Despite the Meadville-based Voodoo Brewing Co. franchise announcing an upcoming asset sale, the New Kensington location will remain a community stalwart, according to manager Michelle Thom.
Thom said that since it is independently owned, the business can operate even if the franchise is sold.
“We’re basically the same as any other restaurant, and we can operate independently,” Thom said.
What remains unanswered is whether it will have to change its name because of its trademark licensing agreement with the franchise — whether it can continue use Voodoo’s brand, name and logo. The New Kensington tavern also gets some of its beer inventory from a franchise distributor.
A meeting Monday between the New Kensington location officials and franchise owners might provide answers on what the sale means and who is buying the company, Thom said.
The New Kensington location opened in 2020 as the first and major piece of an effort to revitalize Downtown New Kensington.
In an email first released by the news platform Breweries in PA on Tuesday, Voodoo Brewing Co. board chairman and CEO Matthew Rachocki announced the company is selling all its operating assets to a new ownership entity.
Breweries in PA reported that makes investor shares essentially defunct.
A spokesperson for The Voodoo Brewing Co. franchise did not respond to request for comment.
Rachocki cited consumer trend changes, rising operating costs, tightening capital markets, increased competition, industry contraction, and “a number of internal and external headwinds” as deciding factors to sell.
The New Kensington bar was the first business to open under the umbrella of revitalization group Olde Towne Overhaul, operated by founder Mike Malcanas and Thom, and has since cemented itself in the heart of the city’s community organizing scene.
New Kensington Mayor Tom Guzzo said the local breweries efforts have been instrumental to the city’s revitalization.
“They have been very instrumental in attracting people to our downtown, both our residents as well as people from our surrounding communities,” Guzzo said.
Thom said they opened the location based on feedback from community engagement seminars in 2019 that a craft brewery would benefit the city’s revitalization, so they opted for Voodoo for its recognizable name and brand.
It is a central organizer for the city’s Fridays on Fifth festivals, its farmers market and the St. Patty’s Day Pub Crawl, among other events.
“It was the first anchor location to show people this is what you can do for an old building,” Thom said. “It’s been very successful. It’s a big challenge running a restaurant, but it definitely does its job.”