LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) – Around 20 people are without a job after leadership with Zipline Brewing Company abruptly shut it down.
Zipline announced it was closing its taproom and beer lounge and ending brewing operations effective immediately on Thursday. The company said its restaurant, which is down the street from the AKRS Equipment headquarters, would stay open.
10/11 News spoke with six former employees after the decision was made, including former manager Meghan Munyon.
According to the employees, some of whom had been with the business for more than 10 years, their termination largely came as a surprise. The workday on Thursday started fairly normally, and a batch of beer was being brewed, they said.
“These are skilled labor positions that are no longer beingfulfilled by people who care about the community,” Munyon said.
One thing out of the ordinary was the amount of angry phone calls the business was getting, a manager told 10/11 News.
Several employees explained that on Wednesday evening, they were informed that an event scheduled at the beer lounge near 56th Street would be hosting Senators Pete Ricketts and Ted Cruz.
The news was upsetting to some employees, and others wondered how they could feasibly and safely fit everyone in the lounge. Despite frustrations, the employees came back to work Thursday— some with vague ideas to quit or protest the event, one manager clarified.
But suspicions arose when they were locked out of their business accounts around noon, the employees said. By 2 p.m., leadership with Zipline arrived at the tap room to let them know they were being let go.
One employee told 10/11 News the firing was so sudden that they had to pour out a batch of beer mid-brew.
Munyon said that the leadership with the company had had some discussions about selling the business, but others said the decision blindsided them.
A sign posted outside the brewery’s tap room gave notice of the closing and cited rising costs as the reason why.
“The brewing industry has faced tremendous headwinds since the pandemic, and those obstacles have only gotten harder as inflation and other rising expenses have squeezed our ability to produce world-class beers, at reasonable prices and still keep our lights on,” the sign read.
The brewery’s management transitioned toward the end of the pandemic, according to Munyon, and she said the culture changed going forward.
“It’s terrible knowing that the industry is struggling,” Munyon said.
A representative for AKRS Equipment said the business itself didn’t own stock in Zipline, but he said a few managers at the top of AKRS had common ownership of the brewery.
10/11 News tried contacting Zipline’s leadership team but has not heard back.
10/11 News also reached out to Sen. Ricketts’ campaign after the announcement to close the venue he was scheduled to appear at. A representative said the closure hadn’t impacted them because the event needed to be moved to a larger space.
“The Ricketts Campaign moved our event to a larger venue last night after RSVPs exceeded the capacity of the original location,” the campaign representative said. “Zipline Brewing’s restructuring was unrelated to that decision and came as a surprise to us. We’re sorry to see the closure of their brewery operations.”
In a Facebook post announcing the closure, Zipline claimed in an extra comment that the closure was not related to any events.
“We also want to clarify that this decision was made some time ago as part of a business transition and is not related to any past or future events at Zipline,” the business wrote.
Although Zipline’s brewing operations, taproom and beer lounge are closing, Zipline Tap & Grill will remain open and continue serving guests.
“As we evolve into a restaurant-focused organization, we are grateful for the opportunity to continue welcoming customers in this next chapter,” Zipline posted on Facebook. “What began as a vision to create exceptional craft beer grew into something far greater than we could have imagined.”
Zipline Brewing Company had been making craft beer in Lincoln since 2012. Two other Nebraska breweries shut their doors in the past two years, Cosmic Eye Brewing and Nebraska Brewing Company.
ALSO WATCH: Night Beat with Jessica Blum
Click here to subscribe to our 10/11 NOW daily digest and breaking news alerts delivered straight to your email inbox.
Copyright 2026 KOLN. All rights reserved.
