Backyard Brewery - Commercial Quantities

[cactusgarrett]

Apologies if this has made the rounds recently - i didn't see it come through yet. From the Associated Press:

AP Article

It'd be interesting to see who bites on this. I guess it's pretty common knowledge within ourselves here that the main reasons a brewery fails isn't due to sub-par product, but more poor business savvy and local/federal regulations and hurdles. I don't think Joe Beer Drinker knows this, though.

 

[sandyeggoxj]

375bbl/yr in a shipping container for $145k. Interesting idea.

 

[swampbrewcrew]

The problem lies in zoning and licensing. I also see nothing in this kit that involves a taproom. You will spend twice that amount getting a large enough customer base wanting your beer to get a distributor to pick it up.

 

[radwizard]

The problem lies in zoning and licensing. I also see nothing in this kit that involves a taproom. You will spend twice that amount getting a large enough customer base wanting your beer to get a distributor to pick it up.

But on the upside, without a customer base, you don't need to invest in a tap room!!

 

[shoreman]

This would be great especially for small restaurants looking to add brews to the menu. Jobs as well - how many solid Home brewers do you know that want to go pro? I can name at least five in my area. Would also help local economies - something we really aren’t investing in at the moment.

 

[swampbrewcrew]

This would be great especially for small restaurants looking to add brews to the menu. Jobs as well - how many solid Home brewers do you know that want to go pro? I can name at least five in my area. Would also help local economies - something we really aren’t investing in at the moment.

Just because you want to go pro doesn’t mean you should. I wonder what the percentage of homebrew upstarts are still in business after 5 years. Sure, there are amazing success stories, but I bet for every long term success there are 10+ failures. People have been brewing beer at home for a millennia, but that doesn’t translate to a profitable business.

 

[Sailingeric]

Just because you want to go pro doesn’t mean you should. I wonder what the percentage of homebrew upstarts are still in business after 5 years. Sure, there are amazing success stories, but I bet for every long term success there are 10+ failures. People have been brewing beer at home for a millennia, but that doesn’t translate to a profitable business.

Brewery on it is own, it will be a lot harder but as part of a restaurant, I suspect a lot better. There are plenty of restaurants around here that make there own beer with no plans of distribution, Menamins come to mind, good beer and that is the only place you can get it.

 

[swampbrewcrew]

I guess you could partner up with someone who already owns the restaurant if you don’t already have one and just be the brewer. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but the attitude of the author seemed to imply that good beer (sellable beer) is very easy to make. The article makes it seem like you can buy one of these and be slinging beer a couple months later with no brewing or marketing experience. That is a recipe for losing $145k.

 

[madscientist451]

I guess it's pretty common knowledge within ourselves here that the main reasons a brewery fails isn't due to sub-par product, but more poor business savvy and local/federal regulations and hurdles.

I think the main reason a brewery (or any business) fails is cash flow problems. There is just too much money going out and not enough coming in. There are just too many variables to pin the reason for this down,
but the following is a short list:
-Poor Location, just not convenient for people
-Not enough drinkers in the area/low population density, low income
-low quality beer/brewing styles the public doesn't want
-costs too high (mostly rent)
-poor business management
-insufficient start up capital/low capital reserve

So having money to buy an equipment package doesn't really mean much if the above problems can't be solved.

 

[Gadjobrinus]

I think the main reason a brewery (or any business) fails is cash flow problems.
-insufficient start up capital/low capital reserve

So having money to buy an equipment package doesn't really mean much if the above problems can't be solved.

I agree with every point, mad, but of them, these to me are especially key. Cash flow dies, you're out of business. Not enough capital reserve to weather startup storms (and the storms are always there, always worse, and always at a worse time, than predicted in "pro-formas"), and you're out of business.

 

[shoreman]

Just because you want to go pro doesn’t mean you should. I wonder what the percentage of homebrew upstarts are still in business after 5 years. Sure, there are amazing success stories, but I bet for every long term success there are 10+ failures. People have been brewing beer at home for a millennia, but that doesn’t translate to a profitable business.

Homebrewing and Brewing for profit are light years away - I know I’ve worked in craft beer and no I would never want to open a brewery, no thanks.

I was just mentioning people wanting to go pro b/c this article proposes a simple way to move into that realm - especially Brewing at an established restaurant.

Should everyone go pro? No but every single brewer I’ve met was homebrewing before the started doing it on the pro level. Odds are pretty good that a couple of those folks I know will make the shift, but we’ll see.