Administrators have been appointed over the business behind South Fremantle's Running With Thieves, Atari Enterprises. However, the brewery says they continue to trade as normal as they restructure debt.
On August 22, Atari filed a document with ASIC, stating Cameran Hugh Shaw from Hall Chadwick had been appointed as an administrator.
The brewery and distillery opened its doors to the public in late 2020, with cofounder Scott Douglas having previously been involved with Black Brewing.
Speaking to The Crafty Pint, Scott said they're continuing to trade as normal, have kept all their staff and the administrators are happy with the business. He says the decision came as a result of the difficult trading conditions they had to operate under following their launch and the various challenges impacting the industry.
"To survive through that, we had to take on a fair bit of debt and now we've been trying to work out arrangements with various creditors," Scott says.
"The company is trading strong, it's growing 30 percent year on year, but it's really just that debt that was incurred to survive through COVID with the new business."
The Running With Thieves concept was developed in 2013 as a lifestyle and apparel brand, later producing its wide range of beers and spirits in a substantial warehouse and venue on Marine Terrace.
The news follows a spate of voluntary administrations in the last year, with Brisbane-based Ballistic Beer Co doing so in January before being able to continue operating following investment from a new ownership group that was led by the team at Catchment. Tribe Breweries likewise appointed administrators in February and was rescued by a buyout proposal led by Kathmandu co-founder Jan Cameron's charity, the Elsie Cameron Foundation.
Running With Thieves, however, is the first of such administrations involving a WA brewery in recent years.
This article has been updated after speaking with the brewery.
