AMERICAN CRAFT BEVERAGE WAREHOUSE ANNOUNCES NEW INVESTMENT IN DIGITAL PRINTING

The American company Craft Beverage Warehouse, a Milwaukee-based distributor of beverage packaging materials for the craft market, is making additional investments in the Century City Business Park in Milwaukee (USA). The same company has confirmed that the multi-million dollar project will bring innovative digital printing technology on aluminum cans to the region’s craft beverage packaging market.

“As more retailers demand sustainable premium aluminum cans for beverage products and aluminum can manufacturers increase minimum order quantities to maintain economies of scale, new beverage companies and existing small and medium-sized craft producers need creative, infinitely recyclable packaging options,” says Kyle Stephens, co-founder of CBW.

Currently, beverage can manufacturers require a minimum order quantity of 250,000 cans, and some have recently announced an MOQ increase of up to 1,000,000 cans. Stephens notes, “There are many reasons why craft producers can’t meet the MOQs required by manufacturers, ranging from the total dollar amount of the investment to a simple lack of storage space. Our goal is to aggressively reduce MOQs and make relatively on-demand printed cans more accessible to the small producers who have conquered this industry over the past 15-20 years. The vast majority of new beverage launches today utilize the superior performance and greater sustainability of aluminum cans compared to plastic and glass bottles. By replacing pressure-sensitive labels and plastic cans with shrink sleeves, we reduce the recyclability and value of aluminium.

The investment has been financed through an equity round and debt financing. The equity round, led by Redwall digital print and screen printing leader Jeff Meilander, positions CBW to not only make this investment, but also enable future growth.

“We plan to engage existing and potential customers near the end of the first quarter of 2022 to build our sales pipeline and begin manufacturing in the second quarter,” Stephens ratified. The company expects to hire 5 to 10 employees for different positions throughout 2022.