Employees of a $1 million Rogersville meadery that failed last year before it started are making their own attempt to commercially produce mead, this time in Buffalo.
The trio of Todd Rock, Andrew Steiger and Jhett Collins are putting into motion a business plan for Leaky Roof Meadery on an acre in Buffalo owned by Rock’s parents, the owners and financial backers of the mead startup. The three were laid off in early November, when their employers at Hellbender Meadery were charged with synthetic drug distribution and hit the brakes on 11 months of planning and development in rural Rogersville.
“We were literally within a week of opening at Hellbender,” said Rock, the head mead maker on both projects. “There are 40,000 pounds of honey out there sitting on that hill.”
With a critical Department of Natural Resources wastewater permit not yet in hand, Hellbender Meadery organizers hadn’t received clearance to commercially produce the honey-based alcoholic beverage when authorities went after the company’s assets.
Seven months ago, Hellbender co-owners and siblings Brandon and Caitlyn Franklin were indicted in a widespread investigation of K2 distribution across the Ozarks. A federal attorney and investigators alleged 21 people were involved in illegal sales at 13 retail outlets and other businesses, including the Franklin’s company, ThirdEye, according to the 15-count grand jury indictment handed down following investigations by local, state and federal law enforcement. The Franklins, along with their father, Douglas, were indicted Nov. 6 for an alleged $6.7 million mail fraud scheme to sell a product called Kryp2nite.
“We were laid off on Nov. 9,” Rock said. “We were not given our last paycheck. Their mother told us they were closing up shop.”
Rock said as an employee he had discovered the Franklin’s previous revenue stream but determined with a staff accountant it had no bearing on Hellbender’s business plan.
“I just kind of left it at that,” he said. “There’s been no legal issues with Hellbender Meadery. It’s the Franklins, their previous business and what the federal government determined was traceable back to that business, which included all of their property and capital.”
After four months of silence, Rock said the Franklins called with an offer to rehire the mead makers. Rock said he asked for the full business plan, including the financials, to restart the project. “They never got back to me with their answers,” Rock said, noting he offered to buy the Hellbender equipment, but the Franklins turned him down and suggested they were moving forward with their meadery plans.
Caitlyn Franklin did not return calls for comment by press time.
U.S. Attorney spokesman Don Ledford said the Franklins, who have been released on bond, are scheduled for a Feb. 18 jury trial in Springfield.
After the abrupt dismissal, Rock said his wheels got turning.
“I was sitting there unemployed and decided I’d like to write a business plan, almost as an intellectual exercise,” said Rock, noting he and Steiger have worked in the meantime handling packaging for Springfield’s White River Brewing Co.
Rock said when the contractors and suppliers involved with Hellbender caught wind of his plan, they nudged him to go out on his own.
Without an interest in ownership among the three colleagues, Rock said his parents, who live in New Jersey, reviewed the plan and offered to bankroll the meadery with $250,000 for startup. David Rock, a research and development vice president for a livestock pharmaceutical company, and his wife, Sandra, who runs an accounting practice and is a former bank vice president, are approaching retirement and have purchased a farm in California, Mo.
“I certainly didn’t see myself working with my parents six months down the road,” Rock said. “Sometimes, I wake up in the middle of the night and think, ‘Oh my God, I’m playing with how much of my parent’s money?’”
The next steps in the Leaky Roof business plan are to close on a $500,000 loan through Liberty Bank, scheduled at the end of June, and to receive a federal permit, which is expected in three to four months.
On the highway commercial-zoned property about 40 miles north of Springfield, construction is underway for a 6,400-square-foot manufacturing facility and taproom. Rock said general contractor Bermel Corp. is expected to wrap up by August and production would begin in October.
Once the loan is locked in, the group plans to purchase nine fermenting tanks, about 500 gallons apiece.
Rock, who worked a stint as packaging manager at Mother’s Brewing Co. and has completed the master brewers program at the University of California-Davis, said he strategically ratcheted down the barrelage from the Hellbender plan, which called for 10,000 barrels in the first year. Leaky Roof is capping its mead barrelage at 4,500 in 2014 to take advantage of a small winery federal tax credit and reinvest the excise tax savings into operations.
Leaky Roof is working with three distributors to target markets in the Springfield area, through Wil Fischer Distributing Co.; Lake of the Ozarks and Joplin, through Missouri Eagle LLC; and into Arkansas, through Glidewell Distributing Co. The carbonated meads – from dry to sweet – will roll out in cans and draft. Steiger, Leaky Roof’s general manager, said hard cider is the closest equivalent on the market.
Leaky Roof and Hellbender are among three Missouri meaderies with membership in the American Mead Makers Association; the other is Bias Vineyards in Berger along the Missouri River. The Washington-based group claims more than 160 members nationwide, according to
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