New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman today sent letters to 15 New York–based health-insurance plans urging them to change their policies to permit certain members
UTICA — The year was 1888. Berta Benz of Germany completed the first long-distance drive in a motor car built by her husband Karl, covering 40 miles. George Eastman registered the name Kodak and received a patent for a camera that used roll film. Benjamin Harrison became president of the U.S. even though he lost
UTICA — The year was 1888. Berta Benz of Germany completed the first long-distance drive in a motor car built by her husband Karl, covering 40 miles. George Eastman registered the name Kodak and received a patent for a camera that used roll film. Benjamin Harrison became president of the U.S. even though he lost the popular vote to Grover Cleveland.
The year 1888 also marked the incorporation of the West End Brewing Co. in west Utica. The brewery had originally been established in 1853 as the Charles Bierbauer Brewery, but was reorganized after Bierbauer’s death with F.X. Matt as president. F.X. had come to the U.S. in 1878 as an 18-year-old immigrant who had learned the brewing trade working for the Duke of Baden Brewery in the Black Forest region of Germany.
The Matt family is currently celebrating its 125th anniversary of crafting beer in Utica.
Now renamed the Matt Brewing Co., Inc. (also called the F.X. Matt Brewing Co.), the company “… employs 120 and generates more than $40 million annually,” says Nicholas O. (Nick) Matt, the chairman and CEO and a third-generation family member. “The brewery buildings [comprise] 385,000 square foot in total, and we are the eighth largest craft brewery in America [based on volume].”
“Reaching this milestone hasn’t been without its challenges,” adds Fred Matt, a fourth-generation family member who serves as the company’s president and COO. “We almost went out of business during Prohibition [1919-1933], when we had to change our business to only producing soft drinks, malt tonic, and syrups … If Prohibition had lasted another year or so, I don’t think we would be here today,” declares Nick Matt…. “The 1970s and 1980s were also particularly challenging, as regional breweries were forced out of the marketplace by giant national breweries [like Budweiser, Millers, and Coors]. Fortunately, consumers started to look for craft beers again and we made the decision to focus on Saranac.
“And then there was the fire,” continues Nick Matt. In 2008, the company suffered $10-million in damages from a fire that extensively damaged the canning and bottling operation and completely destroyed the third floor that was used for packaging and warehouse space.. “[F.X. Matt] … reinvested the money from the insurance company to construct a new warehouse and to rebuild the canning operation … We introduced faster, more technologically advanced machines, expanded our storage capacity, and streamlined operations to make them more efficient. Out of the ashes of the fire, we now have a more modern and better facility.
“We are enjoying a renaissance in craft beer-making. At the end of the 1970s, there were fewer than 50 breweries in the country. Today, there are over 2,400, employing 108,000 more people than 25 years ago … Consumption of craft beers is growing 15 percent annually while the consumption of beer overall declines. Still, [craft beer] represents less than 10 percent of the total volume of beer consumed in this country.”
“Our sales have been growing, especially since 1991 after we won a gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival for our new Saranac Amber Lager,” avers Fred Matt. “We made the decision then to focus on the Saranac brand. Sales of Saranac doubled every year for the next four years as more and more people tried Saranac and we expanded our distribution to new areas, “ adds Nick Matt. “We also used our excess capacity to do contract manufacturing for well known brands such as New Amsterdam, Brooklyn Lager, Boston Beer Co. (Sam Adams), and Dock Street … [Currently], contract manufacturing represents 35 percent of our production,” he says. The company also produces and distributes a line of Saranac soft drinks.
In addition to focusing on better brand recognition and wider distribution of its Saranac beers and ales, F.X. Matt has also sought new ventures. In April 2007, F.X. Matt entered into a supply-and-distribution agreement with the Lake Placid Craft Brewing Co. The Lake Placid Brewing Co. was formed by the owners of the Lake Placid Pub & Brewery, a pub and restaurant located in the village of Lake Placid in Essex County. “The brew-pub/restaurant concept is a model that has been successful in building brands, and we’re looking at doing that with Lake Placid,” says Fred Matt. “It could be a new direction.
