The LEDA grant will help aid in the expansion to a new 45,000-square-foot space in Deming, about an hour south of Silver City where Little Toad Creek Brewery Distillery currently operates. (Courtesy of Little Toad Creek Brewery & Distillery)
The state has pledged $200,000 in Local Economic Development Act funds to Silver City-based Little Toad Creek Brewery & Distillery for the company’s expansion into a larger space in Deming and the hiring of an additional 21 employees over the next three years.
It is the second LEDA grant awarded to Little Toad Creek, the first coming in 2016.
“This is a great partnership for the state to leverage its LEDA fund to create jobs in a business led by a local family that wants to stay in Luna County and invest in their own community,” New Mexico Economic Development Department Secretary Alicia J. Keyes said in a statement. “The Little Toad expansion will allow them to expand production and create steady year-round jobs in an area with the highest unemployment rate in the state.”
Little Toad Creek, owned by Silver City couple Teresa Dahl-Bredine and David Crosley, will move its operations about an hour south to a 45,000-square-foot manufacturing space in Deming. The additional square footage encompasses two industrial metal buildings that can house a distillery and will allow for new stills for producing base spirits and the company’s canned line “Mixed Up Mule,” which has seen an increase in sales at more than 100 grocery stores in New Mexico, Colorado and Texas. The expansion will grow the amount of canned drinks the company can process to 300 cans a minute, and grow Little Toad Creek’s product offerings to additional western states.
The expanded space may also open up the opportunity to contract with other distilleries across the region that don’t have canning facilities.
The company, which got its start out of a garage in 2012 and also has a location in Las Cruces, will likely expand into the new space in Deming in October after some renovations are completed. The company plans to invest nearly $5 million of its own money towards the expansion, according to the state.
“The state support is a big boost; this is an expensive endeavor with a lot of capital,” Dahl-Bredine said. “With LEDA we can move forward with more certainty and bring on the needed employees faster.”
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