dantodd
Well-Known Member
I was thinking about a business idea and thought I'd run it past the brewers here.
There are a lot of great threads from the HBTer's who have gone nano-commercial. I was wondering how many of the brewers here would actually put up the money to make a beer if they were responsible for really selling it?
In California there is an exemption to the three tier distribution system for breweries and wineries. Which means, the brewer can directly sell to the public and distribute to retailers.
So, a small brewery could set up a program where you, the homebrewer could use their equipment to brew your own recipe and design a label. The brewery would submit your label to TTB and be responsible for the excise on the volume you brew (of course, this would be covered in the fee you pay for the service.) Then, when your beer is finished you are responsible for selling it to friends, neighbors, the beer store down the street or the local bar.
The brewery would get some assistance in paying their overhead, they'd have to run your receivables and then, since you've paid your fees for brewing, labels, taxes etc. up front they'd pass on 90% commission or whatever the rate would be. On their books you'd look just like a contract salesman and a volunteer brewer.
Essentially, you'd be running your own virtual brewery on a pico-scale with the brewery interfacing with the gov't, paying the taxes etc.
There are obviously some details to be worked out like keg deposits, cost structure etc. but I believe there are a number of winery private labels or incubators that do something like this already.
So, are there people here who would be interested?
There are a lot of great threads from the HBTer's who have gone nano-commercial. I was wondering how many of the brewers here would actually put up the money to make a beer if they were responsible for really selling it?
In California there is an exemption to the three tier distribution system for breweries and wineries. Which means, the brewer can directly sell to the public and distribute to retailers.
So, a small brewery could set up a program where you, the homebrewer could use their equipment to brew your own recipe and design a label. The brewery would submit your label to TTB and be responsible for the excise on the volume you brew (of course, this would be covered in the fee you pay for the service.) Then, when your beer is finished you are responsible for selling it to friends, neighbors, the beer store down the street or the local bar.
The brewery would get some assistance in paying their overhead, they'd have to run your receivables and then, since you've paid your fees for brewing, labels, taxes etc. up front they'd pass on 90% commission or whatever the rate would be. On their books you'd look just like a contract salesman and a volunteer brewer.
Essentially, you'd be running your own virtual brewery on a pico-scale with the brewery interfacing with the gov't, paying the taxes etc.
There are obviously some details to be worked out like keg deposits, cost structure etc. but I believe there are a number of winery private labels or incubators that do something like this already.
So, are there people here who would be interested?