Bramble brewing

Brief

The brewery had signed a distributor agreement years earlier with automatic renewals, broad territory rights and a termination fee tied to projected sales. Expanding without a new deal would have handed the distributor rights to markets it did not serve.

• Automatic ten-year renewals
• Territory rights with no service duty
• A termination fee on projected sales

The owners needed to keep a good working relationship with their home distributor while freeing up the neighboring states before the next brewing season. Like every matter on this site, the brewery story is illustrative and written for a design sample. See how other matters were handled.

Approach

We mapped the state franchise rules that applied to each territory, identified the terms the distributor valued most, and proposed a narrower agreement that kept the relationship in the home market.

We opened with a short call between the owners and the distributor, then traded a term sheet before either side paid for full drafts.

The distributor cared about one market. We gave them certainty there and got flexibility everywhere else.

Each week the owners received a one-page summary of what had moved, what had not, and what the next offer would say. Nothing went to the distributor until the owners had read it and signed off in writing.

Client

Bramble brews small-batch ales and runs a taproom that anchors its neighborhood. The founders brew every batch themselves and run the taproom on weekends with a small seasonal crew.

Results

The new agreement limited territory to the home state, replaced automatic renewals with a five-year term and removed the projected-sales fee.

Bramble signed with new distributors in two neighboring states the following season.

The distributor relationship stayed friendly, and the home-state deal renewed on the new terms without further negotiation.