Workers at San Francisco’s Anchor Brewing are trying to buy the brewery as it faces liquidation under Sapporo ownership

• Workers are reportedly offering to buy San Francisco’s Anchor Brewing Co. and manage it themselves.
• Anchor, owned by Japanese beer giant Sapporo, announced this month that it would shutter.
• It’s the latest small food or beverage brand to have a much larger owner put its future in doubt.

Employees at the storied San Francisco beer brand Anchor Brewing Co. have devised a plan to save their brewery: They want to buy and manage it themselves.

In a letter on Wednesday, about 40 workers made an offer to the current owners Sapporo USA, reporter Dave Infante wrote in Vinepair. Sapporo acquired the brand in 2017 for a reported $85 million. But earlier this month, executives said it would shutter the brewery and liquidate its assets.

“We are not asking for a handout or charity,” Pedro de Sá, a representative for the Anchor union, wrote in the letter, per Vinepair. “All we want is a fair shot at being able to continue to do our jobs, make the beer we love, and keep this historic institution open.

The letter asks Sapporo USA president Mike Minami to indicate potential interest in pursuing a deal with the workers by the end of the day on Friday. Anchor and Sapporo did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the letter or the closing from Insider. 

Anchor has a devoted following within San Francisco. Founded in 1871 by a German immigrant to the city, the company developed its own style of lager, called “steam beer” or “California common.” When news of Anchor’s closure broke earlier this month, patrons lined up outside its tap room to get one last glass, SFGate reported.

The Anchor workers aren’t the only ones interested in buying and preserving the brand.

Multiple Bay Area entrepreneurs have expressed interest in buying the brand, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. One of them, Mike Walsh, started a website and posted on LinkedIn to solicit potential investors.

Anchor’s story also lines up with a common one in the food and beverage world: An upstart or regional brand gets acquired by a much larger conglomerate, only to be sold or shut down by the larger company several years later. The phenomenon was evident with brands including Zico coconut water and Honest Tea, which Coca-Cola acquired over the last two decades before pulling the plug, Insider reported in 2021. 

Sapporo touted Anchor’s “strong brand power” and potential for growth in a statement explaining its acquisition of the brewery in 2017. Today, Anchor is “losing millions of dollars a year,” with sales and sales volumes down over 2016, the brewery’s last year as an independent business, Sam Singer, a spokesperson for Anchor and Sapporo, told the Chronicle.