Becoming Canada’s biggest distributors of the Franke keg line pushed the company into a hyper-growth situation. Mason explains that there were a few tensemoments shared between him and his silent partner, Helen Knowles during business expansion. But the experience on the whole has been a rewarding journey. “It has caused some growing pains, of course, which always happens with a fast-growing business, but we’ve been able to keep up and keep every- body happy. Along the way, we’ve been able to move into bigger offices and added employees, and secured a larger warehouse and added a bunch of new product lines.” These new product lines include their second-largest seller, the PakTech Can Carriers. These simple-yet- revolutionary products are recognized as the way things are heading in the beer canning market. Essentially, they replace the “bird killer” plastic rings that are often used to hold six packs of cans together on the retail shelf. Mason points out that many craft breweries are drawn to the product’s environmental sensibilities. “These are manufactured in Eugene, Oregon, and are made of 100% post-consumer waste. And all that post-consumer waste is sourced from British Columbia. So this is Canadian plastic, which is great. And the reason they source it from BC is because the sorting of all the different kinds of plastic is incredibly specific and accurate in BC. So what they get for their dollar is a pure plastic base product to use in their manufacturing process.” Mason goes on to explain that many of the plastic suppliers in the US mix their recycled plastics, making the end products weaker and less substantial. The recycled plastic coming from British Columbia tends to be less composite and diluted. The company also provides the standards, like smaller kegs for cask-conditioned ales as well as keg caps. But perhaps the most whimsical items they sell are ‘Keg Urinals!’ Resist- ing the urge to point out that this product closes the circle on the life of a pint of beer, Mason laughs that there was obviously a humorous story behind the keg urinal’s incep- tion. “I got a call from London, Ontario from a guy who said he had a contract to install keg urinals into a bunch of chain restaurants. So he bought some new kegs from me and cut and fit them up into urinals. When he came to pick up the kegs, I chatted with him and asked ‘Would you make these for me?’ I figured I could put these up on the website, and every time a brewery is going to expand or a new brew pub opens, or even guys wanting them for their man-cave at home, we’ll sell some… We’ve shipped them all over the country! We’re backlogged on them at the moment. I’ve got four coming in this week and they’re all sold!” Ahem. OK, backing away from the potty humour, Mason points out that, while there are other keg suppliers inCanada now, it remains a question of quality and service. Along with the 30- year warranty on the Franke kegs, Canada Kegs & Packaging has a keg reconditioning facility in Nashville. So for very minimal cost, a keg can be reconditioned back to almost new. He stresses that the higher-quality European kegs don’t require this service often.
na-manufactured kegs on the market.
He warns that the ‘you-get- what-you- pay-for’ theory applies ten-fold when it comes to new kegs. “That is the biggest thorn in our side. The China-manufactured kegs make the beer taste like iron, and that’s been proven by testing at two major breweries. And I spoke to a person in the Northwest Territories, which is a helluva distance to ship to, and he brought 100 of them in. 20% of them leaked. But they’re 20% cheaper than ours and the uneducated brewer will go out and buy them, thinking there’s no difference. They spend all this money on a half-a- million- dollar brew- house, get their beer tasting just the way they want it, then stick it in a poorly made keg and ruin it.” The company is also open to forging partnerships with other small businesses to help increase their service base. In fact, they have taken up with North Kegs, a keg leasing company, based in Oakville, Ontario. “The biggest problem with start-up breweries is, you’ve soaked all this money into the brewery and built it from the ground up, you’re brewing beer and it’s selling like crazy… now you need a couple hundred kegs and you haven’t got any money left. The leasing option becomes viable for those guys. They aren’t tying up capital that they can use for bigger tanks and so forth.” Mason assures that Canada Kegs & Packaging aren’t going to let the grass grow under their feet. In the next couple of years, they are looking at opening a facility in Canada that is able to emboss, silk-screen and brand the kegs. Currently, the US has the monopoly on branding the kegs. Mason feels that, if he can provide this service up in Canada, it’ll cut down on freight and eventually lower the pricing to his custo mers. He also predicts that there is a good eight years left of “boom” in the Canadian craft brewing market. “We tend to be about eight years behind the US trends, and they’re just flattening out now.” That’s a lot of kegs heading out the door (and probably quite a few keg urinals too)! And if the revolu- tion has just under a decade left to go, you can be assured that Canada Kegs & Packaging will be fuelling the charge!
But Mason’s voice drops slightly as he talks about the Chi-
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OCTOBER 2017 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
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