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30th November 2021

Hofmeister looks to raise £600k with new crowdfunding campaign

Hofmeister, the re-vamped Bavarian premium lager brand, has launched a crowdfunding campaign today, encouraging beer lovers and savvy investors alike to invest in this iconic beer brand.

The new Hofmeister team have even brought back an older, wiser, ‘George the Bear’, made famous in the original TV adverts of the early 1990s, to spearhead a new crowdfunding campaign to raise £600k and help it achieve its goal of £10m turnover by 2025. They have spotted a clear gap in the market to catapult a Bavarian beer to the same level of success seen by its counterparts from other European countries. Despite Bavaria being a brewing powerhouse visited by over 6 million people each year just for Oktoberfest, its beer is missing from the premium world lager brand line-up.

Investors now have the chance to join the crowdfunding campaign and buy shares for £4 each – exactly the same type of shares as the owners. They will be backing a multi award-winning and fast-growing business, which has tripled turnover and the number of stockists in the last 12 months alone and is now worth £9.3m.

The campaign went live to pre-registered investors on Friday (26th) and has already seen an incredible start to the campaign, approaching the target of £600k in just a few days. It is now open to the wider public and as the Hofmeister team feels that they have a highly compelling growth strategy, they would be excited to utilise over-funding beyond the £600k to accelerate that growth.

The new Hofmeister was brought back to life by two British drinks entrepreneurs, Richard Longhurst and Spencer Chambers, who bought the brand from Heineken in 2016. They then travelled to Bavaria to find a local brewery that could help re-invent it as an authentic, locally brewed super high quality Helles lager made in line with Germany purity laws that date back to 1516. Far removed from the UK mass produced, standard lager that made Hofmeister a top five lager brand in the 1990s.

The new Hofmeister Helles has not looked back since and was quickly named Best Lager at the International Wine & Spirits Competition (IWSC) Beer Awards in 2017, (the first lager to be given five stars in the competition) and living up to its mission of being seen as the Dom Perignon of the premium lager category.

“The power of this brand is incredible,” said joint chief executive Richard Longhurst. “It’s hard to contemplate and understand. The potential scale is enormous. Anyone who grew up with Hofmeister has got a genuine affection for it. It just makes you smile and that is very special.”

The brand’s huge growth potential has already attracted senior beer and hospitality leaders to invest in it and be part of its senior management team, including top executives from Ei Group, Greene King, Camden Town Brewery and Heineken.

“They have that brand and operational experience and, crucially have the contacts, and the network to get us a foot in the door, and a seat at the table,” said joint chief executive Spencer Chambers.

They also believe Hofmeister is ideally placed to help lead the fast-growing premium world lager category, currently worth £2.5bn in the UK on-trade*, with premium beer categories bucking overall beer trends, growing in volume and value, as consumers are prepared to pay for better quality drinks. Since the re-opening of the industry post-pandemic, premium world beers accounted for 33% of all lager sales by value in the second quarter of 2021 – up six percentage points from the same period in 2019.

New independent research commissioned this month shows Hofmeister is the fourth most recognised brand by UK consumers in the premium world lager category**, despite only being back in the UK market for the past four years. Hofmeister has now won exclusive accounts at St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel and The Connaught Hotel, with off-trade listings including Ocado, Virgin Wines, Drink Supermarket and Beer Hawk.

Hofmeister is proud to be an independently owned small British company, combining the best of German brewing with British character and personality.

Investment will be focused on hiring new sales managers to accelerate distribution, targeted digital marketing/PR and trade marketing to bring the brand to life and excite staff and consumers, and new hardware to support the rapid growth of distribution.

The crowdfunding campaign, which has been launched on Seedrs.com this week, also sees the return of ‘George’, the iconic bear who became the face and personality of the brand in its heyday in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Gone is the pork pie hat, and in its place is a fully grown up, seven foot bear who features in an entertaining chat-show video discussing why people should invest in the brand.

“It was always our intention to bring back the bear, but it needed to be the right time and occasion, and be fitting for 2021,” said Chambers. “It’s another massive milestone for us.”

He added: “Hofmeister is a fantastic investment opportunity thanks to our winning combination of a strong and iconic brand, a solid plan, an extremely high calibre team and a highly successful category. Our achievements to date are testament to this, and we’re so excited to bring more beer loving investors into the Hofmeister family. We are promoting a nostalgic brand at a nostalgic time of the year.”

The Seedrs campaign page can be viewed here: www.seedrs.com/hofmeister

*Source ref: https://cgastrategy.com/world-lager-prospering-after-lockdown/

** Source ref: Research carried out by Yonder, 13th-15th November 2021

About Hofmeister

Hofmeister is a fast-growing independent British company that slow brews authentic, multi award-winning beers in the heart of Bavaria, with a focus on best-in-class ingredients and craft.

The brand was relaunched in 2017 by co-founders and friends, Richard Longhurst and Spencer Chambers, who bought it outright globally from Heineken. Its signature beer, Hofmeister Helles, is an authentic imported Bavarian lager which continues to be slow brewed and cold fermented in Germany’s Bavaria. In 2020 it also launched Hofmeister Weisse, an authentic wheat beer and Hofmeister Ultra Low, a low alcohol Helles lager.

Hofmeister continues to win countless international awards, including the IWSC World’s Best Lager and Gold three years running at the European Beer Challenge.

Ingredients, process, and integrity has helped to foster a rapidly growing presence across independent high-end pubs, bars, hotels and restaurants who demand a premium lager offering, including Harrods and The Connaught Hotel, with off-trade listings including Ocado, Virgin Wines, Drink Supermarket and Beer Hawk.

Find out more: www.hofmeister.co.uk


Press release from Hofmeister

Further information

Please contact:

Megan Hallinan: Head of PR & Social at MBAstack, megan.hallinan@mbastack.com / 07740 251 901