A husband and wife team are hoping their newly expanded Aberdeenshire brewery will see them hit £3 million turnover.
Steve Lewis and Margo Macnab have been running Burnside Brewery in Laurencekirk since 2018.
The couple said the new purpose-built brewery would offer them the potential to brew five times their current capacity, from 100,000 litres a year to 500,000 litres a year.
They recently launched a £95,000 crowdfunder to help with growing the business and have already reached £64,000.
They have also just won a deal for their alcohol-free beers to be stocked in Scotmid stores.
Production to increase by tenfold
Burnside Brewery, famous for its funky craft beers and traditional glass bottles, currently operates from Laurencekirk Business Park.
It’s been a big career change for Steve who previously worked in project management for Siemens and Margo was a clinical scientist at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.
But for Steve, who was a keen home brewer, he’s looking to seeing the new brewery at the Woodburnden Steading site come to fruition.
Steve, 35, said: “The steel work has arrived. So they’re hopefully going to be putting a roof on this week and walls next week.
“The shell of the building goes up really quickly, but then the fit out, the electric, the plumbing, all of that takes quite a while.
“But we’re hopeful to move in sort of early April timeframe, realistically. We’ll have up to 10 times the capacity.”
Burnside Brewery ‘a lasting legacy’
Despite being hit by the Covid-19 pandemic the couple, parents to two-year-old Elliot, have managed to keep growing their business.
They’ve got four members of staff, including Steve and Margo. But are looking to recruit a further six people within the next three years.
And aiming for turnover of up to £3m within the next five to 10 years.
Steve, dad to two-year-old Elliot, said: “We have no intent to grow it and sell it.
“We really want to build a lasting legacy for ourselves, our families and staff.
“The intent is to get to two to three million pound turnover a year in the next five to 10 years.
“You know, we’ll never say never in terms of growing more beyond that and being bigger, but we’re not trying to be the next BrewDog.
“We are trying to be ethical, conscious and of a reasonable size.”
Supermarket listings
Voted brewery of the year for Grampian and Northern Isles in 2023 by Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), the Burnside range of beers includes blondes, pale ales, IPAs, red ales and dark beers.
But it’s their alcohol-free products, the Right to Roam IPA and Wayfinder lager, which prove most popular.
The Scotmid listing will see the lagers stocked in stores across Scotland.
And Steve, who along with Margo has invested £75,000 in the business, has not ruled out targeting further growth through supermarket deals.
Burnside Brewery is already stocked by more than 100 independent restaurants, pubs and farm shop across the north-east.
He said: “I think since we’ve had the brewery, it’s never been a rosy economic time.
“With growing a business, it’s always about sales and more is never enough and you just have to keep going.
“Perseverance and resilience have been the biggest things with everything that we faced.”
The Laurencekirk firm has partnered with Fordoun-based FJB Scotland to erect the new brewery next to an events and wedding venue at Woodburnden Steading.
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