Survey Reports 75% of Craft Beer Consumers Won’t Return to a Brewery Until June
Following up on a story we posted yesterday with a bit deeper look at the survey from Atlanta’s Monday Night Brewing. Craft breweries should prepare for smaller crowds in their taprooms even after social distancing and retail restrictions are lifted. That’s just one of the meaningful insights that Monday Night Brewing gleaned from a recent survey.
The Atlanta-based craft brewery solicited responses from its most recent customers with an online survey fielded April 23-26. Out of the 743 respondents, almost 75% of them will not return to a taproom until June at the earliest. And even then, 28% say they will visit less frequently.
“Anyone thinking we will return to ‘business as usual’ anytime soon—if at all—is in for a rude awakening. The COVID-19 pandemic has completely changed the way we do business, and will significantly impact how we run our taprooms going forward,” said Monday Night CEO Jeff Heck.
The survey revealed that customers will demand greatly increased sanitation measures, smaller crowds, and enforcement of social distancing guidelines. “One of the more interesting things to come out of the economic hardship brought on by COVID-19 has been the popularity of our to-go program. Sales have exceeded expectations, and we were able to hire back several furloughed team members because of the strength of the program. We expect to keep to-go sales even after our taprooms re-open, which this survey also confirms,” said Heck.
Despite the relaxation of shelter-in-place and social distancing restrictions in the state of Georgia, Monday Night Brewing’s two taprooms will remain closed for the near future. To-go sales continue at its West Midtown location.
“We hope this research will help our friends in the craft beverage and hospitality industries. The world is changing quickly right now, so our take is that every bit of real-time data helps people make better decisions,” said Heck.
The full survey results can be found here.
