Last summer, Eric Bridges and Terry Kellar were bullish on their 14-month-old North Park business, El Cid Brewing. Located near the intersection of 30th Street and El Cajon Boulevard in the building that previously housed The Homebrewer and Home Brewing Co., it had made a name for itself amongst its core demographic: active-duty and veteran U.S. Navy personnel. Such was the goal when Bridges, an award-winning homebrewer and retired Senior Chief, chose to honor his service and naval colleagues through the business’ identity and branding.
So, when the suite next-door to El Cid opened up last July, the duo snatched it up, upping their square-footage from 2,000 square feet to 3,000 and making room for the manufacture of products that would expand their current offerings. To help fund the expansion, the company launched a fundraising campaign built around future-use gift cards redeemable at later dates for as much to 30% more than their face value.
Fast forward six months and the vibe at El Cid is quite different. Whereas the business once derived a significant portion of its overall revenue from serving as a host venue for private events held by military personnel, Bridges says they have lost some of that business to other local veteran-owned bars and restaurants offering things El Cid can’t, such as spirits, cocktails and food. He also says that, even though the brewery resonates with servicepeople, he and Kellar may have done well to site their business in a community where more of those individuals work and live, such as National City, Chula Vista or Kearny Mesa.
The bottom line is something needs to change. What exactly will change has a great deal to do with what happens now that the duo have listed El Cid’s North Park home for sale. Roughly 1,000 square feet of the unit is dedicated to production, with the rest making up the tasting room and its cold-storage unit. A sale would include a five-barrel brewhouse, four fermentation tanks, a reverse-osmosis filter, mill, canner, bottler and more, all of which is detailed in El Cid’s online listing. There are four years remaining on the business’ lease.
“Both Terry and I work full-time jobs. Coupled with the intense commitment it takes to run a brewery, it has become incredibly difficult to balance work and life. Added with a slow year, we have decided that it doesn’t make much business sense to continue in our current state,” says Bridges.
But that doesn’t mean that selling is the only option on the table. Rather than simply sell or close, Bridges and Kellar have a back-up plan.
“Plan A is for an asset sale and lease takeover, which we would want to complete in the next 90 days and would be the most beneficial to all parties currently involved. If that doesn’t happen, we have a plan B to rebrand our brewery to be more in-tune with the neighborhood,” says Bridges. “Our location is great, parking isn’t a real problem, the homeless can be a nuisance but don’t really affect business, and our rent and landlord are reasonable. It’s just our concept that doesn’t fit. It was very difficult to reach this decision because of what craft beer and the Navy mean to me, but we must face reality.”
Where Bridges and Kellar go from here is dependent on others’ interest in their brewery, but either way, there will be a new chapter for the business or its base of operations come spring.
El Cid Brewing is located at 2911 El Cajon Boulevard in North Park