Anchor Brewing Co. employees offer to buy the company

By Freddy Brewster

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. - The beloved, and possibly soon-to-shutter, Anchor Brewing Co. has a new potential buyer: its own employees. 

Anchor Union members voted this past Wednesday to make an offer to buy the brewery after its parent company announced plans on July 12 to close the 150-year-old brewery. 

News of the employee offer first broke on VinePair, a news outlet dedicated to covering the alcohol industry, hours after the union voted to make an offer. 

The union consists of roughly 40 employees and has received a ton of support from the community, said Pedro de Sá, a business agent at the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 6, the organization that represents the Anchor Union. 

"The idea at first seemed like maybe a pipe dream, but so many people reached out to us," de Sá told the Chronicle. "It’s overwhelming the amount of love people have for Anchor, the employees and the company."

Anchor Brewing Co. announced it received an inquiry to buy the brewery from, "an unidentified group of Anchor employees, not the Union itself," and are open to a potential offer. 

"Given our deep respect for the Anchor Union and our team members, should our employees put forward a bona-fide, legally binding offer to buy the Company, one that includes a verifiable source of funds, we would gladly consider it," said Sam Singer, a spokesman for Anchor Brewing Co.

"But, time is running short," Singer added. "We continue to move forward toward an Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors at the beginning of August, while simultaneously receiving and collecting all interest in acquiring the business."

The Anchor employees aren’t the only people interested in purchasing the brewery. 

SEE ALSO: Local interest now on tap to buy iconic Anchor Brewing Company

Over two dozen investors have expressed a desire to purchase Anchor Brewing Co., including venture capitalist Mike Walsh.

"I love the beer, I love the brand, and I live two blocks up the hill," Walsh said. "When I first heard the news that it was closing, I was pretty bummed out. But then I was pretty excited."

Anchor Brewing Co. plans to close the brewery on July 31.