The brewery Tru Colors, which hires active gang members in an attempt to curb street crime, has released its first beer after huge setbacks.
The Wilmington brewery in North Carolina, which was founded in 2017 with 80% of employees being gang members, has reportedly tackled delays such as Hurricane Ida, the pandemic and staff killings since its launch.
Tru Colors’ business model, to employ active gang members, sounds contentious but the brewery insists that its social mission to rein in street violence remains committed to its cause, despite drawing much criticism from families and law enforcement, according to reports from WHQR.
Tru Colors founder George Taylor said: “We thought an economic opportunity would stop the violence” and explained that the brewery was founded following the shooting and death of 16-year-old Shane Simpson which set him on a path to start dealing with gang violence issues by building a company that would give gang members alternative career and success opportunities.
However, the company faced several tragedies – including the gang-related killing of 18-year-old Zalleux Johnson in Creekwood in February 2019. The death of Johnson, who was a friend of several Tru Colors employees, reportedly affected team spirit and his death triggered a big corporate reorganisation. Some lost faith in the mission, but it was alleged that Taylor said that the business model wouldn’t change, and forged ahead.
The company began to set up its brewery in an abandoned building on Greenfield Street in Wilmington before tragedy struck again in July 2021 when a gang-related shooting at the home of Taylor’s son – the company’s COO – George Taylor, III (known to staff as GT3) occured. The attack, which wounded one and killed two, including one of the Tru Colors leaders Kory Tyson, rocked the brewery once again.
What unfolded was a wave of public criticism for Tru Colors, but Taylor again said the business model wasn’t changing and yet the global pandemic and the resulting supply chain issues took their toll on the business giving it further reasons to close, but perserverance kept the plan in play – at least for a while.
In the meantime, Tru Colors also gained a assistance from brewing giant Miller Coors which reportedly invested in the company at the start of 2021 and helped the team through the knock-on effects of the pandemic. In the meantime, Tru Colors started to brew its beers in New Orleans to avoid further ssues until Hurricane Ida stopped it in its tracks.
“We started brewing down in New Orleans and everything was going wonderfully. We got it all dialed in. And the hurricane hit,” Taylor said, adding: “I called my pastor the next Monday, I say I’m just waiting for the locusts to appear. I’m pretty sure they’re coming”.
In the next month, Taylor gradually became able to pivot back to the Wilmington brewery and get back to work. Now, Tru Light, a 4.2%-ABV low calorie lager, has been launched onto store shelves and taps in the local area and the business is apparently thriving with its current team – a move that is attributed to the dedication of its members committed to the cause of brewing great beer no matter what happens in their lives.
According to Taylor, people need to understand that stopping gang violence isn’t helped by avoiding the issue or simply condemning its existence but actually by really understanding more about why conflicts arise as well as actively teaching and engaging people with varied skillsets to find new ways to gain pride. Additionally, you need to be selective about your team.
He explained: “If you believe the problem is economic, then you have two choices, you can hire every gang member in America, not practical. I mean, yeah, there’s, you know, too many gang members here in Wilmington for me to hire every one of them. Or you can hire those that you think have the most influence over stopping the violence on the street, and then teach them and grow them and raise them up. So they can have further influence on the gang members in the street. And that’s what we choose to do.”
Despite criticism, Taylor continues to say he has no plans to change his mission and with the launch of the Tru Light beer line, he could even be considering expansion and a brand resale for a brighter future for those involved.
“We started Tru Colors, to build a national brand and to have impact at scale on these issues that we care about,” he said, adding: “We always knew there’s going to come an inflection point probably in a couple of years, where we just don’t have the horsepower to take it to that next level,” hinting that, by then, the company is “going to be looking for somebody to step in in a larger way”.
