Fermentus Interuptus
From Business Wire
Granite City Food & Brewery implements its revolutionary new brewing
process in conjunction with the mid November 2001 opening of its Fargo,
ND location.
Founders Food & Firkins Ltd., d/b/a Granite City Food & Brewery
(Nasdaq:GCFBU) announced the launch of a new patent-pending brewery
process that will make micro-brewing for multiple locations more
efficient. This brew method is trademarked under the name "Fermentus
Interuptus" and allows Granite City Food & Brewery to transfer an
unfermented liquid called wort, from one location to other locations
where the fermenting will begin and the brew process will be completed.
Fermentus Interuptus is intended to improve the economics of Granite
City's micro-brewing process by eliminating the initial stages of brewing
and storage at multiple locations, thereby reducing development costs at
new restaurant locations. The unfermented liquid known as wort contains
no alcohol so it can be trucked anywhere in the United States. The
receiving brewpub will unload the wort into its own brewing vessels, add
yeast cells and conclude the brew process with fermentation, aging,
storing and eventually dispensing beer.
The Fermentus Interuptus brew process will originate at the Sioux Falls,
South Dakota brewery. The wort will be trucked to Granite City Food &
Brewery in Fargo, North Dakota, which is scheduled to open to the public
in mid November 2001. Although wort will be shipped only to the Fargo
location at this time, the Sioux Falls brewery is large enough to service
as many as 15 brew pubs. The Company's Chairman and Brewmaster Bill
Burdick said "Every restaurant that is added to the Fermentus Interuptus
program is expected to improve margins by serving multiple locations with
a single brewing operation. Through this patent-pending process we are
able to keep our high quality product intact and enhance our overall
profitability. Truly the best of both worlds."
"We are extremely excited about introducing this new brewing process in
conjunction with the opening of our third Granite City," said Steve
Wagenheim, Founders Food & Firkins' President and CEO. "We will begin
servicing our new Fargo location with Fermentus Interuptus when it opens
in mid November at the West Acres shopping complex. Going forward, we
anticipate Fermentus Interuptus will be a major part of our intended
expansion of Granite City Food & Brewery locations within specific
targeted markets."
Wagenheim said, "Fermentus Interuptus gives the concept exclusivity and
uniqueness which will become more prominent with the growth of our
company. This brewing process works for us because:
-- Granite City Food & Brewery is a restaurant first. With the popularity
of our food, the concept has good "legs" for expansion, and Fermentus
Interuptus enables us to build on that platform.
-- Fermentus Interuptus fits our development strategy of clustering our
locations within geographic regions to maximize operational efficiencies.
-- Our Chairman and Brewmaster Bill Burdick created this process of
brewing because of his high level understanding of beer, the brewing
process and brewery design. Mr. Burdick has over
35 years of hands-on brewing experience."
Granite City Food & Brewery provides fresh, high quality, made-to-order
food and handcrafted beers, all made on site. Its broad menu offers
traditional and regional foods served in generous portions at reasonable
prices, affording customers an excellent value and pleasant dining
experience.
Founders Food & Firkins Ltd owns and operates two Granite City Food &
Brewery casual dining restaurants featuring on-premise breweries. Its
first Granite City location, in St. Cloud, MN, opened in late June 1999.
Its second location opened in Sioux Falls, SD, on December 18, 2000 and
has enjoyed rave reviews from diners and local, regional and national
media.
Certain statements made in this press release of a non-historical nature
constitute "forward looking statements" within the meaning of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements
are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual
results to differ materially from those anticipated. Such factors
include, but are not limited to, our ability to implement and execute the
Fermentus Interuptus process, our ability to use such process in our
anticipated expansion, changes in economic conditions and the risks and
uncertainties described in the Company's Form 10-KSB/A Report as filed
for the year ended December 31, 2000 with the Securities and Exchange
Commission.
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