The keg leasing program allows the breweries to reinvest their capital dollars back into the business to promote growth. It’s a win all around. “Every payment made toward the kegs is ulti - mately building equity into the kegs. And if the brewery is growing, ultimately that means that they’re going to need more kegs - which means that our business is growing with them.” The kegs are custom branded for each brewery for maximum brand exposure. “That’s a fee we take care of. We silkscreen the brewery branding onto every keg. It’s like a free piece of advertis - ing for their brewery. And, I think it intrigues the customer at the end of the day, as to what might be inside of that keg.” Kegs are compatible with all major keg tracking software and come with a laser etched 2D matrix code as well as serial numbers for efficient keg tracking. While the fast-growing craft brewing industry is the main focus, North Keg also supplies cideries, wineries, kombucha and cold brew companies, and even the RTD – ready to drink – business for beverages like vodka soda or wine spritzer on tap. “It’s really for any beverage that you would like to put into a keg that can be dispensed from a tap. But breweries are definitely our largest market. We work with breweries of all sizes from customers that have 24 to 48 kegs to customers that have 3000+ kegs.” Flexibility is a key selling point for North Keg. Along with being able to ease into a large purchase, kegs are readily available on short notice. The company holds a large inventory of kegs in a main warehouse in Mississauga, Ontario where the kegs are silkscreened. “There’s no need for breweries to bring in more kegs than they require immediately. It only takes us five to seven business days to get more kegs delivered to them fully branded.” Wowchuk lists several benefits for the keg leasing program, beginning with cost. “Our lease to own option is going to be the most economical option for any brewery. It’s always the most beneficial to own your asset. We import our kegs all directly from Germany into our own proprietary ware -
house. We’re not using any third parties to brand or warehouse our kegs. There’s no other compet- itor that’s able to do that.” North Keg is Canada’s exclusive distributor for Blefa kegs, which are the gold standard interna - tionally and come with a 30-year warranty.
North Keg is also the only certified tech servicer for Blefa kegs in Canada. “We actually have the ability to service and repair those kegs if needed, which none of our competitors have the ability to do. We support our breweries from a service standpoint. We’re part of Global National Keg Servicing Partners (GNKS). We provide all of our customers with a service agreement.” The keg leasing program supplies Canadian breweries, cideries and other operations coast to coast, from British Columbia to Newfoundland. Partnerships with breweries like Dominion City and Hometown Brewery, two of their first cus - tomers, offer the flexibility for the breweries to grow. “They make fantastic beer and they’ve done a fantastic job of getting their beer to the public. We like to measure our business’ success “Most provinces have their own provincial trade show and we always take part in those and support the brewers at that level.” on the success of our customers.” North Keg is actively involved in the Canadian brewing scene. “Most provinces have their own provincial trade show and we always take part in those and support the brewers at that level. We sponsor the Canadian Brewing Awards and we typically sponsor the hospitality suite at the Canadian Brewing Awards. We also recently sponsored Dominion City’s “Rooted in Place” event which showcased influential breweries across Canada.” North Keg enjoys highlighting the successes of the breweries. “That’s our way of supporting them and saying thank you to them by sponsor - ing and supporting those events.”
“Our lease to own option is going to be the most eco- nomical option for any brewery.”
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SEPTEMBER 2020 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • SEPTEMBER 2020
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