Opening a Brewpub

Have you seen the web site probewer.com ? This forum is going to give you mostly IMHO end users aka consumer point of view. there are a few owners out there, not sure how many will comment though.

Its LIKE ANY biz. Location, capital, marketing, and steady customers. TIME, quality products. How long can you survive with no sales, etc etc.

I started a few biz over the years, but never a public direct store, that is frankly scary as hell.

google BREWPUB and send an email to owners if you can find their names. only the nation chains have survived here.

 

What's a bewpub?

 

It's really is much like anything else. You need a good business plan, good location and a hard working team to get it going. You need to get the licenses done before anything, I imagine and expect long hours and minimal pay from what I understand until many many years in the future

 

You left out local govt/politicians and the incessant permit game. Not to mention shady companies like Yelp that try to shake you down for favorable listings. I have a friend who just had his first anniversary and Yelp tried to extort $300 from him to get a higher profile.

Plus making beer on a commercial level is a lot different than home brewing.

 

Anything of actual substance I have to say would be purely anecdotal or hearsay, since I'm not a brewer. It seems there are some interesting challenges in staging up from garage-level brewing apparatus that usually runs five gallons or so, to equipment that runs in increments measured in barrels. Much more equipment, much larger, so more possible points of failure.

 

Simple answer: Opening a brewpub takes a bunch of money. The less you know, the more money it will take. Keeping a brewpub open and hopefully profitable takes knowledge, patience, hiring the right people and the ability to say 'no' when warranted.

 

oh no I was NOT trying to make a list of how to open a biz. I was saying first that this forum is not really a great resource. IMHO.

and yes of course, local Rules, taxes, etc many many factors to running a biz, in fact we both forgot the main one employees! bad ones fail a biz quickly. one gets tired of being at the biz location all the time.....

utils, water cost, grain cost. twice as hard in brewpub, 2 biz in one really.

of course unlimited funds can make all this go away, but then the biz is a tax write off, LOL

 

It takes a minimum of twice as long as you think for the amount of effort you put in, costs three times as much, and is about 10 times as difficult. This is not meant to discourage you, but to keep you grounded. Don't think for a second that this isn't true, or that you can cheat the system, or you're different from others in some way.

Be prepared to shrug off a hundred "No's" for every "Yes", and never give up. You will be confronted with many hurdles, some the size of half dome in Yosemite, but figure out a way to get over it despite its size. That's what separates the men from the boys. Otherwise, everyone would own a brewpub.

I did research for 3 years before opening mine (it took 6.5 years total to open, including the research phase), and here are the most important and recurring tidbits I came across:

1. Don't try to do it on a shoestring, it takes too long to gain any traction, and you well may never. Get on probrewer.com and read some threads about nanobreweries.
2. Don't ignore the food because you think your beer is so great that it'll float your boat no matter what. 95% of people don't give a s$@! about your beer. The food and beer comprise a symbiotic relationship.
3. Location and demographic surveys are really important. Size everything properly. The proper number of seats, the proper size of brewery, and don't be afraid to wait for the perfect location to become apparent. Don't force the issue, follow your gut.

My brewpub is about 125 seats (plus some outside) and 7.5 bbl for a population of 100k. It's not linear though, do your research. Some towns have a dozen breweries in a town this size, but they're close to a major metro area and in a hot spot area of the country, for instance.

Plan on $800k to $1MM, minimum (leasing - owning is a whole nuther ballgame). Are there other ways? Yes, but do what gives you the best chance for success. Read blogs, go to seminars, learn to brew, learn to cook, learn about running a restaurant, do internships, etc. If you have a shortfall in any capacity, hire someone to compliment your skillset.

 

I'd start with having a business degree and/or know how to brew good beer or know someone who brews good beer.

 

excellent advice, and where in Texas is your brewpub and its name? Texas is my home state and I do get back there now and then. I tend to go visit the new places, bar b que being the driving factor as it where. I been know to drive 500 miles for the best Bar b que. beer is a nice addition.

 

F_Clamrod above gave some excellent advice, so definitely heed it!

I'd also start with reading Sam Caligione's book: Brewing Up a Business: Adventures in Beer from the Founder of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery; Tony Magee's book: So You Want to Start a Brewery?: The Lagunitas Story; Dan Woodske's book: A Brewers Guide to Opening and Operating a Brewpub; and Steve Hindy & Tom Potter's book: Beer School: Bottling Success at the Brooklyn Brewery. They all provide great stories of the trials and tribulations of opening brewpubs and operating breweries, complete with discussions of writing a business plan, financing, etc.

http://www.amazon.com/Brewing-Up-Business-Adventures-Founder/dp/0470942312/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

http://www.amazon.com/You-Want-Start-Brewery-Lagunitas/dp/1556525621/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_y

http://www.amazon.com/Brewers-Guide...d_sim_b_4?ie=UTF8&refRID=0APRPVP391XMVMTJGEZD

http://www.amazon.com/Beer-School-B...F8&qid=1424452598&sr=1-1&keywords=beer+school

I'd also do as much research as possible into A) writing up business plans; B) how to obtain financial assistance, be it bank loans, investments from partners, etc.; C) restaurant and brewery operations and management, etc. Also, be aware that the restaurant business is one of the most difficult businesses to get into and be successful. I'm not in the business, but like you, opening a brewpub fascinates me and I've looked into it a little. a website that I've found helpful is restaurantowner.com: http://www.restaurantowner.com/public/263.cfm

Cheers and good luck!

 

Money

 

You need to know how to properly run a bar. If you intend to serve food, you need to know how to run a restaurant too. I suggest quitting your job and going to work in either if you are serious about opening a brewpub.

 

Here's the big question for me, have you ever/can you brew on a commercial scale? If so, can you make a great beer consistently? If you can't, do you have brewing talent? If not, please just give up now.

 

Start with a good cook and a good accountant.

 

@F_Clamrod stated: "95% of people don't give a s$@! about your beer." I think this is sage advice.

So, given the above a Brewpub is very, very much a restaurant first and not so much a brewery from a business operation perspective. Given that, it would be extremely helpful to have experience in the restaurant and food industry business prior to opening a brewpub.

Cheers!

 

I might get in trouble with admin for plugging on this site. Suffice it to say that we're 3 to 4 hour drive from any major metropolitan area.

 

Opening a brewpub is opening both a restaurant a brewery in the same place. I imagine that's going to exponentially multiply headaches at the beginning. Maybe just opening a brewery with on-site tasting and supplying kegs to local restaurants and bars would be less complex. Probably no easier, I guess...

 

When a man, or a woman, loves beer very, very much, they have certain "urges".....