Bevcraft Group acquires UK mobile canning business
Bevcraft Group has completed the acquisition of the UK mobile canning business Them That Can in a move which aims to deliver significant service level improvements to the UK craft beverage market including enhanced market coverage and capacity. The mobile canner will now operate a fleet of 15 lines serving seven countries.
Them That Can’s mobile fleet, equipment and associated crews will join Bevcraft with the enlarged offering operating as Craft Canning UK. There will be continuity of service to all existing Them That Can mobile customers. The transfer will allow the management of Them That Can to focus on opportunities in the static canning market and to benefit from access to Bevcraft’s supply chain for these retained activities.
Bevcraft has in recent years developed an extensive, integrated craft can supply chain in the UK with can distribution and decoration facilities in Merseyside and Peterborough. These are complemented by international centres which add further supply chain strength as well as access to laboratory, technical support and line servicing centres. The company recently commissioned Europe’s first Tonejet Digital Print plant at its Peterborough site which provides an environmentally sustainable, economic and versatile decoration option for cans entirely free of minimum order restrictions. Launched with an initial 330ml capability, it will expand to include 440ml and 500ml next quarter. These services will be immediately available to all existing Them That Can customers.
The transaction will see Bevcraft’s team increase towards 40 people across all divisions and support further investment in client services, engineering, laboratory and digital print divisions.
Commenting on the deal Darren Fenton, COO of the Bevcraft Group, said: “The UK craft beer market is one of the most vibrant and exciting in the world and for the last six years Them That Can has worked hard to create the UK’s leading mobile canning service. We have always respected the Them That Can team and we are now very excited for them to be part of our shared story as we both embark on the next chapters of growth which will deliver further improvements to the market.
Mobile canning is a very visible activity and one which demands best practice and attention to detail. We have for years been investing in testing protocols, quality operating standards and maximum transparency across our network. These are values shared by Them That Can which we look forward to continuing and building upon.”
In relation to the market Ciarán Gorman, CFO of the Bevcraft Group, said: “Craft Beer has come a long way since the very first mobile canners popped up in the US a decade ago. Today there is a greater range of requirements than ever before as breweries try to right size there packaging capabilities to the market. It is clear that there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution which is why Bevcraft has focused on creating a complete menu of commitment free solutions. Our job is to make mobile canning as convenient, cost-effective and flexible as possible for breweries as they scale from zero up towards a million units per year and if the time comes to give in-house a go; we are there to deliver whatever elements they need from can supply through to support and training. Every brewery has its own unique circumstances. One of the most interesting patterns over the last year has been an uptick in demand for mobile canning from breweries who experimented with ‘in-house’ canning and have since found it more economic to revert to mobile canning to eliminate the headache of sourcing cans, managing decoration, retaining quality canning crews and to release the capital tied up in equipment.”
The Bevcraft Group is a ‘craft can’ specialist first established in Ireland in 2016 by Ciarán Gorman and Darren Fenton. The group today has operations across six locations in Ireland, the UK and the Netherlands and handles around 100 million cans per annum. It provides a range of services including mobile contract canning, can distribution, can decoration, testing, servicing, and training. All services are unbundled so that craft beverage producers can ‘pick and mix’ the options that suit them.
