Renaissance Brewing Turns 10 and Celebrates with Massive Export Orders
Crowdfunded craft brewery, Renaissance Brewing, celebrated its 10th birthday last week with continuing growth in its
export markets. The award winning company, who brews in the gourmet province of Marlborough, New Zealand received orders
in the last month valued at over $250k to the USA, Japan, Australia, China and Singapore. Brian Thiel CEO said:
“With the start of a new fiscal year we were tracking well and these new orders are a great birthday present for us,
it’s what the team have been working so hard towards the last 2 years. The crowdfunding with Snowball Effect, the
addition of resource, travel around the globe, partnerships with agencies like NZTE, financing - it’s all been part of
the plan.”
Renaissance has been working closely with NZTE (New Zealand Trade and Enterprise) alongside their market and programme
managers who provide assistance in validation and establishment of potential export markets.
Roger Kerrison, who looks after Market Development for Renaissance said:
‘We are a small company with limited resources, but we have a focused plan to step up to the next level through export
growth. We have some highly experience people on-board helping us build our offering overseas and we are building great
partnerships. One example is Asia where we have been working with Craig Campbell and his team at CCJ to help navigate
and penetrate into new markets- the advice, mentoring and delivery has been fantastic. We have shown flexibility and
been able to meet the needs of the customer at every step. It’s great to see these new and significant orders for the
Renaissance beers from Asia - a great reward for so much hard work by all the team.”
Last month the ANZ reported in their Craft Beer Market report that craft beer sales in the off-trade in New Zealand were
growing at a rate of 42% per annum. The ANZ, who are also Renaissance’s banking partner, also reported that Asia was a
potential fertile ground for New Zealand craft beer. Thiel strongly agrees with this:
“When you talk about establishing business in Asia, it’s a serious commitment by Renaissance and we are seeing regular
new orders for 20ft and 40ft containers. One of our recent Asian orders was for 4 full containers from a large global
retailer, which we believe is New Zealand’s largest ever export order for craft beer. We are also seeing good growth out
of the UK with The Collective and are set to start shipping to Norway, Malaysia, Korea and Ontario with several other
new markets under final discussion. Only last week we had enquiries from Vietnam and the Philippines- the interest in
Renaissance continues to grow at a pleasing pace. Renaissance is making the right investments to lead craft beer in Asia
and meet the needs of the growing consumer base for craft beer.”
Renaissance was founded in September 2005 by brothers-in-law Thiel and Andy Deuchars at the Dodsons Street Brewery. It
now boasts just under 300 shareholders, 14 export markets, 2 sites and a staff of 12. Thiel concludes:
“10 years is a long time, we have achieved a lot and learnt a lot more. It will be interesting to see where we are in
another 10 years, hopefully we will have achieved a lot more and learnt a little less.”
ENDS