BrewDog has acquired the 14-strong Draft House in a deal believed to value the brand at c£15m.
BrewDog will take ownership of the entire Draft House estate with BrewDog Bars MD, David McDowall taking the reins from founder Charlie McVeigh.
BrewDog said it was planning to invest in the current Draft House sites and may look to expand on them in future. It added that “the beer selection will be different from BrewDog bars, but with the same focus on independent craft beer from around the world”.
Draft House has been backed by Luke Johnson since 2011.
McDowall said: “At BrewDog we are obsessed with making other people as passionate about craft beer as we are, and in speaking with the Draft House team we recognised that there was a great opportunity to combine our efforts and really have an impact on the UK bar landscape by working together.”
“Draft House has got an incredible team of engaged people and we’ll be doing everything we can to empower them in their business and offer them the support they need to achieve their career goals. The two most important things for us are our beer and our people and we’re excited to extend that to our new family at Draft House and would like to offer a massive welcome to every single one of them.”
McVeigh said: “Nine years have passed since the first Draft House launched, and it has been a truly remarkable journey of discovery. We’ve built an awesome business, and more importantly, a team right at the heart of the UK’s beer revolution. I am immensely proud of what we’ve achieved together and delighted to hand the business over to BrewDog for its next stage of growth. Draft House couldn’t be in better hands.”
Draft House completed the acquisition of the six-strong Grand Union Group business last June. The group reported like-for-like sales up 5.9% in the four weeks to 31 December. In its most recent financial year, to 30 October 2016, revenue was up 27% to £7.8m with like-for-like sales ahead 1%. Company adjusted EBITDA grew 24% to £748,000.
