The Boston Beer Company is touting a new line of business and it’s not just the creation another seasonal brew.
The Massachusetts-based maker of Samuel Adams beer is also in the lending game, with a microloan fund it established two years ago for small businesses in New England including in Connecticut.
The Boston Beer Company invested $250,000 in 2008 to create the loan fund to provide micro-loans to small companies, mainly in the food and beverage industry.
The loan pool is more of a philanthropic effort than anything else, said Jim Koch, a founder of the company.
Boston Beer Company does not expect to get a return on the investment, Koch said, but instead the money is part of a revolving loan fund aimed to help small business owners for years to come.
“That allows the money to go to work multiple times,” Koch said.
Since 2008, when the loan pool was started, more than 40 businesses have received financing, which has helped create or save nearly 300 jobs in New England, Koch said.
So far no loans have been made in Connecticut, but Koch said the company is looking for entrepreneurs in the Nutmeg State to tap money still left in the pool.
In fact, Boston Beer company officials will be in Hartford June 21 at the Billings Forge Community Works center looking for small business owners in Connecticut in need of a microloan.
“We continue to have money to lend,” Koch said. “We are looking for qualified loan recipients.”
Most loans range from $5,000 to $10,000. Typically, many of the small businesses receiving the funds would be unable to secure bank loans or other means of traditional financing.
“When I started The Boston Beer Co.,” Koch recalled, “I couldn’t get a bank loan or find capital, plus there was so much I didn’t know about starting a small business. As the company grew and became more successful, we naturally identified with other ‘little guys’ who benefited from a leg up.”
Lending standards are fairly strict, Koch said, because they need to lend to people whose businesses will succeed so the loan pool can continue to pump out cash to new companies.
“If they fail, there is no benefit,” Koch said.
Greg Bordonaro writes the Financial Sense column every other week. Reach him at gbordonaro@HartfordBusiness.com.
