An Online Resource Serving The Beer Industry
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Financial health is one of the most important parts of your business, but do you know how to get to the right metrics? In this session, we’re bringing insights from working with over 100 craft breweries and providing you with insights on understanding your brewery’s finances, including:
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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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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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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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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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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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We will focus on how to create something you can sell, which will involve clean records, and a solid business platform. 2nd, How to appraise your business based on profit and loss statements. 3rd, how you find a buyer and my preferred method. 4th, you may find after making the changes to your business (having something to sell, you decide not to sell) you may decide not to sell your business, but rather keep it without having to work it everyday anymore. Example – There is no owner working in Starbucks.
Tom Hennessy has opened seven breweries of his own and helped over 100 more with his Colorado Boy Brewery Immersion Course. His video Frankenbrew, from 1995 has become a cult classic in the brewing world. His three brewing books include The Brewery Operations Manual, Colorado Boy SOP, and his latest The Affordable Brewery. Tom lives, brews, and writes in his mountain town of Ridgway, Colorado.
For many, the idea of owning a business is part of the American dream and there are thousands of examples of that in the country’s small breweries. There are times when founders and owners want to add new people to the mix and considering bringing on existing employees as owners can have a lot of benefits.
Separate from establishing an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) where multiple employees have a stake in the company, finding a single employee who wants to take on an ownership role that can benefit the overall company can be a smart move, says Erik C. Coleman, a beer industry consultant and the director of the Trocaire College Brewing Distillation and Fermentation Program.
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A goal of brewery owners should be to focus not only on making great beer, but providing a workplace environment that values employees, fosters careers, and seeks to keep the calm and peace. That can be easier said than done in a high-pressure environment that touches on many different skillsets but there are ways to achieve a positive workplace beyond just paying a fair salary.
“I always impress upon people who want to get into the industry that you do this for love, not money,” says Erik C. Coleman, the owner of Beer By Coleman, a consultancy company. “You’ll never get rich unless you’re an owner but there is camaraderie, it’s a brotherhood and a sisterhood and it can be really rewarding to be involved with.”
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The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) announced this week that eligible businesses have until Monday, May 24, 8:00 pm (eastern) to submit applications to the Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF).
According to the Brewers Association, there are still some funds available to the small hospitality businesses such as breweries. When the legislation was drafted, Congress set aside $5 billion for applicants with gross receipts of not more than $500,000. To ensure an equitable distribution of funds, the SBA created additional funding allocations of $500 million for applicants with 2019 gross receipts not more than $50,000, and $4 billion for applicants with 2019 gross receipts between $500,000 and $1,500,000.
More details and how to apply here.
The U.S. Small Business Administration has announced that online application for the $28.6 billion Restaurant Revitalization Fund will be accepted beginning on Monday, May 3, at 12:00pm (EDT). The online application will remain open until funds are exhausted.
Businesses that may qualify for the economic relief money include any licensed facilities or premises of a beverage alcohol producer where the public may taste, sample, or purchase products. This would apply to brewpubs and breweries with a tasting room or taproom as long as onsite sales to the public comprises at least 33% of gross receipts.
You must be registered with the SBA to submit an application. You can set up an account in advance here starting on Friday, April 30th at 9:00am (EDT).
Although the Brewer’s Association announced this week that craft beer sales dropped for the first time ever in 2020 with a 9% decrease in volume, an article in the Commercial Observer says that the craft brewing industry continues to be a desirable investment.
“Looking forward, we predict that the landscape of craft beer will return to being healthy in the next two years, with 2020 volume losses being balanced out in the coming years,” Adam Rogers, North American research director at the IWSR, said in the article. “There will just be less breweries than there would have been pre-pandemic due to closures and reduced openings. We believe craft beer will return to growth of around 2 to 3 percent in 2021.”
And although between 300 and 350 breweries closed in 2020 according to the BA, it also estimates that more than 700 opened, about the same as in 2019.
The first question a prospective nano brewery owner should ask themselves is not “How much money can I expect to make?” but rather, “How much money can I afford to spend?”
From equipment costs to building expenses to licensing, the cost of opening even a small brewery can be staggering. And that’s before you brew your first batch.
The equipment costs for starting a nano brewery may be significantly lower than those for a full-sized brewery – although a new turnkey 3-barrel system can still run upwards of $45,000. But just as brewing beer is but a small part of the job of owning a brewery, the equipment costs are just a fraction of the total startup capital.