Northern Rising : Rising the Faith

As Leeds powerhouse Northern Monk launches its first ever crowdfunding round, we catch up with managing director Russell Bisset to ask why they felt crowdfunding was the right choice for them.

Q: Why have you decided to go down the crowdfunding route?

A: We ve had friends, family, key business customers, as well as passionate followers and believers in our brand, want to invest from the outset. We re at a stage in the business now where we ve seen consistent growth (effectively 100% year on year), solid profitability (trading profits at £255K last financial year) and we are proud to have been rated as one of the world's top 100 breweries. We can be fairly confident saying to those people “Now is the right time to invest”. We re stable, we ve shown we can do it and we are genuinely excited about what the future holds.

Q: What developments will this round of funding make possible? How much are you hoping to raise?

A: This round of funding will allow us to add eight 10,000L fermentation vessels, as well as a new canning line. From this we can increase speed, efficiency, reduce down time and waste. If we over fund, the money will be spent on fast-tracking our plans to open Tap Rooms, with London and Manchester in our sights. We will also significantly expand our barrel ageing programme and add new foudres all of which to be overseen by Col (Stronge).

Q: What difference will having a financial stake make to the relationship with your fan, do you think?

A: First and foremost it means people can share in our successes. That’s not just monetary, but knowing they own a piece of a business that’s making an impact on a world stage. We re deeply grateful for the support we ve received, not just locally but across the UK and beyond. I feel like our Northern identity resonates not just locally and in the North, but hopefully across the world with an inherent belief in the values that are synonymous with Northernness.

Q: What benefits can your crowdfunders expect?

A: Most importantly those that invest will benefit by receiving shares in the business.

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH NORTHERN MONK

However, we ve got some pretty cool stuff lined up in addition to that. We ve had some exclusive art made up by Drew Millward. These will go on tees and totes. If you invest enough you’ll get an exclusive drinking goblet we ll fill for you every time you come to one of our tap rooms. You could be awarded a title going right up to King in the North! You could get your name on one of our tanks. A personal favourite is to be made into a Northern Hero through one of our Patrons Projects with Ben Mather. Ben will turn you into a comic book hero and you’ll go out on 8,000 cans across the UK and beyond.

Q: Will you be targeting people who want to invest because they love the beer, or people who aren’t really bothered about the beer but are looking for a good return one day?

A: As much as possible we want this to be a win win situation. The ideal investor will be someone whos passionate about what we do but can also benefit from a monetary return on their investment. One of the reasons we ve chosen to crowd fund is to surround ourselves with like-minded people who want to join us on our journey and share a determination to make some of the best beer in the world.