Plain City brewery closes after former employee steals $200,000

David Rees
·2 min read
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Watch a previous NBC4 report on Lyle Bigelow and 1487 Brewery in the video player above.

PLAIN CITY, Ohio (WCMH) — A central Ohio brewery has closed after its former chief operating officer pleaded guilty to stealing more than $200,000 from the company.

1487 Brewery at 7620 Industrial Parkway in Plain City permanently closed on Feb. 4, the company shared on its website and social media pages. Owner Ben King, who opened the location in 2020 after kickstarting the business in 2015, said “due to unforeseen circumstances, our timing was awful.”

<em>1487 Brewery at 7620 Industrial Parkway in Plain City permanently closed on Feb. 4 (Courtesy Photo/1487 Brewery) </em>
1487 Brewery at 7620 Industrial Parkway in Plain City permanently closed on Feb. 4 (Courtesy Photo/1487 Brewery)

“The 1487 Team has truly enjoyed serving you and being a part of our community since 2020 in Plain City,” the social media post states. “While it is a sad time, we are choosing to celebrate, as it has been a great journey.”

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The business had been listed for sale for $1.8 million after 42-year-old Lyle Bigelow, the company’s former COO, pleaded guilty to aggravated theft in Union County Common Pleas Court in October 2023. Bigelow was sentenced in December to two-and-half years in prison and was ordered to pay more than $107,000 in restitution to 1487, the amount of loss not covered by the company’s insurance.

Bigelow joined the brewery in 2020 as a line cook and was soon promoted to the restaurant’s executive chef. In March 2021, he rose to director of operations before taking over as COO in May 2022, in which he was in control of payroll.

Bigelow stole about $207,000 from the brewery over 18 months by directing payroll to himself through fake employees and using the company credit card to make personal purchases, according to Union County Prosecuting Attorney David Phillips. It wasn’t until King discovered the unauthorized payments in October of 2022 that investigators were able to uncover Bigelow’s theft.

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Although sales were up 18% last year and the full staff was still in place, King told Columbus Business First that the brewery wasn’t able to rebound from the months of mismanagement.

“We were only down because of the fraud,” he said. “We started to build up some reserves this year, but because of the environment out there, we’ve already gone through them.”

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