Draft Wine Companies Free Flow And Gotham Project Open East Coast Hub To Boost Import Business

Wine-kegging companies Gotham Project and Free Flow Wines have teamed to open a new East Coast facility that they say will dramatically increase their output of premium imported wines-on-tap.

This week, Gotham and Free Flow—which together control nearly 70% of the burgeoning wine-on-tap market—are opening the 12,000-square-foot Filling Station East in Bayonne, New Jersey. The new facility will give Free Flow and Gotham Project a coast-to-coast national platform with a dedicated fleet of 150,000 stainless steel kegs. The facility is strategically located to service the key imported wine markets along the East Coast.

“This will have a profound impact on increased availability of imported wines on tap,” Gotham Project co-founder and managing partner Bruce Schneider told SND. Jordan Kivelstadt, founder of Free Flow Wines, added, “There is a huge demand for wine-on-tap nationwide and the Filling Station East will allow us to continue to accelerate adoption of the fastest-growing on-premise wine format.”

With Free Flow and Gotham Project spearheading the category over the past seven years, draft wine has been steadily expanding its presence in the on-premise market, driven by domestic offerings. Free Flow, which distributes more than 250 wine brands in kegs nationwide, also operates a 25,000-square-foot headquarters in Napa. Gotham Project, based in New Jersey, has been distributing to about 30 states. Overall, the wine-on-tap market in the U.S. is expected to top 300,000 kegs (or about 650,000 nine-liter cases) in 2017 after exponential growth over the past few years. —Daniel Marsteller

Tagged : Free Flow Wines, Gotham Project

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