Iron Hill Brewery’s new owners want to bring regulars back with free beer and other perks

While Iron Hill Brewery mounts a post-bankruptcy comeback under new ownership, longtime brewpub fans aren’t able to get back their unused gift cards or “King of the Hill” loyalty points.

But executives of the resurrected chain say they want to make it right.

They’re trying to spread the word about a new loyalty program and other special offers, spokesperson Paul Furiga said. The new owners, which include cofounder Mark Edelson, are sending the information to about 140,000 brewery regulars via email, Furiga said.

The correspondence comes just days after the new Iron Hill team reopened the Center City location, one of five Pennsylvania and Delaware breweries set for revival, and seven months after the prior owners closed nearly 20 locations as part of the chain’s liquidation bankruptcy.

» READ MORE: Iron Hill Brewery reopened in Center City

Here’s what Iron Hill customers should know.

No.

The new owners said they weren’t able to recover the old gift card database when they took over, meaning they can’t verify card numbers, account balances, or cardholder information.

“Honoring unverified cards would open us to fraud and unsustainable financial exposure,” the Iron Hill team wrote.

No.

The new owners said they received incomplete data about members of the long-running “King of the Hill” club and the newer, app-based “Iron Circle” program.

Yes.

Customers who bring in an old gift card can get a free appetizer and a free pour of an Iron Hill signature beer. The new executives are calling it “a gesture of goodwill with a purpose.”

“It’s not a dollar-for-dollar replacement” of unused gift cards, they wrote. But “it’s an invitation to rebuild the relationship.”

In the new loyalty program, former “King of the Hill” members get 200 complimentary points, according to the team, while members of “Iron Circle” — which launched last year — get 100.

The new loyalty program, Iron Insider, is a simpler and more modern version of the chain’s old program, according to the new owners.

The system will be integrated with an app, they say, and points will be tracked digitally, via phone or email, with no swiping of a physical card.

Iron Hill Brewery reopened on the 1100 block of Market Street in Center City on Sunday.

The same ownership group plans to reopen the Huntingdon Valley, Wilmington, Hershey, and Lancaster locations in the next few weeks. They did not acquire the leases for any other locations.

Elsewhere, former Iron Hills are awaiting new tenants. In Bucks County, P.J. Whelihan’s is set to open in the shell of an Iron Hill at the Village at Newtown shopping center sometime next month.

Iron Hill Brewery had amassed more than $20 million in debt, with only about $125,000 in the bank, when it filed for bankruptcy this fall.

The nearly 30-year-old company’s downfall came after a period of rapid growth that coincided with the pandemic’s upending of the restaurant industry.

In recent years, under a new private-equity owner, Iron Hill had expanded far beyond its Newark, Del., roots, opening outposts in South Carolina and Georgia, canning beer, and making plans for a Temple University restaurant that never opened.

Meanwhile, bankruptcy documents show that gross revenues at its restaurants were declining year over year. The restaurants now being revived were among the more successful locations, according to the documents.

None of the new owners had personal liability related to the bankruptcy. They said they hope to earn back the trust of previous Iron Hill customers.

“Iron Hill’s reopening under new ownership isn’t about erasing the past,” the new owners wrote. “It’s about honoring it, while building the future.”