Bad Shepherd Brewing Co, based in the Melbourne Bayside suburb of Cheltenham, have this week entered voluntary administration as they seek “to facilitate a financial restructuring of the business”.
Founders Dereck and Diti Hales (pictured above) said they had taken the decision to enter voluntary administration to deal with the financial losses the business has faced over the last few years from the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns. Their intention is to retain ownership of the brewing company, as they explained it was very much business as usual as they seek a way forward.
Diti told The Crafty Pint: “It’s probably the same story a lot of SMEs have. We took on debt positions to get through the COVID pandemic and our issue is that legacy COVID debt, and the softening and downturn in the market and the cost of living pressures.
“We’ve never been able to get ahead of that legacy debt; if it was gone, we actually run a profitable business. The challenge is that, looking at everything in the industry and projecting for the next 18 months to two years, it’s not looking great for a while.
“In the current climate, we will never get ahead of that debt position and that becomes an unmanageable…