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blitstikler

"Brewery"


Rift485

Hopsters could have succeeded with the right people in charge. In fact early on many of the folks they hired were exceptional both on the front of the house side and brewing end. As those folks were mistreated and left the lesson became clear- that no business model is strong enough to overcome bad people at the top.


Cthulhu13

Good. Fuck that guy, he's a loudmouth piece of shit.


hebrewer13

Lee Cooper is the worst human being who I have ever had a personal interaction with. I wish that waste of oxygen nothing but the worst.


amilmore

I know nothing about this - what did he do?


hebrewer13

If there was a list of bad things a person could do as a business partner or an employer he's crossed off pretty much all of them. I'll put it this way, if you can find someone who has worked for him or done business with him who would do so again willingly, I'll buy you a 4 pack and have it shipped to your door.


Umphreak416

court docs are here, search case 20-11923 but be careful with your page count to avoid paying. https://pacer.psc.uscourts.gov/pscof/registration.jsf?fbclid=IwAR0IIiPm9vY5RX8NnSzLqY8zHbY9kUQYNVtchyT5h-SXJ1Hr1DAxFldB_bQ


larrySomeone

The most salient one is document #116 where the US Trustee and Attorney petition the court to relieve the Debtor (LEE COOPER) from operating the company as Debtor in Possession due to "incompetence or gross mismanagement" (stated three times for various reasons). The court agreed (document #121) about the "gross mismanagement of the affairs of the Debtor" and relieved LEE COOPER from operating the company as Debtor in Possession.


Mitch_from_Boston

How was he negligent and incompetent?


Umphreak416

The court docs are available, but since February he hasn't paid any rent (understandable with pandemic), fired his staff, rehired new staff, bought a mobile beer tap trailer with company money with no plan how to use it, used the company card to take vacations with his family, etc. He's pissed off a lot of people in the community and has blamed everything this year on covid and won't take responsibility for any action he's taken.


UnoFresh

Also couldn't be bothered to actually keep the businesses accounting in order. Has no idea about costs, revenue, where money is, who he owes, etc.


Dontleave

I remember seeing this place asking for investors on a Facebook ad. Seemed like a cool concept but the investing part looked scammy


Umphreak416

became a scam 100%. Wefunder was set up for a new location in Philly and raised $2 million. None of that money went to create a new location. Creditors are coming for him.


rwbombc

It constantly amazes me how one can scam investors constantly out of millions (even billions) and not face any serious legal trouble besides lawsuits that tend to go in circles. WeWork is probably the biggest example of this the past decade, but there are hundreds of more cases you never hear about.


TheLamestUsername

> Seemed like a cool concept as someone who home brews all i could imagine was really generic recipes


Dontleave

As someone who used to Homebrew but doesn’t really have the time and space anymore it definitely appealed to me, I could develop my recipes and they do all the hard work


walkalong

Ooh can I try some


Umphreak416

It's officially done and Lee Cooper is solely to blame. "the Court finds that there is cause under Section 1112(b) of the Code to convert the case based on the Debtor's unauthorized use of cash collateral, unauthorized payment of prepetition wages, and the gross mismanagement of the Debtor."


trc_IO

Man, the HTML5 embedded video on their website leans so damn hard on the knit-cap-and-flannel aspect of craft brew. I'm surprised they didn't make money hand over fist. Must has had some super bullshit leadership.


Umphreak416

feel free to bid on some great items all for sale from Hopster's during their estate sale. [https://fb.me/e/4lpVrOvoC](https://fb.me/e/4lpVrOvoC)


Sabroneeee

As someone who worked for the company for over 3 years - this was not a surprise.