“Last year, F.X. Matt bought (asset purchase) the Flying Bison Brewing Co., located in Buffalo. Bison produced 6,500 barrels in 2012; this year we anticipate 8,000 barrels (100,000 cases) … We think it could be a big brand.” Flying Bison was incorporated in 1995 and opened in 2000. The company halted production in 2010 due to financial difficulties, but reopened with the Matts’ assistance in 2011. Flying Bison has been growing ever since and continues to brew most of its beer at a brewery in Buffalo. Tim Herzog, one of the founders, still runs the operation.
Nick and Fred Matt are two of the 11 stockholders in F.X. Matt Brewing Co. Before joining the firm in 1989, Nick was the president and general manager of Procter & Gamble’s Vick’s Healthcare division. He earned his B.A. from Union College (1967), spent three years as a U.S. naval officer, and received his MBA from the Johnson School of Management at Cornell University. Fred, Nick’s nephew, also joined the brewery in 1989. Prior to joining the brewery, he had been an account executive with Grey Advertising in New York City. He received his B.A. from Hobart College and his MBA from the Simon School of Business at the University of Rochester. Both men are married; each has three children.
In addition to Nick Matt as chairman and CEO and Fred Matt as president and COO, other key members of the F.X. Matt Brewing management team include Jim Kuhr, director of operations and brewmaster; Bob Cooley, controller; and Leigh D’Agostino, manager of the gift shop and tour-center operations.
Only three percent of all businesses reaches the fourth generation, according to the Institute for Family-Owned Business. The 125th anniversary of the founding of F.X. Matt Brewing is also a time to think of the fifth generation. “We have children who are potentially interested in running the business, but that’s years away” says Nick Matt. “If any of them does want to join us, we would be delighted but Fred and I insist that they first get outside business experience. Previous generations expected their [offspring] to assume a role in the company. We want them to understand that F.X Matt is a business; it’s not a family [right] or obligation.” Nick Matt’s son, Nick, just joined the firm in April, after garnering outside work experience with the investment bank and investment management firm Brown Brothers Harriman, earning an MBA from the London School of Business, and then working for Procter & Gamble. He is the brand manager of Saranac products.
F.X. Matt Brewing relies on a number of local firms for professional support. The firm’s primary banking relationship is with the Bank of Utica. The brewery also worked with M&T Bank to fund its anaerobic-digester project, which will deliver 40 percent of the company’s electrical needs when it is fully operational. The brewery’s legal work is performed by the Matt Law Firm, PLLC in Utica, which is associated with Hiscock & Barclay, LLP., headquartered in Syracuse. Accounting is handled by Kane Bowles & Moore CPAs, P.C. of Liverpool. In addition, “F.X. Matt worked almost exclusively with local firms after the fire to rebuild the brewery and to construct the new digester. The company also buys most of its packaging materials from New York companies and does a brew each year from locally grown hops,” says Nick Matt.
The world has changed since F.X. Matt incorporated the West End Brewing Co. 125 years ago. One thing that hasn’t changed, however, is the Matt family’s obsession with making great beers. As long as the public continues to demand quality from craft brewers, F.X. Matt’s descendants will keep providing products to quench their thirst and grow a company that continues to anchor the west end of Utica.
The financial planning and investment advisory firm also readies another acquisition SYRACUSE — Blue Ocean Strategic Capital, LLC has settled into a larger office in downtown Syracuse that provides the financial planning and investment advisory firm more room to implement its growth strategy. In mid-April, Blue Ocean moved to a 7,500-square-foot space on the second
The financial planning and investment advisory firm also readies another acquisition
SYRACUSE — Blue Ocean Strategic Capital, LLC has settled into a larger office in downtown Syracuse that provides the financial planning and investment advisory firm more room to implement its growth strategy.
