Big Spring Spirits
We knew what we wanted to buy, so we had the information that was needed so that The Progress Fund could do their evaluation. That was really a good process from my end. It was a quick and smooth process.
People
Blessed with the state’s best water and locally sourced ingredients, Big Spring Spirits saw sales nearly quadruple over two years. The problem: Filling and labeling 185,000 bottles a year, by hand, is a lot of work. “We were really pushing the limits of how many bottles we could get cased,” says Garry McCann, the company’s CFO. With new buyers and thriving tasting rooms, the company was “starting to approach a capacity bottleneck.” New equipment could uncork opportunity.
Progress
One of Big Spring’s partner, Eric Kraemer, had worked with The Progress Fund on another venture. This time, The Progress Fund loaned $112,708 to cover new bottling and labeling equipment.
Impact
“What’s special about our product is the quality of the taste and the experience of the cocktails,” says Garry. Enjoyed in tasting rooms, restaurants and living rooms, Big Spring Spirits vodkas, gins, whiskeys, rums and cocktails are in demand statewide. With the equipment in place in Bellefonte, the bottling and labeling process “is really like lightning compared to the way we used to do it,” says Garry. “That means we will be buying more raw materials from the local farmers and vendors that we use today.” It also safeguards nearly 60 jobs and frees the team to pursue new opportunities, including a second manufacturing plant within a coming tasting venue in Pittsburgh.
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