The company confirmed this week that it will move to what executives describe as a “horizontal production model,” outsourcing the manufacturing of its entire alcohol portfolio - including JuneShine Hard Kombucha, JuneShine Spirits ready-to-drink cocktails, and the Willie’s Remedy+ THC beverage line - to third-party producers.
In a statement announcing the change, JuneShine framed the move as a strategic “operational realignment” intended to “maximize efficiencies, bolster profitability and accelerate long-term growth.” The company also described the shift as a way to insulate itself from the “logistical complexities of large-scale internal manufacturing.” But the change represents a sharp departure from the San Diego production identity JuneShine promoted heavily during its early years.
Founded in 2018 by Gregory Serrao and Forrest Dein, the company began as a small hard kombucha brewery operating inside the Brewery Igniter facility on El Cajon Boulevard in North Park. From the beginning, JuneShine positioned itself as a lifestyle-driven alcohol brand rooted in San Diego’s surf and outdoor culture, promoting its beverages as organic, health-conscious alternatives to beer.
The brand expanded aggressively almost immediately. In 2019, JuneShine took over the 24,000-square-foot former headquarters of Ballast Point Brewing Company at 10051 Old Grove Road in Scripps Ranch. The facility, once a symbol of San Diego’s craft beer boom, dramatically increased JuneShine’s production capacity and signaled ambitions to scale the kombucha brand nationwide.
At the same time, the company pursued retail expansion. In 2020, JuneShine announced plans to relocate its North Park tasting room into a 2,000-square-foot space at The Jackson, a mixed-use development on 30th Street that was expected to house a modern indoor-outdoor tasting room with private event space and a 600-square-foot patio. While the company eventually left its original Brewery Igniter location, the highly promoted North Park tasting room never ultimately opened.
The company continued expanding its footprint in 2022, announcing plans to enter the ready-to-drink cocktail market with the launch of JuneShine Spirits. To support the new product line, the company took over a nearly 10,000-square-foot industrial building in Poway previously occupied by The California Spirits Company.
At the time, JuneShine’s strategy appeared centered on building out its own brewing and production infrastructure. The newly announced outsourcing model represents a dramatic reversal of that approach.
Rather than producing beverages locally using its own brewing facilities and staff, JuneShine will now rely entirely on contract manufacturing partners. Company leadership says the shift allows the business to focus more on product development and brand growth rather than operating production facilities.
“This realignment allows us to be a more agile and effective partner,” co-founder Forrest Dein said in a prepared statement.
The company also pointed to the launch of its Willie’s Remedy+ THC beverage line, created in partnership with musician Willie Nelson, as an example of where it intends to focus its future energy.
But the operational shift comes with clear local consequences. According to the company, 24 employees will be affected by the closure of brewing operations. JuneShine said those workers were given 90 days’ advance notice and offered severance packages as well as career placement assistance through the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
The decision also means the end of brewing operations at the Scripps Ranch facility that JuneShine acquired just seven years ago during its early expansion. The company confirmed to SanDiegoVille that the property is now being put up for sale.
The restructuring arrives at a moment when the once-hyped hard kombucha category faces growing pressure from an increasingly crowded ready-to-drink beverage market. Hard seltzers, canned cocktails, functional drinks, and hemp-derived beverages now compete for the same consumer base that hard kombucha once appeared poised to dominate.
JuneShine’s pivot toward outsourcing reflects a broader trend in the beverage industry, where companies increasingly focus on marketing, distribution, and brand development while leaving the capital-intensive work of brewing and production to contract partners.
Still, the shift underscores how dramatically the company’s trajectory has changed since its early days. Just a few years ago, JuneShine was rapidly acquiring facilities and positioning itself as one of San Diego’s fastest-growing craft beverage startups. Today, the same brewing infrastructure that once symbolized the brand’s growth is being dismantled.
JuneShine’s former production facility is located at 10051 Old Grove Road in San Diego’s Scripps Ranch community. The company says it will continue distributing its beverages through third-party production partners moving forward.
Originally published on March 12, 2026.