Speaking to journalists, Irwin Simon, CEO of Tilray, revealed the business had added former sites in Bristol, Liverpool, Aberdeen, Glasgow and the Manchester Doghouse hotel back into the company portfolio alongside the initial 11 bought out of administration.
He said the business was now focused on stabilisation before moving forward, following the £33m purchase out of administration earlier in the month, and he said the business needed to move on from the shadow of its founders.
He said the strategy going forward would be stabilisation of the business, getting out, talking to customers and ensuring team members of the pubs were comfortable, suppliers were on board and confident they were going to be paid.
He revealed that his interest in the business was down to the brands both in beer and in spirits, and he was keen to explore the opportunities to bring efficiencies of scale from his wider brewing business into the BrewDog fold.
The deal to buy the business happened very quickly, he added, and didn’t allow Tilray to spend time going over the details of what they were buying, so they now needed time to digest, but he’s confident that they can stabilise and turn round the craft beer giants fortunes.
He said he valued the brand so highly he was willing to go where others wouldn’t dare:
“I’ve never done a deal coming out of administration, but because it was BrewDog I’ve always wanted to own it… if you looked at the numbers and the losses, it was a case of, don’t walk, run! It was like walking in buying a used car, here’s the keys, drive it off the lot - no warranty. But again, it was the brand.”
He affirmed that despite his company’s global focus, and his ambitions for the brand, the UK remained a vital market for BrewDog: “The UK is the foundation of the brand, if we can’t get it right here we can’t get it right anywhere. This is where it started, this is the powerhouse behind the brand.”