In mid-April, Blue Ocean moved to a 7,500-square-foot space on the second floor of the Washington Station building from its 4,400-square-foot office at 443 North Franklin St.
Blue Ocean, which has grown from five employees to nine in the last year, is on the verge of completing the acquisition of a local investment advisory firm that will bring it another two employees. The acquisition, which should close in July, will be Blue Ocean’s third deal in a year and bring the firm about $30 million in assets under management, according to Theodore Sarenski, CEO. That would take Blue Ocean up to $260 million in total assets under management.
Sarenski, who couldn’t provide further details until the acquisition closes, says the forthcoming deal is similar to Blue Ocean’s purchase of Hebert Financial Strategieslast August. Dennis Hebert and Jennifer Spagnola of Hebert Financial joined Blue Ocean as a result.
Sarenski says the upcoming acquisition “gives us an individual that’s been in the [investment] business for many years” and provides personal financial planning and estate-planning services.
Blue Ocean’s other deal in 2012 involved adding two new staff members from Morgan Stanley Smith Barney in Syracuse — Jeffrey Moro and Stephen Chow, who became president and part-owner of Blue Ocean.
Chow has since departed Blue Ocean, leaving in May for a job as senior VP and senior portfolio manager at Pinnacle Investments, LLC. Pinnacle is a diversified financial services company with businesses in brokerage, money management, and insurance. It has offices in Syracuse, Fayetteville, Auburn, Albany, and Buffalo. Chow took about $40 million in assets under management with him, according to Sarenski.
Sarenski has now taken back the president title at Blue Ocean. Sarenski says he now owns about a two-thirds stake in Blue Ocean, while Kevin VandenBerg, chief operating officer and chief investment officer, owns the other one-third.
The move to new office space has “revitalized” the firm, Sarenski says. “It has people excited about being downtown and being able to dine downtown.”
The office offers the firm copious room for individual clients waiting for their appointments and three conference rooms that nonprofit endowment clients could possibly use to host meetings at Blue Ocean.
Ultimately, Blue Ocean could fit 15-17 employees in its new space. But after completing its next deal, the firm is not planning to pursue any more acquisitions for a while to get there, according to Sarenski.
“The idea is to pause [on making deals] to make sure everything is in order,” he says. “We want to focus on the clients we have so they can refer business to us and we can grow more organically than through acquisitions.”
Blue Ocean gets almost half of its new business from referrals from existing clients, and adding more clients through acquisitions provides more opportunity for such word of mouth.
The firm had more than 480 total clients, as of its March 2013 regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission. That was before Chow’s departure.
Blue Ocean was founded in 2010, when the firm spun off from Syracuse–based accounting firm Dermody, Burke & Brown CPAs, LLC. It originally began in 1997 as Dermody’s financial-services arm, called DB&B Financial Services.
Washington Station opened in 2010 and is the headquarters of the engineering firm O’Brien & Gere. It houses several other businesses as well.
DeWITT — JF Real Estate recently completed the sale of a 2,100-square-foot office condominium located at 5848 Heritage Landing Drive in DeWitt. Hans B. Christopherson
DeWITT — Excellus BlueCross BlueShield (BCBS), Central New York’s largest health insurer, today said it exceeded federal and state standards by $330 million in the amount
SYRACUSE — Friends of the Rosamond Gifford Zoo announced the addition of Jill Allen as director of development and membership. “With more than 15 years
UTICA — The Peacemaker Program, Inc. announced it is now the court-designated provider of dispute-resolution services to all of Oneida and Madison counties. Previously,
U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand on Thursday announced her effort to change a “burdensome” tax regulation to help increase exports of New York wine and craft
SYRACUSE — U.S. Representative Daniel Maffei (D–DeWitt) today called on the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) to provide additional alternatives for the future
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