How's it going everyone, first time poster, long time lurker here. The main purpose of this post is to see if I can gain any insight into becoming an independent beer rep for smaller breweries. I was recently approached by a friend and co-owner of a smaller local brewery about becoming an independent rep for their brewery. I've been looking for a career change and have a strong desire to be involved in the craft beer industry while helping my loved local breweries grow. Obviously being a smaller brewery they cannot afford to pay a personal brewery rep, but acknowledged there are many other local breweries in the same boat. His idea was that if 4+ breweries were able to split the salary of a brewery rep, the rep could solely market their beer, helping the little guy. The issue with relying on their current distributor is that most of their reps will usually not push their beers over the more well known local breweries (Dogfish, Troegs, Victory to name a few) unless the bar/venue specifically asks for their beer. I've asked him about the distributors take on this, and was told that they have no problem with it, in fact they'd almost recommend it! (Of couse since it's all coming from the distributor anyways, it helps them as well). This is obviously in the early talking stages and I'm definitely not rushing to leave my decent paying job unless I know I can make it work. I would also make it a priority to become Cicerone Certified if I decide to go down this road. Is there anything specific I should be weary of? Any specific questions I should be asking? Or any personal experience anyone has with something like this?
If I were the other breweries, I would be a bit suspicious that this is just a scheme for your "friend" to get a full time rep while getting other people to pay for it. I would think that you would have to come up with an equitable way to divide up your hours/costs and then have measurables to show you are performing or not performing for each brewery. Alternatively, since your friend doesn't seem to have a problem with only having 1/4 of your rep time, you could become a part-time rep, working 10 hours a week (just for his brewery) on top of your day job to see if you like it.
"Alternatively, since your friend doesn't seem to have a problem with only having 1/4 of your rep time, you could become a part-time rep, working 10 hours a week (just for his brewery) on top of your day job to see if you like it." Realistically this might be the best idea. Getting other breweries to agree to a shared resource could be rather challenging. Cheers!
Well, a distributor's reps advocate for however many brands that distro carries, so I don't think the basic idea is beyond the pale. I could see this working if the 4-5 breweries are all on board with the idea, and if the rep keeps track of what he's accomplishing for each. Instead of salary, maybe a commission of a percentage of sales? There was a guy out here a few years ago who did this, except for calling himself an "Independent Rep", he just set himself up with a distributor license, put a small walk-in cooler in his garage, and did the sales work after he got off his day job. It worked well for him for a couple years, but it didn't grow enough, and he decided to give up the distro, and just work his good paying day job.
So I take it that self-distribution is a no go in Pa? And you wouldn't pick it up directly from the brewery? What type of distribution territory and who would deliver? Lots of questions.
I am sort of in this category as I am reppin Luminous at the World Beer Cup at my own expense and not getting paid but for me it is s great career opportunity to dive into this industry and keep learning! PS I am leaving for Philly tomorrow!
This has been done before...basically you would be a Brewer Rep assisting the distributor, but instead of representing only one brewery, you are representing a consortium of brewers. Here are some of the things which need to be addressed: Wages. Since you would be repping a number of breweries, there are really two different ways for them to split your wages. First, they could agree to divide the expense equally...that's easily the simplest solution. The potential pitfall to that model is the brewer who doesn't feel he's getting his share of your time and sales. Therefore, the second option would be to split your weekly wages based on the amount of beer you sold (in case equivalents) for each brewer. That way each brewer is paying for his proportional piece of the pie. Commissions. Another way to incent sale reps are commissions...and they work. Commissions can be tallied by the piece ($5 for a ½ bbl, $2 per case, etc.) or can simply be a percentage of all goods sold. What I would never recommend is working for commission only. Selling beer sounds romantic and fun (and it is), but it's also hard work with a lot of rejection. Expenses. Selling beer isn't cheap. In addition to some sort of wage/commission structure, you are going to want to be compensated for gas, oil and wear and tear on your vehicle. Also, money spent in the accounts is referred to as trade spending and it's likely each brewer will have his own view in terms of what is acceptable. Time. How many hours per day? Per week? Most festivals are on Saturday, will you have to work those? Everyone needs to be on the same page with reasonable expectations. All of the above items need to be spelled out in writing and agreed to by the consortium...and then the distributor needs to agree on the concept as well. It'll be like herding cats in the beginning, but a great way to slowly break into the business on a part-time basis. The key is having everything in writing with an escape clause as there will most likely be at least one brewer who falls out of favor with the program. Best of luck!
I agree with your points. What I got from OP though, was that these are breweries that are currently not working with a distributor. I could be wrong though.
It's a clever idea, IceAce had your best idea (split your cost based on the % of volume sold by each) and then assuming you'll have a small salary, I'd definitely set up a commission scale for yourself. The only big risk I see is if one of your client breweries expands into an area the rest don't and still want you in that market. You may have a significant amount of additional travel time (time which is spent not making money for anybody) and travel costs and either you're getting screwed or if there is some sort of cost split, the breweries not in this new area are getting screwed because you're not selling any of their product when you're in that area. I would think with events and such, you're actually providing a positive thing, let's say a both is $1,000 and they basically hand you a table and a tent. If it's multiple breweries and you just have a bunch of taps, that cuts the participation cost for each. Secondary concern for you, if you're split between four breweries and one just starts making terrible beer. You'll be known as that brewery's "guy" and you'll hear nothing but bitching about that brewery from people and that will hurt your ability to get orders for the other three. So, all in all, it's a clever idea but be careful setting it up.
