Meeting with county tomorrow to discuss starting a nano brewery

[jbunton]

Hi all,
As the title implies I have a meeting tomorrow with the head of tourism and economic development and the head of the planning division in my county (haldimand county Ontario) to discuss building and opening a nano brewery on my property. As far as I can find out I would be the first craft brewery within the county, which could be a huge selling factor when looking for capital.

The Plan: The plan is to build a small brewery (less than or equal to 3.5bbm) and taproom on my property and eventually build up and expand to a secondary location (10+ bbm) while keeping this first one as a small batch and test brew facility in time. My property is a 2.1 acre property so space is not an issue, however the biggest issue I feel I face is a lack of municipal water supply. There are ways to deal with this but I don't know if its worth it or if I should just look at other possible venues.

This whole idea is in the initial phases, by that I mean I have an idea on paper, a name and possible logo and that's it. I will be starting to develop a business plan as soon as I feel I've gathered all the necessary information.

Anyways any input from you guys and gals out there as to questions I should be asking them (ie. zoning, health code, business grants and developments etc.) would be greatly appreciated and extremely helpful.

 

[treacheroustexan]

Hi all,
As the title implies I have a meeting tomorrow with the head of tourism and economic development and the head of the planning division in my county (haldimand county Ontario) to discuss building and opening a nano brewery on my property. As far as I can find out I would be the first craft brewery within the county, which could be a huge selling factor when looking for capital.

The Plan: The plan is to build a small brewery (less than or equal to 3.5bbm) and taproom on my property and eventually build up and expand to a secondary location (10+ bbm) while keeping this first one as a small batch and test brew facility in time. My property is a 2.1 acre property so space is not an issue, however the biggest issue I feel I face is a lack of municipal water supply. There are ways to deal with this but I don't know if its worth it or if I should just look at other possible venues.

This whole idea is in the initial phases, by that I mean I have an idea on paper, a name and possible logo and that's it. I will be starting to develop a business plan as soon as I feel I've gathered all the necessary information.

Anyways any input from you guys and gals out there as to questions I should be asking them (ie. zoning, health code, business grants and developments etc.) would be greatly appreciated and extremely helpful.

There are a couple guys here who have went pro, but I would recommend heading to probrewer.com forums for this.

 

[jbunton]

There are a couple guys here who have went pro, but I would recommend heading to probrewer.com forums for this.

Thanks I joined up there and have been looking at the classifieds for equipment pricing. Thought I'd get a little traction on this topic here. I'm sure more than a few homebrewers have gone pro as most Brewers I seem to have met have all come from homebrewing. Again any input would be helpful.

 

[Ike]

Sub'd. Gonna listen in on this one.

I have a friend who thinks my hooch would sell if I tried. He's offered to be the "business side" if I make the product. So, sort of a Breaking Bad, Walter White and Jesse kind of thing. Call me Heisenberg.

We're in Idaho, and I notice you're in Canada. Still, it will be interesting to listen in on the process. We're pretty much clueless, but I have a couple leads on folks in my area who've made the move from the garage to a nano and might be willing to let a noobie have some knowledge.

ETA: I've also joined up at probrewer.com... thanks to @treacheroustexan for the lead!

Best of luck!

 

[jbunton]

Thanks, I have already learned allot as far as the regulatory requirements go here. I will update Tommorow with outcome and when I have more information

 

[mattd2]

If it is an initial meeting, be upfront with the fact your not 100% down with the relevant zoning / city planning requirements and get an understanding from them of the best way forward (and if they are really on your side regarding wanting this to fly some understanding of the assistance they can lend when dealing with the various authorities).
As for water what are the options you are looking at?

 

[acidrain]

What are your local laws regarding selling alcohol?
Here in the states, you need special federal and state licencing besides the actual facility. The facility is (relatively) the easy part.

 

[jbunton]

Had the meeting with the county today! Things went extremely well. It is confirmed I will be the first brewery operating within my county and have their full support and resources!

Also they put me in touch with a cidery that operates just 5 km away from me on the other side of the mighty grand river, ontario, canada lol yes I'm a cunuck.

(Insert hoser pun here.lol)

So after my meeting I call my new contact up and we had a long conversation about how he's got his cidery profitable and has been pondering the idea of a brewery. Has some spare equipment, experience and capital and has been looking for partners. Funny thing is he knows the planning people I talked to and one of his good friends is an avid homebrewer who also works for the county in the planning department.

So I will keep this thread updated and let you all know how things progress! Cheers!

 

[jbunton]

If it is an initial meeting, be upfront with the fact your not 100% down with the relevant zoning / city planning requirements and get an understanding from them of the best way forward (and if they are really on your side regarding wanting this to fly some understanding of the assistance they can lend when dealing with the various authorities).
As for water what are the options you are looking at?

I think between talking to the county and my contact in the cidery it's agreed that it would be best to open up in one of the major towns in the county.

 

[acidrain]

What kind of hoops do you need to jump through for selling alcohol? Have you explored that yet?

 

[jbunton]

Yes have explored that. Need multiple alcohol and gaming commision liscences, a federal excise liscence, and continual product testing through the LCBO QA Lab. Luckily it looks like I may be partnering up with the cider guy (he has a ton of expierience with all that), and as well another well known and respected business owner also wants to come in as a somewhat silent partner and offer capital and resources too (he knows many of the people that work for the county). Tons of nitty gritty stuff to figure out. Business structure, legalities, clear defined roles etc. Plus find a location, source equitment, materials etc. But one step at a time.

 

[acidrain]

Sounds awesome!
I was wondering if your laws were any less stringent than ours, but sounds similar.