Brewery Finance

Written by Richard Wilcock | July 24, 2024

Table of contents

• Type of brewery finance available
• What can you use brewery finance for?

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The UK brewery business is booming. Beer revenue in-home (from supermarkets and other shops) stood at US$8.8bn in 2024, and out-of-home beer revenue generated US$25.6bn. It’s an exciting time for the brewery industry, with customers showing increased interest in craft ales, low-alcohol beers, IPAs and low-calorie options — these growing markets are very accessible to growing brewery brands.

If you’re looking for a piece of this industry, or you’re already in the industry and want to grow your current brewery, we’ve got plenty of funding options available to help you make your beer brewing dreams come true.

Type of brewery finance available

Online lenders are prolific, so it’s hard to know where to start. We’ve broken down a few financing options you can consider to finance your brewery.

Commercial property finance

If you’re looking to refurbish or purchase commercial premises for your brewery, then you could make good use of commercial property finance. An umbrella term, this type of finance includes funding options like commercial mortgages, property development finance and bridging finance.

• Commercial mortgages — Perfect for purchasing land or commercial property. So, a commercial mortgage would be perfect if you need to acquire a warehouse to house your brewery.
• Property development finance — If you’re renovating an existing commercial property so it suits your brewing needs, property development finance provides you with up to 70% of the project value.
• Bridging finance — Bridging finance bridges the gap between buying and selling property. So, if you find a property you want to buy but don’t have time to arrange a mortgage, you can apply for a bridging loan, which you repay when the brewery renovation project is complete

Explore more commercial property finance products.

Franchise finance

Let’s say you want to buy into a brewery franchise, franchise finance can give you the necessary funds to cover startup costs. Think staff wages, kitting out the brewery with fermentation tanks, and pumps or use it to pay franchise fees (average fees estimated at £40,000).

Alternatively, if you want to buy into a pub or bar franchise, check out our pub finance.

Check your eligibility for business funding

Checking won’t affect your credit score

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Working capital loan

A working capital loan is a type of short-term finance that gives you an injection of cash to invest in your brewery however you see fit. Dabble in marketing campaigns, invest in new flavours, or buy popular stock in bulk — the choice is yours. Working capital loans can come in many forms, such as small business loans (unsecured or secured) that are usually repaid in fixed monthly instalments, with interest or invoice finance, where you access up to 95% of the unpaid invoice value instead of waiting 30 days for payment.

Equipment finance

Financing a brewery can be pretty expensive — overheads can be steep for startup breweries, but with equipment finance you can choose to lease or buy necessary equipment to get your brewery up and running quickly.

Leasing your equipment means you can predict expenses with monthly loan repayments, and, once the lease is over, you’re given the choice of buying it outright or leasing the latest model. This means you can always make use of top-of-the-range equipment, making your brewery operations more efficient.

What can you use brewery finance for?

You can spend your finance on anything you feel will benefit your brewery business. Most lenders won’t stipulate how you spend your funds — that’s down to you.

Here are some common ways brewery business owners spend their business loans:

• Hire staff — Whether seasonal or permanent, hiring staff can be a necessary price to pay to get your business off the ground quickly.
• Buy or lease new equipment — There's plenty to buy, from cooling and fermentation systems to filtering systems and bar stools.
• Cover general startup costs — Startup costs can be pricey, depending on the type of brewery you want to open. To open a craft brewery or microbrewery, you can expect to invest between £50,000 and £100,000. Learn more about brewery startup financing.
• Cover short-term cash flow issues — At some point, most businesses struggle with managing their cash flow. You can use your loan to cover bills and short-term expenses.

Ready to grow your brewery business? Use our free business loan comparison tool to find brewery startup funding or craft brewery finance in seconds.

About the author

Written by Richard Wilcock

Money Writer, Director and Co-Founder

Richard is one of the Co-Founders here at Capalona and has over twenty years of experience in the marketing industry, specialising in the finance sector.

Updated: July 24, 2024
Published: July 22, 2024