An Online Resource Serving The Beer Industry
» OperationsBrewery taprooms are the front line experiences for customers and a major source of income for most breweries. Having access to a smartly designed point-of-sale (POS) system that manages all your customer service needs along with providing access to insights and data are no longer mere luxuries, they are business necessities.
An overview of the principals behind how humans are incentivized in the pursuit of goals, and how best to use those insights in the business landscape. Attendees will learn the basics of building compensation and bonus structures that create the incentives you want, while avoiding the perverse and misguided incentives that you don’t. Moreover, they will learn how to apply these same techniques in the broader landscape, helping everyone reach the sense of accomplishment, satisfaction, and financial achievement they desire.
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The reputation of your business is everything. From the customer experience, to the quality of your beer, and employee retention and satisfaction, maintaining and protecting your brewery’s good name takes many forms. When it comes to your staff, it’s important to maintain a strong relationship even in the tough times.
In the past two years, the brewing industry has relearned the importance of treating its employees well. When things go wrong, they rarely stay within the four walls of the brewery. Instead, the details get splashed across Internet job forums and social media sites, such as Instagram, where they take on a life of their own.
Hiring solid, reliable, and engaged employees is always one of a company’s greatest challenges and in the present market, it’s even harder. Taking some time to consider, build, and maintain your corporate reputation can be key to attracting top talent to help your brewery grow.
After a recipe is developed, the ingredients are carefully selected, a beer is brewed with care, and fermented properly, it is time for packaging. Brewers put a lot of thought into their packaging, not only design but function, durability, and how it takes care of the beer.
As the world continues to change and a greater focus is put on sustainability, environmental impact and becoming carbon neutral breweries are going to have options and choices when it comes to creating a brewhouse of the future that has smarter packaging.
The brewhouse of the future, which is closer than some might realize, is also going to focus on automation – even on the smaller scale – which will still allow brewers to be hands on but will increase safety.
Over the past several years, many breweries have reconsidered their service models – searching for the delicate balance that best maximizes the experience for both guests and staff. In doing so, this has also generated more conversations about best practices regarding tipping. In this panel, we will discuss different tipping models, their benefits, their challenges, and how conversations on tipping can result in greater success for your taproom.
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Alcohol e-commerce isn’t just a trend, it’s here to stay — but how can beer and hard seltzer brands fully utilize this sales channel and grow their businesses? Join Jason Sherman, CEO and Founder of TapRm, as he discusses the value of having your own customized e-commerce channel and the many ways it can help your beer brand scale.
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What will the brewery of the future look like?
In many cases the industry, at present, is standing on the edge of an enhanced digital revolution that will bring efficiencies not only to the brewhouse but also the tap room. The COVID-19 pandemic sped up many of the digital encounters that had already been available but that are now commonplace.
In turn, the companies behind these technologies have turbocharged their innovations and offerings. A walk through the BrewExpo America last year in Minneapolis was a showcase of technology and apps as much as it was stainless steel equipment and packaging.
Running a profitable taproom isn’t all flowing tap lines and good times. There’s a method to the madness, and it’s DATA!
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In an industry that revels in terms like “craft” or “handcrafted” there is also a fondness for automation. For brewers that started on small manual kits that required constant hands-on attention, there is celebration when budgets allow for pro-equipment where the machines are of the Ron Popeil school of thought.
Automation is something brewers strive for as it helps with all manners of the brewing process and the carefully dialed in machines can help create lagers and ales to spec while (hopefully) ensuring a smoother brew day.
From mash tuns to fermenters, packaging lines and labelers automation continues to make brewing easier and more efficient A stroll through the annual Brew Expo America and smaller conferences around the country there are companies that are eager to show off the latest technical advancements.
There is a lot of talk about CO2 shortages these days and brewers are thinking about next steps, the supply chain, or adding equipment to their breweries that can help mitigate shortfalls.
Beer Edge editor John Holl spoke with Lindsey Cole, who directs Food and Beverage solutions at FuelCell Energy, a company that manufacturers equipment that can recycle CO2 about the technology, and benefits.
As brewery owners and taproom managers, you know you’re supposed to host events. You may even have a staff member dedicated to creating and booking events. But they never seem to live up to expectations – and your regulars and your staff hate them.
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Almost every brewery is tracking their data – whether it’s in a spreadsheet, paper logs, or an electronic brewery management system. As breweries start scaling, there are two key areas that brewers and owners start looking at for their products — (1) making consistent quality beer and (2) improving costs over time.
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There is a lot of talk about the handcrafted nature of beer, conjuring up idyllic images of artisan beverages. While that is certainly true for certain parts of brewing, automation is a necessary part of the process. Machines that make brewing easier in practice and on the back are welcome.
Chief among the necessary brewhouse accessories (for some) is the forklift.
For breweries of a certain size that have the space and the need for something beyond a pallet jack a forklift can be a godsend.
It can be fun to focus on the lighter side of brewing. From taproom hangouts to clinking glasses there is a lot of reward to the hard work. Making sure the work is done in a safe manner is critically important not only for employees but the overall business.
While there are certain well known safety practices like how to properly wear boots to eye protection, there are additional steps breweries should be taking to ensure that everyone at the facility makes to that post-shift pint safe and sound.
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Retail sales data, like that collected and reported by companies such as IRI and Neilsen, can be extremely valuable for suppliers that are seeking to expand their retail presence, but it’s also confusing and pretty overwhelming.
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Managing your mental health is challenging regardless of your profession. The brewing industry is no different. The physical demands placed on brewers and staff can be substantial. Add in the temptations of free and frequent access to alcohol, and it’s easy to lose track of both your physical and mental well-being in this industry. The job and its mental load rarely stay within the four corners of the brewery.
Wet milling remains one of those topics that brewers discuss but rarely encounter in the wild. Once solely the province of the largest craft brewers, in more recent years wet mills have become slightly more common but remain unusual to find in a smaller craft brewery.
In contrast to dry milling, wet mills steep malt in a continuous stream of warm water to allow the grain’s moisture level to rise to a set mark, usually 15 to 20 percent. When a wet mill’s rollers grind the malt, the grain’s husk remains intact and doesn’t fragment. This significantly reduces the amount of dust and debris created and allows for faster run-off time and more loading of the lauter tun. The downsides, beyond cost, include additional cleaning of the mill and its rollers along with an increase in the time required to mill the malt.
We recently spoke with Scott Shirley, the Director of Brewing Operations at Lawson’s Finest Liquids in Vermont, to learn more about his brewery’s experience with a wet mill and hear what advice he has for brewers considering one.
Good employees can be difficult to keep around. Never has this been more true than in the Great Resignation. So how do you stay competitive as a workplace?
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It’s been almost two years since our eyes were opened to some of the toxic behaviors common in brewing culture. While awareness was the first step in building a new culture, we still have work to do to take care of one another and heal. Fortunately, you (the people who work in the industry) are positioned to make that happen!
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You and your employees’ social, mental and physical wellbeing matter.
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