Global brewer AB InBev is exploring options to launch Beer Hawk, the online beer retailer it acquired in 2016, through two bricks and mortar formats – as bottleshops and as pubs & bottleshops, MCA has learnt.
It is currently looking at locations across London and the South East for the A1 and A4 formats. For the pub format the company is looking for 1,500 to 2,500sq ft sites either through traditional pubs or new builds or in railway arches.
Founded in 2012, Beer Hawk has grown to become one of the largest dedicated online craft beer retailers in the UK, with a range of over 800 beers from artisan breweries all over the world.
MCA revealed last June that Pioneer Brewing Company, the craft and speciality beers division of AB InBev, had applied to open the beer shop in the City of London, in Gravel Lane.
Whilst that site is yet to come to fruition, the company subsequently applied to open a Beer Hawk site in Stamford Street, SE1.
Beer Hawk, which is based in West Yorkshire, delivers premium bottled beer from around the globe to homes across Britain.
Mark Roberts and Chris France left senior positions with Laithwaites Wines and Procter & Gamble respectively to launch the venture in 2012.
Co-founders France and Roberts said a deal with AB InBev would enable the company “to provide even more support to the breweries, partners and suppliers we already work with.”
At the end of 2016, it said that has since it had been acquired by AB InBev it had been able to secure a warehouse five times as large as its previous space and employ twice as many people, resulting in 300 new beers added to its stock and a 30% reduction in delivery charges.
