Production boost for Margaret River Brewhouse

Margaret River Brewhouse has been given the green light for the first stage of a phased expansion plan which will push production capacity at least six-fold.

The Shire of Augusta-Margaret River recently approved the plan by Yallingup Brewing Company Pty Ltd for a new brewing facility on Station Road in an industrial area of the town where the company has its Bussell Highway outlet.

Founder and director Iliya Hastings said the business had outgrown its production capacity at its current premises and planned a two-stage development to take brewing to the new site, initially taking capacity to about 700,000 litres a year.

Further down the track, the group planned a second building on the new industrial premises which could take capacity to as much as 1.5 million litres per annum.  The total investment was between $2 million and $2.5 million.

Mr Hastings said growth in wholesale beer sales had pushed the existing brewery to 260,000 litres per annum, beyond what it had expected to produce at the hospitality site which will remain as the group’s key retail outlet.

“We have been wholesaling beer for two and half years and there has been a fairly steep trajectory,” he said.

“It has come to a point where we can’t supply the market with what it wants.”

The group is looking to bring in new investment to help fund the development, changing the ownership structure for the second time since the business was launched to the public almost seven years ago.

Mr Hastings said the exiting ownership, two of the three couples who started the business, had a strong vision for the business including interstate and overseas markets.

“We want to go well beyond the pent-up demand,” he said.

“It will hinge along the Margaret River brand and the Margaret River vibe.”

While Mr Hastings said his town planning background was useful for this stage of the company’s growth, another key business partner and founder, Aaron Brown, had a global hospitality background that went well beyond his most recent job before the brewery when he was head chef at Busselton restaurant The Goose.

Mr Hastings said despite the proliferation of breweries in the region the group believed there was a big opportunity beyond the more organic and gradual growth they had experienced to date.

“Now with a bit a bump in investment and utilising our profits to grow significantly more, which we need to we can jump to where we want to go,” he said.