Anybody pour beer at a brewpub?

Where in PA?

Enjoy

 

What do you mean by small? How much beer do you intend to brew? What do you intend to sell in the retail space?

 

I have to ask, why on earth would you risk your money opening a business you admit you have zero experience with? That makes no sense to me.

 

People have dreams dude, why the negativity? I'll never shame someone for wanting to open a small business.

 

How am I being negative. Going into a business with zero experience is beyond risky. I am curious as to why? Would you not get experience and knowledge before you risk your money?

 

I believe young Fritz's old man said the exact same thing to him around 50 years ago, adding:
"...now, wouldn't you much rather work here in Iowa and help me design the new control panel on next year's washer and dryer?"

 

So I guess you guys think the OP has shown in his posts, etc. that he has enough experience to avoid all the mistakes that kill many small start ups in their first year or so?

You can find something along the lines of a check list here:

http://www.moyak.com/papers/small-business-failure.html

Sometimes to help someone suceed in achieving their dream you have to ask them the hard questions.

 

Have you had your business plan vetted by your lawyer and accountant yet, or is it still in development?

Based on personal experience you'll need them/that at somepoint before a final commitment.

 

BTW you'll want to read though something along these lines if you haven't already.

http://www.moyak.com/papers/small-business-failure.html

 

Well sounds to me like you've got some of the right experience and resources, etc. (You don't need the attorney or accountant to sign off on it, just to give you the feedback about what they see can go wrong. Different set of eyes, etc...)

Unfortunately I don't think you'll find much data on here. Most folks here are on the consumer side of tap rooms as well. Not sure where to look, but hopefully someone may chime in or be able to point to a link.

 

Which just means nothing aside from she paid a LOT for her degree

All jokes aside, this type of stuff you need to dig and research on your own. I was also in planning for opening a brewery and spent over six months writing a business plan, scouting locations, legal info, etc... It took time digging down into demographics, statistics and general market research. Not many people will give up that detail because of the work they put into their own. I believe Three Floyds original business plan is out there, try to find it and reference some of that information.

To be honest, finding estimates on expectations for sales wasn’t tough. I found some local brewery blogs that detailed their opening expectations and what the actual ended up being, their growth and all that type of stuff. Stuff like “After just one year, while we projected to brew only 500 bbls we exceeded that three fold! We will be adding fermenters to keep up to reach 2,000 bbl’s this year!”. Stuff like that. Reach out to some breweries and ask them how much beer they sold their first year and stuff. Many may not respond, but it’s part of the job. Some owners will be really cool about it and share a ton of info with you.

Talking with equipment vendors, they also have a good idea for what the market is doing. Having a meeting with them was great information for the business plan on what local breweries were doing, all while sizing your equipment properly for your expectations and growth estimates.

Look at your local beer scene… What is popular, what sells and doesn’t sell? Are you brewing what YOU want to brew or brewing just to make the most $$$? If you don't come out of the gate with excellent beer right away, you will struggle. The market is loaded with excellent (and terrible) beer these days and eventually there will be a shakeout for sure. Do you homebrew now? Plan to hire a brewer with experience?

Hope this helps some. It will take a while to round up all your info… But in doing so, for me, it basically led to me backing out. While the plan was sound, numbers good and with investors ready, I grew concerned over the market and the trends. Then as time went on, I realized I made the absolute best decision not proceeding with my plans. Someday, perhaps, when the time is right…

Good luck!

 

Here are a few random tidbits collected over the last few years. (May or may not be useful, but...)

PA has a Brewer's Association
http://www.brewersofpa.org

PA has a few perqs for breweries that use PA grown hops and malt
https://www.brewersassociation.org/current-issues/pa-beer-industry-grants-announced/

Here's a fairly local malting house. (Pretty sure there are 1 or 2 others in PA now).
https://deercreekmalt.com

If you do get a brewery up and running you may not have to limit your sales to beer only.
https://www.nmmlaw.com/nmmliquorlaw...-brewery-storage-locations-sell-wine-spirits/

 

Having worked in a large brewpub, and in an area where we have breweries of all sizes, the thing that jumps out at me is the 3bbl system. A 3bbl system means you'll roughly get 6 kegs out of every brew batch. Being in a large city, perhaps you'll be able to turn over your beer quickly enough that a given batch doesn't sit around too long.

If you open your doors with 4 beers x 6 kegs of each how long will it take you to move through them? How often do you plan on brewing? How many fermenters and/or bight tanks are you planning on? What's your plan for beer that don't move quickly?

In my county we have a popular brewpub, that gets a lot of traffic from locals, and from outdoors visitors (skiers, snowboarders, fishers, hunters, hikers, kayakers, etc), and in 2017 they brewed a little under 600bbl. If you use the brewery as a "value added" aspect to your record store, I think you've got a decent shot. Trying to make a brewery that size work on its own in a city the size of Philly could be more of a challenge.