It has been six years since Heineken acquired a minority stake in Cape Town based Jack Black’s Brewing Company and today the founders, Ross and Meghan McCulloch announced that they have sold their remaining shares. “The long journey with Jack Black has come to an end,” said Ross in an exclusive interview. “Meg and I are moving on. She is stepping down as marketing director and I am stepping down as CEO, although I will be staying on as a consultant for the foreseeable future.”
Meghan and Ross McCulloch (Image supplied)
The McCullochs announced the news to the Jack Black team this afternoon and quietly made the move public via a personal statement from Ross on the brewery’s blog.
“All staff will be retained – there’s no change there at this point, and no retrenchments,” Ross told me. Likewise, the beers and the taproom will remain the same, with no plans to discontinue any beers or stray from the current model. “Heineken is a great partner,” said Ross. “While they do look at costs of course, they also look at other efficiencies and don’t touch the recipes or opt for cost saving when it comes to ingredients.”
While Ross remains in a consulting role, Wulrich van Wyk, head of sales excellence at Heineken, will take over leadership at the Diep River based brewery. Meghan will be stepping away, having prepped her marketing team to take over. “She’ll soon be taking on the next project,” said Ross. He wouldn’t elaborate on what that project might be, other than that it would be in South Africa and likely not within the alcohol industry.
Jack Black was founded in 2007 as a contract brand, brewing at Birkenhead Brewery, Boston Breweries and Cape Brewing Company before launching their own physical brewery in 2016. “The original plan was to have a brewpub,” said Ross. “We wanted to make good beer and a little bit of money – have a lifestyle business. There was no master plan. It was never in our minds to sell and exit the industry but as the industry has changed over the years, it feels like a natural progression.”
Ross added that the buyout was mutual. “There was no forced takeover or anything like that,” he said. “We knew it was coming for quite a while and have been prepping to make for a seamless changeover. I’m very excited for the brand.”
From my side, I’d like to wish Ross and Meghan all the best, and to send big thanks for everything they’ve done for the industry. They paved the way for many brands that came after them, they convinced the Mother City that draught beer was best and they introduced craft beer to a whole new audience. I have a lot more to say on that front, but I will save that for a separate post.
