Remember when you were in middle school and you kept outgrowing your clothes every three months, driving your mother crazy, costing her zillions of dollars?

That’s kind of where we are with Cape Beverage. We opened our new digs in Egg Harbor Township about a year ago, and we’ve already outgrown them, causing us to expand into a new building up the street.

So, we got together with Justin Vitti, just coming off his promotion to General Manager of Cape Beverage, to get the lowdown.

“We ran out of space three years too soon,” Justin says.

It’s true. When we opened the new space in Egg Harbor Township last year, we were one year into our five-year plan, and our current digs were expected to last that long.

Not so much.

“We originally anticipated that we’d have enough space for three years,” he says. “After the first year, we exceeded the three-year number in one year.”

Due to the expansion of production space at Cape May Brew Co, as well as losing some additional overflow space at the Airport, our three-year plan quickly became a one-year plan.

“We needed more space, and we needed more space quickly,” Justin says.

And, frankly, we were incredibly lucky to find the space we did, so close to our home turf, and so completely perfect for our needs.

“It was enough space to fulfill storage needs for Cape May Brewing Company and Cape Beverage,” Justin says. “Brandon was looking for 5,000 square feet of space for aluminum can storage; we were looking for about 12,000 square feet for Cape Beverage. We found a building that was 19,000 square feet. It fit perfectly what we were looking for.”

The new building was originally purposed as a distribution center, so it already had a lot of the things we were looking for.

“It has six loading docks, all numbered, so we’ll be able to set appointment times a bit more efficiently,” he says. “We have dedicated locations for incoming shipments for materials, so they have a clear access point to the dry side from the cold side.” 

And it doesn’t hurt that it’s in Absecon, less than five minutes from our current location in Egg Harbor Township.

“As we service the entire state of New Jersey, our location at the intersection of the Parkway and the Expressway is ideal for ease of access to the brewery,” Justin says. “It was easier to get inbound shipments, as well. Instead of a truck having to go all the way down to Cape May, they can go right here. It was ease of access for us.”

Also, the original move to Egg Harbor Township was out of necessity — there simply isn’t any available commercial space in Cape May County.

“There was nowhere near the brewery where we could have extra space, so we had to go to Atlantic County,” Justin says. 

The building on Mill Road is a lot of extra space. We asked Justin to quantify 19,000 square feet in terms of beer.

“We use the calculation of about six barrels of beer per square foot,” he says, using a formula that would have caused us to pay a lot more attention in high school math class. “That works out to about 83 cases of beer per square foot.”

So, we’ll be installing a 9,000 square-foot cooler in the coming days — enough room for approximately 745,000 cases of sweet Cape May nectar.

That’s many beers. (Insert Homer Simpson drooling sound.)

“Plus, we have the current facility,” Justin reminds us. “That’s 4,300 square feet.” (Or 356,900 cases of beer. This should be everyone’s new measurement for everything. “How big is the new house?” “Oh, about 1,700 square feet.” “No, no. You mean 141,100 cases of beer.”)

Regardless, while we still have some work to get done at the new facility, but, of course, there were a few regulatory hurdles that had to be addressed before we begin.

“We have all of the paperwork done — all of the plans and drawings are submitted to the City of Absecon,” Justin tells us. “Once we have all of the permits, we can begin the construction of the cooler, the adjustments of the sprinkler system, adjustments to the cooler, the HVAC and electric.”

We’re looking to having this new space up and running by the beginning to middle of May.

Essentially, Justin says, the building will consist of “a big shiny box.

“The cooler that we’re building will be larger than the entire building where we’re currently based,” he says. “If you’ve ever been to the production facility on Breakwater, the new cooler is the size of the production floor.”

Es big. Big, big.

And it’s built to grow.

“All of the equipment we purchased for this cooler is made to be built upon,” he says. “So, even though it’s in a cooler right now, we can add condensing units and evaporator coils and refrigerate an entire building with the equipment that we have. So, we’re already thinking of next steps.”

Justin likes the fact that we’re using a number of local companies to get this space up and running.

“We purchased the cooler from a local company,” he says. “We used a mom-and-pop, New Jersey-based business to do the installation. We’re using a local company to hook it up and do the electrical work, so we’re trying to keep it local as much as possible.”

Ultimately, this larger space means more efficiencies, more inventory, and more beer in your hands, faster.

“We are able to be more efficient with our supply chain,” Justin says. “The space for aluminum cans allows us to order larger quantities upfront and not worry about can shortages.”

As you may know, beverage manufacturers worldwide have been dealing with a shortage of aluminum. No aluminum, no cans. No cans, and you’d have to go to a bar and hold your mouth open under a tap in order to drink our beer. (Dream come true…?)

“As far as the product coming in, since we want to keep everything cold, it’s cold storage for all products,” Justin explains. “So, we can order larger quantities of product coming in, limiting out-of-stocks, risking accelerated rates of sale. We have the ability to make sure we have the product for our fans.”

Furthermore, the additional space allows us the opportunity to hire three more folks in the warehouse, creating an overnight shift to prepare shipments for the following day.

“That will go into effect when the new space comes online,” Justin prognosticates. “This limits the amount of time we have people standing around in the mornings because everything will be done the night before. They come in, they get in their trucks, and they go.”

We’ll have fourteen trucks on the road at the peak of the season this year, so getting them on the road faster is a significant improvement.

“Getting fourteen trucks loaded in the morning is going to be very difficult if it’s not prepared the night before,” Justin says.

We’re really excited about this expansion. Not only is it more space for our beers, but we’ll also be able to bring on so many new brands for Cape Beverage — we won’t be filling that space entirely with Cape May beers.

We’ll have more news as we expand, so watch this space!