# Hopsters

Nationally expanding brewery/restaurant featuring brew-your-own-beer experience

## Elevator pitch
As a craft brewery with a brew-your-own-beer experience, bar, and restaurant all under one roof, we give patrons a place they can enjoy on any occasion. Whether it's a birthday, corporate event, or a fun night out on the town, there's always a reason to come back to Hopsters. Since opening in 2013, we've grown to two locations, including an incredible new 6,000 sq ft Hopsters in Boston's Seaport District that earned $1.1M in Q1 of 2018.

- Canonical URL: https://wefunder.com/hopsters
- Entity ID: wefunder:company:12058
- Last updated: 2026-06-10T05:00:05Z
- Generated at: 2026-06-11T02:05:55Z

## Quick facts
- New Boston location filed $1.1M in Q1 2018 revenue while our original location does $1.3M in annual sales.
- Raised $1.3M from 713 Wefunder investors in 2017. 
- Corporate events with Google, HP, John Hancock, PWC, Vertex, GE, HubSpot, Harvard, and other large businesses can bring in more than $10k of revenue a night. 
- Our average gross margin is 75% across both locations.
- Net income of 20% and EBITDA of 30%+ in Boston, more than 5x as profitable as a standard restaurant. 
- Our prime Costs, Labor, & COGS run at 50%.
- Opened in January 2018, our 6,000 sq ft Boston location has the capacity for 180 people and boasts 12 kettle stations, a bar, brew hall, and a full-service restaurant and kitchen.
- Serving our own beer through our own taps has proved to highly profitable, as we have a 90% gross margin on all Hopsters–brewed beer served on-site.

## Active fundraises
- wefunder:fundraise:18661: 4(a)(6) successful (USD)
- wefunder:fundraise:7831: 4(a)(6) successful (USD)

## FAQ
1. **I'm new to Wefunder, how do I participate?**
   - We'll be giving you the opportunity to invest this weekend so we have not launched yet. Please visit the investor section on the site and that will give you the overview on how to invest. Once we are up and running you just hit the invest button and just follow the directions. Thanks Thomas.
2. **Lee, ideally what do you see as possibly the final business model for Hopsters? Would you like to franchise the concept, take the company public, by back all public shares including this offering, or another scenario? Do you see the "Waterfall" scenario as you describe at the ...**
   - Mark - Thanks for the questions - they give us the opportunity for greater clarity. It's most likely we will give control of Hopsters at 16 locations to an entity that can role out to a global audience. Projections show 17x your initial investment for that waterfall. With regards to the principle payback, 80% of what's left in the bank will go towards paying investors their principle. Once that principle is paid then investors will receive 20% of all available cash going fwd. If we meet our g...
3. **Could you talk a little bit about what you're seeing as far as it pertains to retention rates with customers?**
   - With regards to the brewpub, despite being in what has been describe as a B- location we have a significant restaurant and bar crowd of regulars and folks visiting from around Boston to try our house brewed beers. Several corporate clients host repeat events every year. We also receive a good amount of referrals from other company departments, e.g. someone in the IT department recommends the experience to their sales department. Individuals and small groups vary, some people have been back ov...
4. **Hey Lee! Never heard of some thing like this before and think it's a great concept! $1.2M and $1.4M this year is very impressive for a restaurant of your size! I have a few questions: First, when did you begin selling gift cards? How did you come up with the 50% redemption met...**
   - Thanks Josh - We started selling gift cards a month after opening and usually sell approximately 150K over the end of year holiday period. Historically approximately 50% of our gift cards are redeemed so we felt this was the best accounting method. Historically we have only recorded gift cards as a sale when they are redeemed, until then they are posted on the balance sheet as a liability. Moving forward we anticipate on bringing a portion of unclaimed gift cards into sales. As I boot strappe...
5. **Hi Lee, I've been looking at these type of investments for a while now and I have to admit I love your business model. And I happen to live on the otherside of the state(Adams) I happen to be a director for Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum and knowing a little bit about tourist...**
   - I expect that we will see significant tourist traffic at the Brew Pub in the Seaport, especially as beer tourism is exploding. However, we focus more on locals and Boston businesses as they engage in the beer brewing more.

