I'm in a situation where I have the opportunity to do something. My brother and his two brother inlaws are interested in going in on a nano brewery. I have been brewing for 3 years but would probably be about another year before we'd open. They would all run a part of the business, one sales, one maintenance, one general operations and I would be in charge of the production and my sister inlaw would handle the accounting. And we'd all take part in general labor
So do I pass this up and play it safe? Or would I be nuts?
Sounds like a great opportunity to me. Is every one involved putting up the same amount of money? How will decisions be made? Is everyone going to be on a board of directors and be able to vote up or down on proposals?
Location is everything, do you have a location? Do you really think you'll be selling beer in just one year from now?
And everyone will "take part" in general labor? How are you going to enforce that? You going to put in a time clock?
As the brewer, you will have more responsibility on your shoulders than the other individuals. If the beer sucks, your brewery will close.
Put money in the budget to hire a professional brewing consultant to help you get started. 3 years brewing experienced isn't all that much and brewing on a 7 or 10 bbl system isn't the same as brewing on your propane burner in your garage.
If the brewery isn't successful, will you be financially damaged or is it no big deal to you?
I know 4 people (or groups) who started their own breweries/brewpubs. One went bust and now runs a homebrew shop and is successful; one started with a nano out of a garage and is expanding to a brew pub but has had numerous delays; one started with one brew pub and now has four and regional distribution and sells "craft" soda as well; the most recent started a 7 bbl brewery with a bunch of buddies and family investors and now they have 50+ keg accounts a, busy tasting room, just switched from self distributing to using a distributor, bought more tanks, and hired extra staff to brew around the clock to keep up.
If you are in, or close to an urban area where people have disposable income, and there is a drinking culture, there is still a lot of growth potential for a startup local brewery. I'd say go for it and good luck to you.