GameCraft Brewing is excited to head north to Anaheim. Having cultivated a community in Laguna Hills, California over the past few years, the brewery now looks to elevate its presence in north Orange County with a new brewing facility in the former home of Backstreet Brewery.
“This location will definitely be different from our Laguna Hills location in both size and vibe,” said GameCraft’s Kelly Beach. “There will absolutely be some familiar elements to GC fans, but this approach is much more neighborhood/backyard community-focused.”
The selection of beers will likely differ a bit, but all of GameCraft’s core beers will remain.
Expansion has always been a cornerstone of GameCraft’s long-term success plan, but with the pandemic and post-pandemic market, finding the right space was a challenge, Beach said.
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“We definitely wanted to keep the first new location local but more accessible to GC fans who may not make it down to Laguna Hills regularly,” Beach said. “Since this is another brewing facility already, Anaheim checked a lot of boxes we were looking for right off the bat. While no concrete distribution plan has been announced yet, we look forward to our beers being more accessible across the county.”
The second location has been in the works for years now, and elements were planned out within GameCraft’s first year of opening. Since a second location had been a goal since the beginning, most of the owner and investor team was on board with making sure they found the right opportunity.
“We saw many opportunities for this project to manifest, but again, choosing the right location was crucial,” Beach said. “Communication is everything. We wanted this process to be something all parties involved were excited about and could work towards together. That’s really what has helped get Anaheim off the ground so quickly.”
When planning to expand like this, Beach shared that breweries should plan for more timing and more paperwork.
“Those are two of the biggest hurdles,” Beach said. “We wanted to make sure we developed a good relationship with the city and local agencies so we could work together efficiently in getting the necessary approvals before the real heavy lifting took place.
“As we came out of the pandemic, lead times on certain materials and fixtures were still nebulous, but it’s definitely improved this year.”
Initially, food service will be limited as they focus more on getting the brewing aspects off the ground first as well.
“It may have taken longer than intended to get where we’re at today, but the team is confident this project will be a huge benefit to the brand as a whole,” Beach said.
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