THE OLDEST PRIVATE BREWERY IN CHELYABINSK FORCED TO DECLARE BANKRUPTCY

The Krist brewery, which has worked in Chelyabinsk since 1994, may declare bankruptcy in the nearest future. An application of Vostochny Bank was filed in arbitration with a claim for 12.18 million rubles. At the moment, the brewery is no longer working - the owner closed the restaurant in spring, and the brand shops stopped working last year.

The old-timers remember that initially, the Krist brewery was a closed elite club located in a former hostel opposite the Almaz shopping and entertainment center. Long before the craft beer became a trend in Russia, those who preferred a high-quality foamy drink gathered in the restaurant.

Anyone could get inside only with a special club membership card, issued on the basis of a recommendation.

The members of the club had their own beer mugs, which were stored directly in the premises of the brewery in special boxes.

According to the founder of the Krist brewery, Andrei Kristelli, the debt was caused by a loan taken from a bank ten years ago to purchase German equipment. In this case, the brewery, the warehouse of products and the restaurant itself, located in Chelyabinsk on Garanina Street, acted as collateral.

Vostochny received the right to claim as a result of the assignment, and the clause of the agreement on the possibility of changing the interest on the loan in the event of a deteriorating economic situation in the country turned out to be a guillotine strike for the foam business.

As the entrepreneur explained to the 74.ru portal, in 2014, when the ruble rate fell almost twice against the dollar, the bank raised the rate from 12% to 25% per annum, and the businessman's attempt to restructure the debt did not have a positive effect. The arbitration court sided with the bank, having recognized its actions as legal.

Last year, Kristelli tried to sell the establishment, putting it up for 52 million rubles, but there were no people willing to buy a brewery at that price in Chelyabinsk.

The entrepreneur did not want to sell the establishment for a lower price, since the equipment installed for the production of a high-quality drink, according to him, costs much more. The brewery was a family business, in the development of which the parents, the wife of the entrepreneur and their son participated.