COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – The companies behind an Italian Village brewery and kitchen are in an “irreconcilable deadlock” over the future of their business partnership.
Marengo-based Hoof Hearted Brewing and A&R Creative Group, which owns multiple bars across Columbus, joined forces to open Hoof Hearted Brewery and Kitchen on North Fourth Street in 2016. And while both parties agree the relationship has soured, they can’t agree on who is responsible.
Hoof Hearted Brewing and 2023 E – a company affiliated with A&R – have filed competing lawsuits against each other and both claim the other has violated their partnership agreement. Hoof Hearted Brewing has asked the Franklin County court to dissolve the partnership, which was formalized under the company name Hoof Hearted Brewpub.
The way A&R sees it, according to the 2023 E’s Oct. 5 complaint against the brewery, the companies agreed to reimburse each other for costs and “split equally” the profits. But A&R claims it invested hundreds of thousands of dollars into the brewery and kitchen operation that Hoof Hearted Brewing never paid back, including the cost of a rental truck to deliver beer, warehouse and canning space, and the brewery outfit in Italian Village.
Meanwhile, A&R claims, Hoof Hearted Brewing expanded its operations without giving A&R the opportunity to invest, in alleged violation of their agreement. A&R asserts their agreement clearly required an update to the cost- and profit-sharing formula should Hoof Hearted expand its Marengo operations.
“This tag-along option to invest in future growth was material to [A&R’s] willingness to invest in the partnership,” 2023 E’s complaint read.
Hoof Hearted’s complaint against A&R, filed six days later, describes the situation quite differently. To the brewery, A&R’s lawsuit was preemptive and “riddled with false allegations and misinterpretations” about Hoof Hearted’s conduct and the companies’ operations agreement.
The companies met in September 2023 to work through disagreements and modify the partnership, but Hoof Hearted claims A&R sued instead of mediating in good faith.
“What remains clear is that [Hoof Hearted] and 2023 E are now at an irreconcilable deadlock, rendering it impracticable to carry on the Company’s activities in conformity with the Operating Agreement.”
Hoof Hearted claims its relationship with A&R began to fall apart in late 2021, when the restaurant group began “utterly failing to fulfill its financial commitments.” The brewery claims A&R did not reimburse alcohol production costs and poorly managed the Italian Village location. Meanwhile, Hoof Hearted asserts, A&R began to invest in a competing brewery concept – Yellow Springs Brewery Taproom and Kitchen.
Both parties have denied the other’s allegations. Hoof Hearted said it never expanded operations beyond the limit outlined in the agreement, but that even if it did, the agreement did not require A&R be automatically looped in; rather, the expansion clauses in their agreement only applied to the joint venture.