Business Oregon focuses on helping Oregon’s small businesses including Boneyard Beer in Bend
Business Oregon says its finance team’s effectiveness in helping small businesses has multiplied exponentially in the last two years, in part, due to the infusion of $16.5 million in State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) funds from the federal government. These funds—the second disbursement of three from the federal government of $5.45 million recently arrived—combined with our existing Lottery-backed loans and loan guarantees, are used in partnership with private lenders to leverage everyone’s resources to best accommodate business growth.
So far, more than 120 businesses have been helped and more than $6 million in SSBCI funds have been disbursed. Rural companies, often located in the areas of highest unemployment in the state, have received 61 percent of the SSBCI funds. The SSBCI funds have leveraged approximately $43.5 million in private lending and helped create and/or retain more than 660 jobs.
Overall, the number of loan guarantees issued through Business Oregon’s Credit Enhancement Fund (CEF) increased 25 percent in 2012 over the previous year. In 2012, Business Oregon helped private lenders issue more than $30 million in loans and the total loan amount rose 57 percent over the same period. In addition, the number of new jobs created as a result of the CEF loan guarantees also increased 74 percent. These resources are crucial to helping spur growth for Oregon‘s economy.
A great example of how we can help Oregon small businesses reach their goals can be found in Bend.
Only in Oregon could a former keg washer for Deschutes Brewery, who moved to Bend to snowboard, first become a builder and salvager of brewing equipment before starting a microbrewery that now perches on the doorstep of Oregon‘s top 10 microbreweries.
And he did it in less than three years.
That is the story of Boneyard Beer co-owner and head brewer Tony Lawrence. Started in 2010, Boneyard had grown to become Oregon‘s 11th largest microbrewery increasing it sales 175 percent in 2012 to reach 7,500 barrels of production. Central Oregon is already home to several of the state’s top breweries and the three-county region leads the state with one brewing industry job for every 390 residents.
The company used a Business Oregon loan guarantee in partnership with the company’s local bank to expand into a 15,000-square-foot brewery. The company’s new plant will allow it to double its brewing production in 2013. The company currently employs about a dozen workers and hopes to start canning beer this month.
Working in partnership with private lenders and Oregon‘s small businesses like Boneyard Beer to reach their potential while they create some of the best beer in the world? Now that tastes good.
Story from Business Oregon: Oregon4biz.com
From Old Bones Comes a New Beer Choice for Oregon
Only in Oregon could a former keg washer for Deschutes Brewery, who moved to Bend to snowboard, first become a builder and salvager of brewing equipment before starting a microbrewery that now perches on the doorstep of Oregon‘s top 10 microbreweries.
And he did it in less than three years.
That is the story of Boneyard Beer co-owner and head brewer Tony Lawrence. Lawrence named his brewery after the “boneyard” of discarded and used brewing equipment he created and then rebuilt to produce his first keg of Boneyard beer in April 2010. In less than three years, Boneyard has grown to become Oregon‘s 11th largest microbrewery increasing it sales 175% in 2012 to reach 7,500 barrels of production.
Business Oregon recently signed on to partner with Boneyard to grow into a 15,000-square-foot plant in Northeast Bend complete with a new canning line. Using funds received from the federal government through the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI), Business Oregon helped guarantee 50% of a loan from Columbia State Bank to Boneyard in early 2013, the final piece of financing for the expansion.
By the end of 2012, Business Oregon’s team of finance officers had worked with close to 100 small Oregon businesses and had provided nearly $5 million of loans and loan guarantees with the SSBCI funds.
Lawrence told the Bend Bulletin he had traveled to Europe in search of a canning line for the 16-ounce Boneyard beers to come. The company’s new plant will allow it to double its brewing production in 2013. The company currently employs about a dozen workers and hoped to start canning beer in May 2013.
Bend and Deschutes County, already home to top 10 microbrewers Deschutes (No. 1) and 10 Barrel (No. 9), has emerged as a microbrewing epicenter here in Oregon. When it comes to jobs per region, it is Central Oregon that takes the gold medal. According to the Oregon Employment Department, Central Oregon breweries and pubs employed 513 people in 2011. The three-county region has one brewing industry job for every 390 people.
