The landlord of Houston, Texas-based Buffalo Bayou Brewing (BuffBrew) has terminated the brewery’s lease, according to CultureMap Houston.
Jon Deal, owner of the Sawyer Yards development that has housed BuffBrew’s 28,000-sq. ft. facility since 2019, told the outlet the brewery was “deep in default” and served them notice at noon on Friday, January 26.
“All of the stories and games and rabbits that came out of hats, it was time to end it,” Deal told CultureMap. “So we terminated.”
Employees received their final paychecks on Friday and many had new jobs lined up, BuffBrew chief of staff Bryan Neely told CultureMap.
Neely, an HR consultant, examined BuffBrew’s business and determined its “struggle with profitability” was not viable due to “inconsistencies of revenue.”
“It was hard to sustain that business model when you had less and less craft beer being sold,” he told CultureMap.
BuffBrew does not seem to have made any mention of the closing on its social media pages. On January 23, it advertised $5 beers in the taproom as part of a seemingly impromptu “Thirsty Tuesday” promotion on Instagram.
“Grab your crew and join us for a hop-filled extravaganza,” BuffBrew wrote. “Cheers to good times and even better brews!”
Craft breweries nationwide are being forced from their facilities due to landlords terminating leases or rent increases rendering their businesses non-viable. Unlike BuffBrew’s situation, many of those owners are making their rent payments on schedule.
This isn’t the first time BuffBrew has failed to fulfill payment obligations. In 2022, Houston-based Pimuro Capital Partners filed a lawsuit against the brewery for nonpayment of financial services. BuffBrew allegedly owed Pimuro a $94,000 transaction fee.
BuffBrew used crowdfunding site NextSeed to fund the construction of its new facility at Sawyer Yards in 2017 and 2018, but defaulted on the returns to 583 investors who contributed $1 million, according to the Houston Chronicle.
At the time, a NextSeed investor who asked for anonymity in the Chronicle’s report said he received monthly payments between $0.55 and $1.94 from December 2019 through September 2021. He invested $100 in the campaign and estimated he received about $25 in return.
Nearly a dozen BuffBrew shareholders filed a lawsuit last fall against former CEO William McLucas and former directors of the company. The shareholders alleged McLucas was not transparent when he attempted to buy the company with his own investment firm, WPM Capital Partners, among other breaches of fiduciary duty.
BuffBrew produced 13,500 barrels of beer in 2021, according to the Brewers Association (BA). It asked the trade group not to publish its 2022 output. The brewery has not responded to a request for comment.