CoHop
Shares
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Ethical Consumption
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Local production
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Local Economy
- Decent work and economic growth
- Sustainable cities and communities
- Responsible consumption and production
Pitch
Presentation
The CoHop adventure continues!
After an encouraging first year, we're proud that CoHop has made a name for itself on the Brussels brewing scene: the cooperative has developed an innovative and resilient business model for producing craft beers in a unique location in the heart of Brussels.
CoHop's values - sharing, relocating production activities to the city of Brussels, circularity and reducing our environmental footprint - are at the heart of every decision we make.
Today, our need is twofold: we want to invest in our energy efficiency while strengthening our cash position. And for that, we need you!
All cohoperators will benefit from
* 10% discount on drinks at the bar for life.
* 10% discount for custom brewing.
* The right to take part in cooperative brews (the beer will then be sold at the brewpub).
In addition to the 45% Tax Shelter benefit for individuals, the following rewards are offered:
- For an investment of €2,000: A pack of 4 CoHop beers per month for 1 year.
- For an investment of €5,000: A full visit + tasting with pairing and other beer-related workshops (to be planned with you) given by our partner zythologue + a pack of CoHop beers per month for 1 year.
- For an investment of €10,000: You brew your own beer (with a CoHop brewer) which will be sold at the brewpub.
Follow the project on:
Team
The 4 founding breweries of the CoHop form a team with multiple and complementary skills. Each brewery has its own brewer, each with significant professional experience as a professional brewer: Morane (biology doctor with experience in a pharmaceutical laboratory), Matthieu (mechanical engineer), Thomas (cameraman) and Gilles (bio-engineer with experience at AB-Inbev and Sopura). Adrien and Bertrand have significant entrepreneurial experience in the Brussels catering industry following the opening of their own café in 2017, the Caberdouche. Rémi, the CoHop coordinator, is an engineer in industrial product design and has been working at Alstom for 12 years as a project manager.
Challenges
Currently, three major players (ABInBev/SABMiller, Heineken and Carlsberg) share more than half of the global market share in a market that is still growing. Faced with these monopolistic giants, the barriers to enter the market are high for local and sustainable initiatives. With the global alcohol market estimated to account for 0.7% of greenhouse gas emissions, a shift towards more local production should be encouraged, but the fixed costs are high and the basic investments expensive.
Solutions
The solution? Creating a pool through a cooperative to promote a system based on a shared vision, in a spirit of general interest, for the benefit of all stakeholders. This sharing of production tools and premises is an innovative concept that tends to inspire other companies. By forming CoHop, the partner breweries develop a strong local anchoring both on the customer side and in production. This makes it possible to avoid the pressure on prices caused by industrial distribution while re-establishing an ancestral know-how in the heart of the city.
Economic model
The CoHop's offer will be based primarily on the pooling of production materials, "à façon" brewing, professional training for amateur brewers, a sandwich shop and a takeaway. A brewpub will be installed in a second phase.
A fee is charged to the 4 breweries according to the use of the brewing equipment and the brews are counted for each user. The training courses given on site will cost 300€ (including VAT) per trainee, which is less expensive than the zythology courses currently available in Brussels. The prices of the beers are in line with the average market price of beers from microbreweries, with a margin of 50%.
Long term impact
Beyond the innovative poolmodel, the CoHop team is committed to an eco-responsible approach and has put the circular economy at the heart of their production process. By producing in a closed circuit, the brewery uses less energy to heat water and can organise its brews to reuse heat. CO2 will be recovered for canning and kegging. Solar panels will complete the facilities. CoHop will also recover its spent grain, the waste produced during brewing, and redistribute it to mushroom growers, farmers and BeerFood.