The craft beer industry grew 17% financially in 2012. Due to this extreme growth in the industry, there are numerous draft beer storage options and they must be put at a certain temperature to maintain their integrity. Because coolers are expensive to build and maintain, many distributors find it hard to accommodate additional varieties of beer within limited space in their keg cooler. But our ActivRAC Industrial mobile storage system can work with your limited space to still allow you to carry wide varieties of beer! And, who doesn’t love lots of beer?
Typical Number of total beverage SKUs per distributor:
| Year | # of SKU’s |
| 1996 | 190 |
| 2003 | 200 |
| 2007 | 262 |
| 2009 | 470 |
| 2011 | 535.5 |
| 2013 | 656.5 |
Say that a distributor has a keg cooler approximately 2,200 square feet in size. The initial cost to construct this space would be (based on an average of $200/square foot) about $440,000.
Using a calculation of a 12-month rolling average of $0.1022 per kilowatt hour, which, according to the Energy Information Administration, is the average cost in the United States for commercial electricity, we can estimate a cost of about $32,000/year in operational costs for this size cooler.
Now, within this space you can fit about 1,700 standard size kegs, housed on industrial static racking. Each keg may be worth anywhere from $75 – $185 based on the brand. For our purposes lets average the cost per keg at $150. So your 2200 square foot cooler can house approximately $255,000 worth of product at any given time.
If you wanted to double your capacity by increasing the size of your warehouse, you would need to estimate an additional cost of $440,000 to build the space and then upwards of $64,000/year to operate. The cost of additional racking must be considered as well. (For standard selective rack, one of the least expensive rack options, it costs about $50 to $75 per pallet position, according to “Rules of Thumb,” a pricing guide published by TranSystems).
Your maximum inventory levels can increase to 3,400 kegs (valued at $510,000).
Now, imagine you could take your existing racking and compact it, eliminating idle aisles and doubling capacity in your current space. There is no added construction costs, and operational costs remain steady at $32,000/year. Cost of additional racking and mobile systems would need to be considered, but in the end you are bringing inventory value up to $510,000, without spending $440,000 on expansion and keeping operational costs in line.This hypothesis can turn into your reality by investing in the McMurray Stern ActivRAC Industrial mobile shelving by Spacesaver. Check out the video below to visualize how much space our Industrial ActivRAC can save your company. The ActivRAC mobile system can quickly increase your bottom line by reclaiming valuable floor space and making room for revenue generating activities. Isn’t it time for your company to grow and maximize capabilities?Learn More Now about