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| This Glass is Half Full - He's Platinum |
Business
operations connected to Kid Rock are among the creditors in a federal
bankruptcy filing by a beer company based outside Lansing, Michigan.
The
Chapter 7 filing, see
here, was entered Jan. 31 by Bobby Mason, founder of Michigan Brewing
Company, which was contracted to brew Rock’s American Badass Beer.
Bobby
Moscow LLC., which Rock uses to market and sell his Made
in Detroit clothing line, and KR Drinks LLC, which state records show conducts
business under the name American Badass Beer, are both listed among the
creditors in the filing.
The
amount owed Bobby Moscow is listed as “unknown” while the debt to KR Drinks is
$276,897.
Rock's beer debuted in 2009 and he used his megamedia platform to pimp
the beer on The Daily Show with Jon
Stewart in 2011. The beer became a top seller, even as the Michigan Brewing
Company floundered. Records show that the brewery had cash flow problems that predated the issue of Rock's beer; in 2005 MBC became delinquent in payments to its landlords and was foreclosed upon.
The brewery, which had been open since 1995, was closed
by creditors in April 2012 and most of its assets were sold
at auction in July to MillerCoors.
The
last notice regarding the
failure of the brewery from The Rock camp was June, which said the brand
would be seeking another “Michigan-based” contract brewer.
Chapter
7 is a last resort for a failed business. The July liquidation auction did not
earn the amount needed to satisfy MBC’s numerous creditors, who are owed over
$11 million.
Read an excellent history of the brewery through its July closing here.
I can not understand how the money trail can disappear on these type of failures. Some should be able to figure out where it was spent. It would sure be a useful learning tool for others involved in small businesses.
ReplyDeleteUsually someone investing in a business can gauge the risk through some backgrounding. In this case, Mason was already having some trouble when others gave him money. He was sued in March 2005 for failure to pay on his note, then failed to pay again in December. But when you look at the filing, people were loaning him money after that to keep things going.
ReplyDeleteI know the bankruptcies are civil matters but I wish part of the discloser would explain if he was simply not balancing his books with expenses [payroll, materials, production, etc.]. with sales, or was he spending it stupidly on expensive toys, casinos, scams, drugs etc. It seems like he had the demand part going for him and should have ben able to stay afloat. The LSJ article indicates he might have been a control freak so he could have run the thing into the ground, but again, where did the money actually go? It seems far fetched, but could competitors like Best Brew manipulate the loans to help him crash. Mason being so secretive about the problems he had seems kind of odd as well. Tune into "Just wait until after the bankruptcy sale".
DeleteBobby Mason was a scammer - he'd look you right in the eye and say everything is fine - then ask for more investment money - knowing full well you'd never get a dime of it back. Good at making beer - TERRIBLE at business management. And he says he'll brew again???? Good luck getting investors the second time around!
ReplyDelete