Founders buying back Squatters and Wasatch locations

The Squatters location on Park Avenue in Park City. Photo: Squatters Craft Beer

PARK CITY, Utah — PRC Restaurant Group, which is co-owned by Squatters Brewery founders Peter Cole and Jeff Polychronis, is acquiring the six Squatters and Wasatch Brewing locations in Salt Lake and Park City after an acquisition by Monster Beverage Corporation left them in limbo.

In January, Monster bought Colorado-based CANarchy Craft Brewery Collective, which includes both brands. However, the deal did not include the restaurants, just the beers.

“Peter and I have known for some time that that was a possibility there for that to happen because the focus of CANarchy was purely in breweries and not in restaurants,” Polychronis told The Salt Lake Tribune. “So we talked to them a while back. There was moderate interest. Once they decided to do this deal with Monster, they became more motivated to do something with the restaurants as well.”

The co-owners created an investment group that included Sentry Financial and individual investors in Salt Lake City and Park City and began negotiations in December. They officially announced that they are buying the parent company of the restaurants — Salt Lake Brewing Company — on Thursday.

The deal involves both the Squatters and Wasatch Brewery in Park City, the downtown Salt Lake City Squatters location, and Wasatch’s Sugarhouse brewpub.

The West Side Tavern at 1763 S. 300 West is not included in the deal.

Wasatch Brewery, founded in 1986, is Utah’s oldest microbrewery.

Cole and Polychronis founded Squatters in 1989. The two sold Salt Lake Brewing Company to CANarchy in 2012, so it has officially come full circle.

“We didn’t want [the locations] to go away, or for them not to be what they are, so we thought we were the best people to do this,” Polychronis told the Tribune.

“Squatters and Wasastch have both historically been very community oriented, both in Park City and in Salt Lake City. I think maybe that’s gotten lost a little bit over the last few years with out-of-state ownership and big corporate ownership. So we’re committing to get back to our roots and continue our community involvement and make this truly a local company again.”