Arbor Brewing Co is wrapping up one expansion project, has one in a holding pattern, and is keeping its eye on another.
The microbrewery is in the final stages of various green renovation projects to its downtown Ann Arbor-based brewpub (
Arbor Brewing Co) and its Ypsilanti-based production facility (
Corner Brewery), which include high-end sustainability upgrades, like solar panels. There are also plans to open a third brewpub in downtown Fenton, while continuing a franchise expansion in India.
All of this growth has added up to seven new jobs at Arbor Brewing Co, growing the entire operation's staff to 75 employees and three interns. The 17-year-old craft brewery's co-founders expect to hire another couple dozen more when their expansion plans come to fruition over the next year or two.
"We are anticipating a good year," says
Rene Greff, who co-founded Arbor Brewing Co and Corner Brewery with her husband Matt Greff. "It really feels like we're pulling out of the recession."
Rene Greff adds the Fenton project "is a crazy opportunity" that wasn't on their radar until recently. She believes the Fenton brewpub will be online within the next year. At the same time the India franchise is in "a holding pattern" because of the country's complex bureaucracy and the uniqueness of the venture.
"It's a bureaucratically challenging place in the first place," Rene Greff says. "This is the first wave of brewpubs so no one there knows how to deal with this." She adds she is still hopeful the India brewpub will be able to launch later this year.
Source: Rene Greff, co-founder of Arbor Brewing Co and Corner Brewery
Writer: Jon Zemke
Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
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