Hi all, I am planning to open some barbershops in Orange County, CA. It's a new franchise brand that caters to millennials. Part of our culture is to offer customers a free beer. This is allowed by CA law, without an alcohol retail license, provided it is limited to 12oz and 1 per visit. This has been a tradition in some CA hair salons for many years. With 4 shops, I will eventually be serving between 15,000-20,000 beers per year. Can anyone tell me - how can I get a discount for that volume? I don't think I can buy from a distributor because I don't a have a license. Can I pick-up directly from a brewery? Not sure how to handle this...
That's awesome that you will be offering craft beer to your clients. Every barbershop I've ever been to always offers pbr or some other similar crap.
If you are in san diego you might want to swing by The Dover Honing Co. down on 8th. Ask for Brandon.
I did live in OB for 12 years but am in NorCal now. The beer culture is one of several things I miss about San Diego.
He didn't say it would be craft beer but hopefully that's what he is asking about because millennials seem to enjoy the 'irony' of drinking macro AALs.
I think your best bet would be to go directly to a brewery that sells bottles/cans from their tap room and ask them. Volume discounts are legal, but everyone is going to have their own policy on them. Also, you probably aren't buying all 15-20K at once. Are you talking about entering into some sort of contract with them where you can guarantee you'll buy that over a year? That's doubtful, but if you are buying 20 cases in each purchase they might work with you on that. Have you considered kegerators in your locations and 12oz glasses? Kegs would likely save you quite a bit without a special discount.
I swear I remember a news story about a fancy hair salon somewhere that offered champagne to their customers free of charge and who had to shut it down because they weren't licensed for it or something. Who knows? Might have been in another state. Possibly something to look into if you haven't already, though.
The Drybar bill, named after the salon that was the driving force behind the bill, came into effect January 1 of this year and allows salons to serve 6 oz of wine or 12 oz of beer as long as it's complimentary.