## Team
- Karen Cooper (Founder/Owner)
- Christian Mosebach (Director of Brewing Operations)
- Lee Cooper (Founder)
- Todd Gregoire (Culinary Manager)
- Bryan White (Customer Brewing Manager)
- Tim Riordan (Beverage Director)
- Collin Dixon (Assistant Head Brewer)
- Geri Wiklund (General Manager)

## Recent posts
- Hopsters Opens Second Location (2018-01-13T00:32:50Z)

## Q&A
- Q: Hi, when does our gift card and SWAG come? It’s been a while since you closed the round....
- Q: Still haven't received a dime back, and it's been years. Will there be any update - last one was five months ago.
- Q: Weren't we supposed to receive a $100 gift certificate to visit the restaurant? 4 months since I invested and no update. Disappointing.
- Q: GIVE US AN UPDATE
- Q: I can’t help but notice that after the cash raising ended, so did communications....
- Q: what is the timeline on receiving the $100 gift card from the last funding round ?
- Q: In the Form C for this A4 offering the distribution schedule leaves out the A2 shares completely while naming all other shares. Is there a reason for this or does it need to be corrected?
- Q: Business Update: Order dated 10/27/2020 . HEARING HELD. AS MORE FULLY SET FORTH ON THE RECORD, HAVING CONSIDERED THE RESPONSES FILED BY THE DEBTOR AND THE UNITED STATES TRUSTEE, THE ARGUMENTS OF COUNSEL AT THE HEARING, AND THE PLEADINGS FILED IN THE WITHIN CASE, THE COURT FINDS CAUSE TO REMOVE THE DEBTOR AS DEBTOR IN POSSESSION INCLUDING GROSS MISMANAGEMENT OF THE AFFAIRS OF THE DEBTOR POSTPETITION, THE UNAUTHORIZED USE OF CASH COLLATERAL AND THE UNAUTHORIZED PAYMENT OF PREPETITION WAGES. PURSUANT TO SECTION 1185 OF THE CODE, THE DEBTOR SHALL NOT BE A DEBTOR IN POSSESSION. STEPHEN DARR, THE SUBCHAPTER V TRUSTEE, SHALL ASSUME THE ADDITIONAL DUTIES UNDER SECTION 1183(B)(5) OF THE CODE, INCLUDING THE OPERATION OF THE DEBTOR'S BUSINESS.
- Q: More than $2,000,000 raised for this company. Is there anyone on this site who's gotten paid at all by these people? Does anyone even come to WeFunder anymore? This is my third company going bust. One was honest (Balance), and this one joins N1CE as being, in my opinion, the opposite.
- Q: Update for those not aware. The company has filed bankruptcy.
- Q: Financial updates please?
- Q: 100% back up what Martin said on on the update page. The more time has passed the more I am led to believe this is a 100% scam operation on the part of Lee and Karen Cooper. Investors have been left with no response from the company, when investors inquire about updates they are banned by the owners/company, this round of funding was supposed to be for a Philly location which has very quietly dissapeared. All of this goes on while our fearless leaders are off traveling the world (with some new found money maybe?). Terrible company, do not put a dime into here if they try for another raise, and if you already did, we can be sorry together. Do a deep dive into some background and I am sure you will not like what you find.
- Q: I think it's fair to say we have all been scammed.  They're blocking investors on Twitter for asking for updates?  Come on now.  SEC & WeFunder should be taking note.
- Q: I see a lot of old and unanswered questions from previous investors here, that gives me pause. Two questions. What were your full year 2018 revenues and profits ? What amount has been distributed to investors (%) so far?
- Q: What's the valuation for this round? Any way we can get our previously invested amounts from the last round to reflect the current valuation on Wefunder? Keep up the good work, excited for Hopsters' future!