewery has already launched such a campaign several times, and the brewery manufacturer in Olching has already resorted to this way of raising money.

In order to prevent any rumours, brewery boss Schweinberger says immediately: "Insolvency was never an option for us." The money is therefore not needed for holes in the cash register, nor because of rising energy and raw material costs.

Rather, Schweinberger would like to continue investing.

(By the way: Everything from the region is now also available in our regular FFB newsletter.)

During the Corona crisis, the 60-year-old managing director of the brewery started his “Project Italy”, as he calls it.

Since then, the brewery has increasingly exported its beer to the Mediterranean country.

It started in 2020 as a tender little plant, as Schweinberger says.

But this little plant is growing fast.

"We produce 11,000 hectoliters of beer a year, 1,000 of which are for Italy - that's almost ten percent of our total volume," says Schweinberger.

Maisach Brewery: New customers

In order to develop new customers in the south, the brewery needs money.

After all, the restaurants there also want to be equipped with glasses or brewery signs for their restaurants.

No dizzying investment per restaurant.

"But if you have to finance several pieces of equipment, it adds up," says Schweinberger.

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In addition, there are always expenses in Germany.

For example, when there is a change of tenant.

"Then you might have to fix up the beer garden, install a new awning or something similar," says Schweinberger.

Maisach Brewery: Expensive conversion

Even if the brewery is not in the red financially, the money for such investments is still tight - also because Schweinberger invested the same amount of money in the brewery when he took office in 2016.

"Back then, we completely renewed the vehicle fleet, took over some of the brewing technology and the building fabric and also changed our bottle shape." Instead of the narrower and slightly larger bottle that was used before, the usual Euro bottle is now used, as is the case with most others also knows beers.

"This conversion alone cost us a mid-six-figure sum," says Schweinberger.

And after all that investment came the pandemic.

"Corona really hit us," says the brewery boss.

Monthly sales fell by at least 25 percent, and by as much as 67 percent at peak times.

Thanks to new deposits, help from the house banks, short-time work and state bridging aid, the brewery made ends meet.

"But the previous investments made it impossible for us to accumulate a large financial cushion," says Schweinberger.

But that would be necessary now in order to make the desired investments.

Brewery Maisach: New ways

Schweinberger doesn't want to wait until the company "has started bacon again".

So now the crowdfunding.

An action that the member of parliament Benjamin Miskowitsch also supports.

The state has already done a lot for gastronomy and the processing industry, he says.

"101 million euros of Corona economic aid will flow into the district of Fürstenfeldbruck, a third of which will go to gastronomy and six million euros to commercial enterprises such as the brewery."

Miskowitsch welcomes the fact that the entrepreneurs are now breaking new ground – including crowdfunding in Maisach.

"The customer's bond with the brewery is completely different as a result - after all, you have a part in it."

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You can find more current news from the district of Fürstenfeldbruck at Merkur.de/Fürstenfeldbruck.