Tree House (2021)

One stupid rule everyone knows there’s no science behind it.

 

food isnt the problem. it's traffic/parking management. Only way it works is to have all tap room parking in the dirt lot below. If you want beer to go, someone has to stay in the car line and let people out to enjoy the taproom. Once someone has no fun, staying in the car to get the beer to go, they have to park below and walk up. By that time, all their friends have had their 2 pints and are ready to go. If you dont have a saintly, pregnant mule to collect the beer to go, good luck with this plan. (fwiw, pregnant and saintly are mutually exclusive populations)

 

I’ve seen breweries use a simple reservation system to avoid a rush. Restaurants do it. TH could do it. But either they don’t want the haste or they don’t want to take any risks whatsoever. And let’s face it—they’re doing fine as is and they’ve always done fine with the “leave ‘em wanting more” model.

 

agree, they could absolutely very easily manage it. Beer pick up doesn’t need to be curbside anymore, they could have people show up and wait. Lost of places doing it now. Not to mention vax’s are going out (I support your decision either way) and life will slowly return to normal. Hell Cali is planning to flip the switch June 14. At some point they will flip the system back. Mr Hill will be the one on his high horse remaining closed end throwing seltzer’s at people who get too close and making fun of Nate and the other brewers openly who use any kind of adjunct. I’m sure they just find this system to work currently and will take their time with it.

 

Only thing I would quibble with is this:

Friend who works at a brewpub shared some info last week in a venting session:

- so many people making reservations, then not showing up and not cancelling.
- so many people being angry - literally super mad - that they can't make reservations because the place is fully booked. Not understanding that there are still distancing restrictions so space is limited. Then, these same people...
- just show up as walk-ins and want to wait. "We'll wait in the car." Okay, now I have to have staff text you if/when a table is available? Or, run out to your car? No. "But I drove all the way here!" Uhh, no one told you to do that.
- so many people staying longer than the 90 minute maximum requirement. Definitely not fun from a hospitality standpoint to tell people they have to leave. And some get angry. "I just paid good money for all of this, you're kicking me out?!?"
- so many people wanting to make reservations for large groups. State limit is 6 people per table. Lots of calls or emails every day, "We have 10 people, just put us at 2 tables near each other." Managing that is a challenge for a couple of reasons: 1) tables near each other probably not available, 2) then people get up and wander to hang out at their buddies' table. Other guests get angry because these folks are now standing near them. This faction of people, who want to come in with a large group and break the rules, is the angriest. Difficult to reason with when you explain the state regulations. "I've done it had a different place. No one is enforcing them, you won't get caught."

None of this is very easy for breweries or restaurants. Staff gets yelled at constantly having to enforce the regulations. I can imagine it would be even more of a challenge for a place as popular as TH.

TL;DR: could they do it? Sure. Is it worth the aggravation and hassle? Probably not.

 

Thanks for sharing that - that's eye opening. None of it surprises me, but also, much of that wouldn't have crossed my mind without you typing it.

 

But isn't this where the DO NOT STEP ON SNEK flag comes in to play and you post AR-15 wielding Q guards every 10 yards? Would really make the aesthetic of the site pop.

 

Meh- Tree House Charlton has never been that fun of a place to hang out anyways.

 

Two beers and gtfo

 

I wouldn’t expect anyone at Treehouse has lost a job over the pandemic, they seem like a well run organization that would be able to plan for things like this. Plus, I doubt at all that their revenue is down. Every time I’ve been there over the last year plus there have been out of state plates all over the place. It just doesn’t make sense for them to do pours at this time. Once it is, they will be able to utilize all the improvements that were putting in before COVID hit.

 

At this point, it makes as much sense for Tree House to have a taproom as it does Anheuser Busch. People will (and do) buy their beer like gangbusters regardless.

 

oh I like you

 

You're misunderstanding. As others have pointed out, current state regs make it unreasonable/unprofitable to open for pints with their popularity/approach. Obviously they could change their sales model and make it work - hence the Nate slinging pizza's comment. Any business can do that (and as you pointed out, some have). It would just cause a big headache, especially alongside takeaway.

My point is that they will almost certainly open when state regs move to the next/final phase and not before. State regs will change within a month or two and doesn't seem they have much incentive to reinvent the wheel before that.

All I know is that, when it does happen, its gonna be great to enjoy all the new space they've added over the last year.

 

I'm assuming their 2 new acquisitions are going to be pouring beer this summer and Charlton continues as a drive through. As a side note I can't imagine how they will do on the fly in Sandwich. That parking lot is tiny and they're in the middle of a neighborhood with small single lane roads.

Also, for people familiar with the area what's the over/under on people getting clipped by a train while there's traffic trying to pull out on to Tupper Rd?

 

Yup. Judging by the volume they're doing with On the Fly, they're not hurting for cash right now if I had to guess. Doesn't mean they don't like running a tap room or that they don't want to be making even more $$, but I definitely get the sense that reopening right now is a huge challenge for anyone - if you don't need to, why bother rushing when the light at the end of the tunnel is presumably in sight.

 

Don't you dare say that and jinx us so the light ends up fading a bit back to black. I need that light! Haha

 

ohh dude believe you me, same.

 

And why would they want to? It's not like they're hurting for cash at all. They have nothing to gain and everything to lose.

Hell, and I've said this from the start, I'm sure they'll be one of the last to return to "normal" because they're doing fine as is. They don't want to risk their safety-conscious reputation and all that nonsense you described if they don't have to. They're gonna wait until they deem it safe to reopen, which will be (long) after the state says it's okay.

 

Neither HF or TH serving pints. Neither brewery has to do much to get their beer out there. While solid breweries are still doing well, it’s bc they’re shipping. HF and TH only have to say “come and get it” and that’s that.