In Saint-Nazaire, the hand club sells its own beer after matches

Kraken Handball Nazairien is a very young club, but its licensees have ideas. To bring some money to the association, they collaborated with a local brewery and developed a beer, the Kraken Beer, which they will sell after the matches. The story goes back a few months, when it was necessary to think about inflating the club’s revenue, without the help of the town hall of Saint-Nazaire. Alexis Thomas is the vice-president of the club and he talks about the genesis of the project at the microphone of Emilie Plantard:

“We had asked for an exceptional subsidy which we were refused. From there, the idea of ​​making our beer germinated, because we realized that it was one of the most important items of expenditure. In fact, selling our own beers at the bar allows us to increase our margins and (allows) the club to earn money. We have to buy balls, shirts and we have to train our referees so part of this budget will be allocated to these investments necessary for the life of the club.

A unique beer

This beer reflects the image of the club, and it is even credited with the virtue of making people happy. 400 liters have already been brewed, according to Alexis Thomas. “We created our own recipe in partnership with the Bouyer brewery based on an existing beer and we added a small drop of rum and seawater to make a specific beer. We wanted an easy-to-drink beer, somewhat identified with the club’s universe, so seawater because we’re in Saint-Nazaire and the kraken is a sea animal. And rum to bring a touch of sugar and conviviality. It’s good, come and taste it!”

Solutions to make the club live

The club makes it a point of honor to seek as few grants as possible, so solutions had to be found. The preparation of this beer, an important item of expenditure during the meetings, appeared obvious. “We made the choice to have one of the cheapest licenses in France, it is 100 euros a year compared to the average handball license… between 170 and 200 euros. It is a financial choice which gives access everyone, including students, unemployed people or people who don’t want to spend a lot on a sports license. The costs are increasing and especially the cost of living of our licensees is increasing and our choice was not to increase the price of our licenses and to find annexes to generate cash. That’s where the beer solution came from, but we also sell sweatshirts to ensure the sustainability of the club.”

A highly regarded experience

This original and effective solution to cope with the increase in the operating costs of this small club and not to solicit more the 40 licensees, is “an inspiring reflection for other sports clubs”: “a handball club consumes jerseys, chasubles, etc. He needs cash to feed his bar fund, because these elements make the club live. It’s a very small budget, a few thousand euros per year and it’s easier for us to be an innovation laboratory so we want to be a source of inspiration, in any case. it’s a success for us since our licensees are happy and our opponents had the opportunity to taste the beer, too.”

Kraken Handball was born in 2019, it has only one team that plays in the departmental division (D4). Its beer is organic, the first official tasting will take place on Sunday January 29 after the match against Nort-sur-Erdre, at 11 a.m. To be consumed in moderation, of course!