Vault City appoints former Northern Monk duo in senior roles

Scottish brewer Vault City has recruited two former Camden Town Brewery and Northern Monk executives in senior roles.

Martin Monro, formerly commercial director at Leeds’ Northern Monk and a sales manager at Camden, has joined Vault City as commercial director. He will sit on the company’s board of directors.

Luca Lorenzoni, previously a global director of sales at AB InBev, MD at Camden and most recently CEO at Northern Monk, has also been appointed as a part-time strategic advisor.

At Northern Monk, Monro and Lorenzoni helped “grow revenues from £3m to c£18m, launching the brand into supermarkets and on-trade national retailers for the first time”, Vault City said.

Their hires follow Vault City’s move to a new brewery capable of producing 10 million litres of beer per year.

Founded in Dundee in 2018, Vault City specialises in sour beers and other unusual styles, including milkshake IPAs and pastry stouts.

Its brews are currently available in Tesco, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose, and exported to over 20 countries.

Annual turnover passed the £5m mark this year, according to Vault City. Retail sales, meanwhile, grew 34.8%, to £1.4m [NIQ 52 w/e 20 April 2024].

“Vault City has established itself as a leader within its space,” said Monro. “The next challenge, and it’s one I’m very motivated by, is to grow the category and recruit more advocates. The potential is huge to serve our current audience and to recruit non-beer drinkers who appreciate cider, cocktails, wine and RTDs through accessible flavours.”

He added: “Not many breweries have the opportunity to pull from as many different people as Vault City.”

Lorenzoni, a 25-year beer industry veteran, said Vault City had “a tremendous opportunity to unlock by focusing on flavour”.

“To many people, variations of a lager or IPAs taste very similar, and it’s such a busy space,” he said. “Craft beer is saturated, but flavour itself is a blue ocean – very few people other than Vault City are playing with flavour in a distinctive, interesting way.”

Monro and Lorenzoni could help take Vault City “to the next level”, predicted founder Steven Smith-Hay.

“I watched the growth of brands like Northern Monk and Camden Town closely, and there’s so much we can learn from them,” he said, adding the brewer’s independence was “a huge part of the pitch” to the pair.

“We’re super agile and our team has the freedom to make our story happen, without being held back by opinions, process and bureaucracy,” he added.