A beloved Plant City winery has hit the sales block.
Joe Keel is selling his 14-year-old business, which includes a cidery and the craft beer company Two Henrys Brewing Company. The asking price is $4.2 million.
Tampa-based merger and acquisition firm Washington Partners is handling the transaction.
Keel, 61, originally a blueberry farmer, started the company with help of his son, Clay Keel, in 2003 when he needed something to do with his end-of-crop blueberries. They started producing blueberry wine 10 gallons at a time. According to the winery’s website, more than 20,000 cases are produced annually, adding to a reported revenue of about $4 million per year.
Family members, including Clay and his brother Ryan Keel, also started Six Star Beverage Company in 2011 to help sell and distribute the company’s wines.
Since 2003, the enterprises have expanded steadily, including a 2012 collaboration with Cigar City
Brewing to produce hard ciders for the well-established Tampa brewers at the Keel & Curley facilities, Clay Keel said.
“I’d like to see it stay and maybe expand, but that’s on them. Making sure the people are taken care of is more important.”
— Joe Keel, owner of Keel & Curley Winery
Clay Keel used that experience to help convince his father to start an on-site brewing operation. In 2013, Two Henrys Brewing Company was born. Now brewing at Western New York Brewery 42 North, Clay Keel said he hopes to see the craft beer side of the business continue to be a focus for the next owner.
“It’s a neat thing (craft brewing) that’s going on all over the country,” Clay Keel said. “I’d like to see it be a thing that continues to be a part of that revolution.”
The idea of the brothers taking over the operation was discussed, but ultimately decided against, Clay Keel said.
“My brother and I have talked about it and talked about it with other people,” Clay Keel said. “It’s not on the horizon. It’s more than I’d be willing to take on.”
Both operations are a package deal, Joe Keel said. The properties will not be sold piecemeal.
Joe Keel said he isn’t disappointed his company won’t stay in the hands of the family. His sons have moved on to other companies and adventures in life.
“If they’re happy, I’m happy,” he said.
Joe Keel has some of his own adventures in mind. After working for himself since the age of 19, he is now ready to explore other passions. He plans to move to the Keys once the sale is complete.
“I’m a scuba diver,” Joe Keel said. “I want to volunteer down in the Florida Keys for reef restoration. I also would not be opposed to teaching or instructing diving.”
It’s been an idea for a few years, he said, and something he wants to do while he’s still young enough to enjoy it.
And though the family he is connected to by blood might have moved on, Joe Keel said he wants to see the business remain, at least in part, with the family he has forged there.
One of the few stipulations in any sales agreement would be the retention of general manager and store managers Sovino and Laurie Sterlacci, wine maker Omar Molina and brewer
Jacob Stills. He said he won’t let the business go unless they are there for at least an agreed upon period of time, calling the employees the heart of the business.
As for the company’s 35-plus acres of land valued at more than $2 million, Joe Keel is willing to sell it separately or rent it to the next owners. He’d even be willing to stay on to help train and transition, he said.
Staying in Plant City is a hope — but not requirement — once new ownership takes over.
“It’s a neat part of the community,” Clay Keel said. “It’s staple that brings commerce and people to the community.”
For Joe Keel, making sure his employees still have a place to work is more important.
“I’d like to see it stay and maybe expand, but that’s on them,” he said. “Making sure the people are taken care of is more important.”
Joe Keel hopes to have a buyer lined up by the end of the year.
Contact Daniel Figueroa IV at dfigueroa@plantcityobserver.com.