David Klingenberger
CFO: Chief Fermenting Officer
Founder and CFO (Chief Fermenting Officer) of the Brinery, David’s life is a ballad of land and sea. His love of fermentation began in the fertile fields of Southeastern Michigan's own Tantré Farm, where as a young man at the turn of the century (1999), he preserved an abundance of cabbage with his first ever batch of sauerkraut. Passing many years in Tantré furrows, as well as sailing between growing seasons, David eventually founded the Brinery in the summer of 2010. As a business owner, David embraces the connection between good health and fermentation, a sailor guiding his probiotic business ship though the seas and guts of others. He is proud to provide nourishment for the community with traditionally fermented foods.
Emily
Line Supervisor
A fun lady with a food love of baby carrots and cookies, our production supervisor Emily Katz’s true loves are her wife Camille and their children Rosco (dog) and Mija (cat). After Kalamazoo College, she honed her cabbage knife in Ann Arbor restaurants where she came across Andrew, who encouraged her to come along to help grow the Brinery. We’re glad he did because she is the detail-oriented jarring extraordinaire whose meticulous record keeping tracks every shred of krauty data.
Kevin
Operations Manager
Truly the cabbage counter, Kevin manages the company books and keeps the ship afloat. His most important job is making sure people get paid, whether they be employees, farmers, or the brine wizards. After a gentleman’s batch of kimchi made with David in 2007, he got his sea legs in 2011, and climbed aboard as an official shipmate in 2012. Since then, Kevin has been instrumental in helping the Brinery navigate the briney seas in search of sustainable growth and good fortune.
Ellie
Sales Manager
Meet Ellie, the newest "saler" of the crew. She came to us by way of far-off ports such as Colorado, LA, and Hawaii. Her focus is to see that our briney delights enjoy safe passage from our production facility to your gut. Coming aboard with a steamer trunk of experience in customer relations and data driven planning, she's helping us to trim our sales and keep the ship on course. Her experience as a farmer and plant based cook led her to the wild world of fermentation and ultimately back to Michigan to the doors of The Brinery.