(Photo by Jake Williams)
Less than a half decade after opening its first taproom inside Lincoln Square Mall in Urbana, Cloud Mountain Kombucha is plotting an expansion.
The kombucha company, which started operating in 2021, is asking members of the community to help fund $25,000 to pay for a move and expansion to a new brewery and taproom at 208 W Griggs Street in Urbana — the same building currently home to 25 O’Clock Brewing Company and Baldarotta’s Porketta & Sicilian Sausage.
“[We are] moving to a new kombucha brewery and taproom,” the company said on its Kickstarter page. “This will help us reach new audiences and ensure that everyone has access to a local, non-alcoholic product that all can enjoy.”
The company said its Kickstarter funds will assist in setting up the “ideal brewery” to increase production capacity, and also provide a nonalcoholic brewery environment for all ages.
The Kickstarter launched April 4, and has raised just over $2,500 at the time of publication. The Kickstarter is an “all or nothing” fundraiser, meaning the project will only be funded if it reaches its $25,000 goal by Sunday, May 4.
Like most Kickstarter efforts, Cloud Mountain is offering rewards to backers — ranging from a sticker for those who commit $5, all the way to a kegerator and keg full of kombucha for $4,000. In other tiers, the company is offering coasters, keychains, pint glasses, patches, stainless steel cups, travel mugs, t-shirts, kombucha kits, tickets to its opening night party, wood totes and private parties.
Beginning in October 2021, Cloud Mountain has quickly spread its flavors and distribution across Champaign County. At their current location in Lincoln Square Mall, the company has more than a dozen rotating flavors on tap, including a Nitro Cold Brew Kombucha using roasted coffee beans from Elm City Roastery (which opened an Urbana cafe late last year). To produce the kombucha, the company sources ingredients locally, including from vendors at the Urbana Market at the Square, the Walnut Street Tea Company, Delight Flower Farm and Sola Gratia.
In addition to their current location, Cloud Mountain is on draft at several bars, restaurants and breweries across the area, and available in bottles at a number of retail locations as well.
The company’s three owners — Aimee Baumgartner, Andrew Baumgartner and Kyle Schwenk — bring varied experience to the kombucha brewery. Schwenk has experience as a brewer and artist, while the Baumgartners bring experience in the business world to the table.
“Despite our diverse skills, what truly unites us is our shared passion for family, friends, nature, art, music, and, of course, kombucha,” the company said in the Kickstarter listing. “These common interests not only inspire us individually but also foster a strong sense of community and togetherness within our team, the local businesses we are proud to work with and the customers who come into our taproom.”
The kombucha brewery is not the only Champaign-Urbana food and drink spot to rely on Kickstarter for an influx of capital to fund expansion or growth. Hot sauce company The Weird Meat Boyz kickstarter more than $30,000 to help pay for its growth from the kitchen at Collective Pour into a full-service restaurant and music venue, The Space. Caribbean Grill food truck fundraised more than $10,000 on Kickstarter to open in 2015.
Jake Williams is a journalist, editor and publisher, as well as the CEO of the Illini Media Company.