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Author Topic: Fireman Capital to Purchase Cigar City Brewing  (Read 2990 times)

Offline hopfenundmalz

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Fireman Capital to Purchase Cigar City Brewing
« on: March 14, 2016, 09:23:25 am »
At least it was not ABInbev.
http://www.brewbound.com/news/fireman-capital-to-purchase-cigar-city

Edit - does this come as a surprise to any Tampa Bay folks? Mr. Gladish?
« Last Edit: March 14, 2016, 09:36:06 am by hopfenundmalz »
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Offline flbrewer

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Fireman Capital to Purchase Cigar City Brewing
« Reply #1 on: March 14, 2016, 09:26:54 am »
That's gonna be one hell of a payday. No surprise at all.
« Last Edit: March 14, 2016, 09:38:17 am by flbrewer »

Offline jeffy

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Re: Fireman Capital to Purchase Cigar City Brewing
« Reply #2 on: March 14, 2016, 07:40:38 pm »
Actually, I am a bit surprised because the founders of Cigar City have deep pockets and an independent streak.
I guess they figured they had to expand to keep up with demand and this was the best way to do it.
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Offline blatz

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Re: Fireman Capital to Purchase Cigar City Brewing
« Reply #3 on: March 15, 2016, 08:01:05 am »
reading between the lines, one might also infer that Joey's dad needed his share out.  I see that in my line of work often, particularly if the patriarch is older or in ill health (not saying either is true of Joe, just saying) in order to avoid a mess in settling the estate when the time comes.

I don't know about all this expansion, to be honest.  A third brewery for Oskar Blues in Texas?  Ramping up growth at Cigar City?

I mean I like both breweries, but I maybe buy OB once or twice a year, and a bit more of CC, mostly specialty bombers (even though I despise their exorbitant price). 

Most of the beer geek/aficionado/whatever people I know are about the same, maybe a little more volume if they don't brew at home, but my point is that it seems less and less people are brand centric anymore.  Variety and whatever is hardest to get seem to dominate at this point.

If I had a large successful brewery and was making money hand over fist, I'd take the approach of Shaun Hill, Vinnie Cilurzo or John Kimmich.   
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Offline jeffy

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Re: Fireman Capital to Purchase Cigar City Brewing
« Reply #4 on: March 15, 2016, 03:40:45 pm »
I have never understood why growth is the most important thing.  Can't one just own and run a business without having to worry about growing the market?  I have been a small business owner for over 30 years and never really felt the necessity to expand my market.  I already have enough stress.
New Glarus has the model I would follow - stay in your own state and be ubiquitous in every corner bar.
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Offline Stevie

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Re: Fireman Capital to Purchase Cigar City Brewing
« Reply #5 on: March 15, 2016, 07:04:27 pm »

I have never understood why growth is the most important thing.  Can't one just own and run a business without having to worry about growing the market?  I have been a small business owner for over 30 years and never really felt the necessity to expand my market.  I already have enough stress.
New Glarus has the model I would follow - stay in your own state and be ubiquitous in every corner bar.
Diff'rent strokes

Offline blatz

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Re: Fireman Capital to Purchase Cigar City Brewing
« Reply #6 on: March 15, 2016, 07:19:19 pm »

I have never understood why growth is the most important thing.  Can't one just own and run a business without having to worry about growing the market?  I have been a small business owner for over 30 years and never really felt the necessity to expand my market.  I already have enough stress.
New Glarus has the model I would follow - stay in your own state and be ubiquitous in every corner bar.

I feel the same way, although haven't had the same journey as you.  That's why I mentioned the Brewers I did, although New Glarus is another example.

I mean if I was successful as a commercial brewer, why not leave it at that - what else are you gonna do the rest of your life?
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Offline Thirsty_Monk

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Re: Fireman Capital to Purchase Cigar City Brewing
« Reply #7 on: March 15, 2016, 07:46:15 pm »
Paul, you are speaking my words.
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Offline Phil_M

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Re: Fireman Capital to Purchase Cigar City Brewing
« Reply #8 on: March 16, 2016, 04:21:43 am »
I share the same thought about growth. If I were to start a brewery, I'd much rather keep things regional. I just think it's better for the beer, once you expand past a certain point you start to lose control of how the product gets treated.

That being said, there's one reason to try and expand: Investors. I'm sure many people had to rely on investors to fund their brewery, and that opens up a whole can of worms.
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Offline redbeerman

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Re: Fireman Capital to Purchase Cigar City Brewing
« Reply #9 on: March 16, 2016, 09:18:33 am »
As both an investor and a beer nut, I would like to see a good return on my investment, and even as a beer nut I have to admit, professional brewing is a business first and a passion second.  If you don't make money, your ability to follow your passion is severely limited.  Personally, I feel that smaller is better for quality, but not so much for longevity.  Selling to a venture capital firm is usually only a temporary situation.  They grow the business and resell it.  A holding company, on the other hand, invests for the long haul to build their portfolio.  Both are concerned with building profit for their investors.  Both are ways of getting capital investment in a relatively short amount of time compared to shopping individual smaller investors.
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Offline ethinson

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Re: Fireman Capital to Purchase Cigar City Brewing
« Reply #10 on: March 16, 2016, 12:26:48 pm »
As both an investor and a beer nut, I would like to see a good return on my investment, and even as a beer nut I have to admit, professional brewing is a business first and a passion second.  If you don't make money, your ability to follow your passion is severely limited.  Personally, I feel that smaller is better for quality, but not so much for longevity.  Selling to a venture capital firm is usually only a temporary situation.  They grow the business and resell it.  A holding company, on the other hand, invests for the long haul to build their portfolio.  Both are concerned with building profit for their investors.  Both are ways of getting capital investment in a relatively short amount of time compared to shopping individual smaller investors.

One of the main concerns here in Portland when Full Sail sold and paid their employee ownership was that it was a firm that had a history of turn and burn investments and in a year or 2 could turn around and shop Full Sail to InBev.  That's a wait and see now, and the former employee owners now have no say.

I picked up the same thing reading about this, this doesn't seem to be a turn and burn, but rather they are building a stable of craft breweries.  It's also good to hear that the people from Oscar Blues are still very much involved and the guys from Cigar City will be as well.  He's staying in it, but with less stress hanging over him. He's not selling, taking a huge payday and walking away. 

I'm also glad the InBev deal fell through....
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Offline Stevie

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Re: Fireman Capital to Purchase Cigar City Brewing
« Reply #11 on: March 16, 2016, 01:21:04 pm »
It's possible that the plan is to form a large enough portfolio to make and IPO appealing.

Offline Hooper

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Re: Fireman Capital to Purchase Cigar City Brewing
« Reply #12 on: March 19, 2016, 10:04:49 am »

I mean if I was successful as a commercial brewer, why not leave it at that - what else are you gonna do the rest of your life?

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