Rent-to-own company, Keg Logistics, gets capital investment

Keg Logistics has experienced accelerating annual growth for several years and will be using the invested capital to rapidly scale its services, market reach and added value to its customers.

A fleet of kegs is an investment just like any other piece of equipment in the brewhouse, and ownership of an investment carries inherent responsibilities. Property must be maintained, cleaned, stored, not lost and (oh) paid for. Many of these keg-owning responsibilities are no big deal for brewers. They just need to be built into the operational plan, budgeted for and that’s that — but what if there was a way to slowly spread out that investment? Say, lease that keg till you owned it? With every rental payment, a brewery could build equity ownership in the kegs while lowering initial capital investment.

Keg Logistics offers that particularly innovative approach to keg ownership (along with services such as Full Service Freight and Empty Keg Return). It fact, the company just announced it’s going to be able to do all of those services a whole lot better, using a significant investment from Bregal Sagemount, a growth-focused private equity firm, aimed at supporting the company’s continued expansion. According to Keg Logistics, the company is the leading provider of keg leases to craft breweries around the world. The company basically aims to partner with the industry’s fastest growing breweries and wineries to give them a clear path to keg ownership while preserving their own capital for other uses.

“When I launched the keg finance and management space 19 years ago, the craft brewery segment was still in its infancy,” explained Chris Sapyta, CEO of Keg Logistics. “Today the sector has expanded to the point where geographic density makes our rent-to-own model the best long-term solution for brewers and wineries of all sizes. Kegs last over 30 years, it just doesn’t make sense for someone to pay “per-fill fees” or rent forever. Keg Logistics partners with forward-thinking breweries and wineries, providing them the pathway to owning their own branded kegs and winning the next chapter of the industry’s growth.”

Sapyta added that the company’s steel, 30-liter keg “one-way” ship-and-forget export program for both U.S. and E.U. brewers has been met with great enthusiasm. Gene Yoon, managing partner, Adam Fuller and Arjun Mehta from Bregal Sagemount will join Keg Logistics’ Board of Directors. Previous stakeholders including Chris Sapyta and other employees will remain significant investors. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.