Anchor Brewery workers rally to buy troubled SF beermaker

Move over, Anchor Steam lover Mike Walsh. Employees of Anchor Brewery are also pulling down the taps to save the 127-year-old beermaker in San Francisco.

A week after the Potrero Hill businessman led investors for a potential bid, unionized workers were also rallying to buy the embattled brewery at 1705 Mariposa and 495 De Haro streets, SFGate reported.

The maker of Anchor Steam Beer, owned by Tokyo-based Sapporo Holdings, announced it would close at the end of the month. The four-story, 56,000-square-foot Art Deco brewery and nearby tasting room could be worth $75 million, according to property tax assessments.

Anchor spokesperson Sam Singer said a union spokesperson sent the company an email saying that “workers of Anchor Brewing have met, discussed and decided to launch an effort to purchase the brewery.” 

An “unidentified group of Anchor employees,” not the union itself, is behind the purchase effort, Singer said in a statement.

“Given our deep respect for the Anchor Union and our team members, should our employees put forward a bona-fide, legally binding offer to buy the company, one that includes a verifiable source of funds, we would gladly consider it,” Singer said. 

Anchor’s union employees are working on how to raise the money to buy the company.

The unidentified workers feel the drive will be “way bigger than a GoFundMe,” the union wrote in a tweet, and employees “want to be as calculated as possible.” 

“Overwhelmed with the responses for help. We are working behind the scenes to try and figure out the best possible way to raise funds and actually do this,” the union’s tweet reads.

Anchor Brewing announced on July 12 that it would drop its anchor for good, saying the brewery was “no longer sustainable” because of product costs and a “highly competitive craft beer market” coupled with Anchor’s “historically costly steam brewing technique.” 

Employees were given 60 days notice.

The news devastated San Francisco’s beer enthusiasts and spurred a 4,000-percent national increase in sales of Anchor Steam and other brands days after the announcement. 

Walsh, founder of Structure Capital, launched “Raising the Anchor,” a website where potential investors can inquire about saving the suds. He also dialed up Rhode Island’s Narragansett Beer, which also started a petition to save Anchor.

Another potential bidder is Kyle Withycombe, co-founder and former COO at wellness shot brand Vive Organic, now owned by Suja Life.

— Dana Bartholomew

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