Small start-up commercial brewery.
#1
Posted 30 March 2009 - 07:28 PM
#2
Posted 30 March 2009 - 07:43 PM
#3
Posted 30 March 2009 - 07:49 PM
#4
Posted 30 March 2009 - 08:10 PM
#5
Posted 30 March 2009 - 08:15 PM
#6
Posted 30 March 2009 - 09:20 PM
750k?! That'll be tough to scrape up without a winning lotto ticket. Did he buy the building?I've spoken with a few guys that started and failed. The main theme to their demise was that they didn't think large enough, all the way around. The brewery was too small so they had to work harder and their loan was too small and they ran out of cash to start growing. The one guy told me that his loan was $750,000 and it wasn't enough.
#7
Posted 30 March 2009 - 09:23 PM
How big of a system would you have liked to have initially?BTW eeking by would be fine with me. The goal would be to not lose money and improve lifestyle. Breaking even would be my main goal, profit would be an added bonus. It'll be several years before I can afford to break even though.Be prepared for success! 10 bbl is way too small, even if you do draft only in a moderately savvy market (well in that instance you could eek by for a couple of years, if eek by is your goal).I'm halfway through the third boil of the third brew of the day (15 hours and counting) on the 1.5bbl brewhouse at MBC to fill one of our 4bbl tanks to the absolute top because we dont' have a chance in hell of possibly keeping up otherwise.At this rate we may well over 200bbls in our first full year and I expect our max to be around 300-350bbls annually. Needless to say we've already outgrown our current system and the owners are having a really hard time investing in upgrading the brewery, and I even brought the brewery online $30,000 under budget.Get a bigger system than you'll think you need, get more thanks than you'll think you need, get more kegs than you'll think you need, get spare parts and test everything before putting it to use (preferably before purchase)./end rant
#8
Posted 30 March 2009 - 09:53 PM
#9
Posted 30 March 2009 - 10:10 PM
To give you an idea, when Deschutes Brewery opened up their Portland Brewpub, the brewpub-only system was 21 barrel.How big of a system would you have liked to have initially?
#10
Posted 30 March 2009 - 10:26 PM
#11
Posted 30 March 2009 - 10:53 PM
+1. Reduce your initial investment. The money saved can go towards sales, marketing and distribution.Let some one who has gone through the learning curve of brewing beer on a large scale do it for you. You can specify every point of the process so it will truly be your beer.This is how Sam Adams got startedzymotI'd actually think about contract brewing. Seems crazy, but lets face it, you need to sell your beer to make it. Work out a deal with an existing brewery. You would make the beer with them. They would package, and probably help you get in with distributors too. Focus on sales and marketing. That clears out tons of upfront costs and overhead.
#12
Posted 31 March 2009 - 04:10 AM
#13
Posted 31 March 2009 - 06:27 AM
Well you already have the advantage of having started your own company, to me that's a huge advantage. I'm thinking of starting to go to the free entrepreneurship seminars that are put on by the local chamber of commerce.It's funny that this should come up.A little background on our life style here at our place. We have what we call a "leap frog" marriage. The short of that means, one of us supports us while the other pursues their dream. Each cycle is 4-6 years. While I was trying to get me business up and running, the wife/girlfriend supported our family. We are currently in the cycle where I'm supporting our family while she is pursuing her goals in life.Any way-back on point. She asked me the other night, what I would like to do when my turn came around. I said I'd like to have a small brew pub. I checked around and the equipment could be had for around 100k for a 30 bbl system. The building would be another 150-200k. Outfitting the building, 1 year supplies, for 1 year, food, taxes and misc. stuff would be another 300k .600k just to get up and running for the first year.Hmmm, I think I could stay home and find a way to take the 600k work so that I get 5%-10% return a year and I could brew every day of the week if I wanted and give away the beer.
#14
Posted 31 March 2009 - 06:53 AM
#15
Posted 31 March 2009 - 07:15 AM
#16
Posted 31 March 2009 - 09:44 AM
#17
Posted 31 March 2009 - 10:05 AM
#18
Posted 31 March 2009 - 10:44 AM
This is true.There's a fine balance. I've thought about the same thing, but I worry that my market may be saturated with craft breweries. I know Denver isn't as saturated, but it'd be a worry. Other locations may have difficulties getting people to try any craft beer. Each market is different.And consider that making the beer is the easy part....selling it is the hard part!
#19
Posted 31 March 2009 - 12:36 PM
#20
Posted 31 March 2009 - 12:49 PM
See, if I hit the lottery, I wouldn't want to be forced to go to work at a restaurant every day.If I won the lottery, I'd build a kick-ass brewery at home, a great home bar, and I'd invite my friends over. A private, invitation-only brewpub.If I ever hit the lottery, there will be a brewpub with me as its owner.
0 user(s) are reading this topic
0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users