i'm a few months short of 2 years deep into my current business. i was in the red for 9 months. completely in the red. and i got lucky making it out and now everythign is good....
this looks so nice though. the only other thing i know half about in IL is that its really really tough to get distributorship. you dont just go to the local grocery store and bar and ask them to buy stuff from you. they are only allowed to sell alcohol they purchase from a licensed distributor. you have to sell to the distributor first, and they might not buy from you if you only have two or 3 styles. also they set some strange minimums on things.
"Oh you want 5 bbls of Honker's Ale? Then you have the buy 7 bbls of Rogue Yellow Snow.. Whats that? No one likes Yellow Snow becuase its a crap beer and you wont be able to sell it? Well to bad, you have to buy it if you want the Honerks..."
this i half understand from owners of local bars i frequent
so i can only imagine its hard to sell to them too. if i understand it correct, Two Brothers created their own distributor becuase they couldnt get any of the established ones to sell their product.
also, we dont get Stone in IL. Bell's stopped selling to IL for a few years becuase Larry Bell got mad at dealing with the distributors so he just pulled all sales to IL... from the little bit i hear- its heavily 'politically' influenced and seniority and bs take the upper hand when it comes to dealing with the distributor. i even heard a rumor that one the main reasons 3 Floyds opened just over the border in Indiana is becuase they knew it would be easier to use the IN distributors than the IL ones... just something i hear around town...
anyways take all that for what its worth, just some local bar rat (me) talking to friend's i've made running bars here downtown, and sounds like its no walk in the park to brew and sell your own beer in IL..
either way the equpitment looks great and who wants to go in on buying it with me? we can get started brewing 1600 gallons like maybe...this weekend?
:cross: