As inflation continues to rise across the country and in many different facets, rent and cost increases claimed one Toronto brewery. A popular brewery in the Stockyards area said goodbye to People’s Pint earlier this month. 

The pinch will be felt across the industry as the brewery was known for helping out home brewers with creating their beers and even serving them in their tap room, an industrial but charming community space.

“It’s been a pretty tough few months for us. With the rising costs of everything, lower than normal sales and our boiler failure a few months ago, it has become next to impossible for us to continue operations,” reads the announcement post. “We want to thank all our loyal customers and friends for all your support the last 5 years.”

People’s Pint owner Doug Appeldoorn tells blogTO in this article and interview that all breweries run on tight margins, and the blows that their business had to deal with were just too much to keep going.

“The rising costs of everything, brewing supplies…barley, hops, yeast…bottles, cans, labels, etc., was more than we could cover without a substantial price increase. People are only willing to pay so much for beer, so our hands were really tied. Our rent had recently also just gone up substantially, and it proved to be too much for us,” Appeldoorn tells blogTO.

“The greatest challenge was that sales never really returned to pre-March 2020 levels, specifically from bars and restaurants. On top of that, our boiler broke down last fall, and that was several thousand dollars to fix. We didn’t have the reserves to absorb that, and we struggled to stay on top of things. We tried really hard to keep it going, but January, being the worst month for sales in a normal year, was just the final nail in the coffin.”

“I’m sure we won’t be the last brewery to go out of business this year. Things are tough for everyone right now. We urge everyone out there to support their favourite local breweries if they want to continue drinking their beer,” says Appeldoorn.

“And for those people wondering, Maris our brewery cat has a new home, and she’s doing just fine.”

SOURCE: blogTO

Photo courtesy of People’s Pint Brewing Co./Facebook