New Year – New Beer (Strategies)

It’s the new year; the coldest, slowest months for those of us in the northern hemisphere. Aren’t you excited!?

Yeah, me neither. After a season of overindulgence and overspending, many breweries experience a yearly slump in business during January and February, but, there is good news! With the slowdown in business that usually accompanies these first couple of months, there is so much opportunity for setting your craft brewery up for success throughout the rest of the year.

The tips I’ve assembled are based on observations I’ve made over the last two decades and stories I’ve heard from friends and colleagues in the business. I have tried to tackle the items that are more overlooked, neglected, or constantly deprioritized rather than the obvious (pay your damn taxes, folks!). I also put a focus on how these items will pay dividends throughout the year, rather than just a checklist of what needs to happen. Some of these items can be done and set aside, but many are meant to be jumping off points in the larger story of your business’ success.

With an understanding that every brewery is different, and some of these suggestions won’t apply to your model, let’s get to some ways you can leverage these slower months to up your craft brewery game and help maintain and grow your business throughout the year.

Dust Off Your Website

I cannot emphasize this enough: if you don’t have a website with current, easy-to-find information, you are losing business. Period. Full stop. End of story.

Here are three items I believe are critical for a successful website.

The Most Basic Information

In the most basic sense, if people do not know where you are located and when you are open, they cannot spend their money with you. So, if the ultimate goal of a business is to make money, why in the world would you make your potential customers do extra work for that information?

Add a footer to every page with the following information:

• Hours
• Address
• Contact info (including socials)

You never know how people are going to land on your website, and the absolute last thing you want is to make them search for the most basic information on how spend their time and money with you.

No, do not do an “about us” link or similar. This info needs to be on EVERY PAGE; just add the info to the footer and be done with it. A footer is also ideal because you only need to update one place, making management that much easier.

Note: if the brewery is tricky to find or has parking issues, it is worthwhile to provide a page with that information, but adding it to the footer will just provide clutter and confusion. You can add a link to the footer titled “visit us” or similar, but if you have a clear link along your header or in your main menu, you are all set.

An Updated Beer List

At all times, slow and especially busy, have an updated beer menu.

There is really no wrong way to do this as long as it’s current, accurate, and easy to manage. Some ways this might look:

• A dynamic, live beer list run through a provider that mirrors what customers see in the taproom
  • Angry James provides a great example that includes their specials and to-go at the top
• A list made in a publishing program that shows all of the beers with the date and time it was updated
  • Old 121 Brewhouse has a clean layout and good branding
• A menu embedded directly on your website
  • Maine Beer Co keeps it short and… hoppy…
• A snapshot of your handwritten menu board taken at the beginning of each shift

Regardless of how the menu looks or where it is created, the most important thing (to your customers) is that it is up-to-date and (to you and your staff) that is it easy to keep that way.

Some of the negative consequences of not having a beer list published on your website are:

• Potential customers will call your brewery to ask what is on tap, wasting the time of whomever answers the phone
• Potential customers won’t show up because they don’t know what beers you have and aren’t willing to roll the dice that you’ll have what they are in the mood for
• Potential customers will come in and be grumpy with your staff because what they wanted isn’t available
• Potential customers will come in, look at your menu, and leave because what they wanted isn’t available

You want to convert potential customers to paying customers – so give them a reason to come into the brewery.

Yes, there is the potential that someone won’t come in at all because nothing on the list looks appealing, but people are far more likely to be nasty to staff and/or post a bad review because their time was wasted coming into the brewery to only find out there was nothing for them.

Having a robust online beer menu also allows you to put extensive descriptions on each beer, including ABV, IBU, ingredients, etc. Your staff and customers will both appreciate this extra touch that gets them to know your beers a little bit better and can help them make their drinking decisions.

Note: if you package and distribute, having a “find our beer” link is wonderful, as long as it’s kept updated. If you can’t do it by brand, just having the accounts that carry your beer is still worthwhile.

A Calendar

Just like the beer list, what’s going on at your brewery on any given day can determine whether a person will make the trip through your doors. And, just like your beer list, the calendar can be as simple or dynamic as you want. What matters most with a calendar is that it is:

• Current
• Clear
• Easy to find
• Easy to manage

Some breweries put all events on one calendar, others separate food trucks, music, and other events. It’s really up to you and what works for your space. If it’s large, graphic calendar, it makes sense to have everything in one place. However, if it’s a smaller, digital calendar, it may be easier to read if everything has its own calendar – but in this case make sure people know there are multiple calendars to check.

If you choose to do a graphic calendar, such as one made in a publishing application like Canva, setup a template for each month so you can just plug in events as you go along. You can also pre-fill days you know you’ll be closed or have special events (like your anniversary party). If you do choose one of these more manual calendars, put the date and time it was updated so that people can see that it’s the most recent.

Regardless of format, I highly recommend having AT LEAST six weeks of events listed so that people can plan ahead. This is especially important around holidays and big local events when people are making travel plans ahead of time. This advanced planning is also why it’s so important to have your holiday hours updated everywhere.

Let’s Get Digital… Digital…

While you’re sprucing up your website, you might as well manage the rest of your digital life. Review make updates now so that you don’t have to think about it again (until later, at least).

• Check and update your hours (including holiday hours!)
  • Google
    • Google *should be* automatically scraping your hours from your website
  • Facebook
  • Yelp
• Check and update your contact info
  • Google
  • Facebook
  • State/local brewer’s guild
  • The Brewers Association
  • Untappd
  • Yelp
  • Trip Advisor
  • Your distributor’s website (if applicable)
• Check your address and make sure it is pinned to the correct spot on the map
  • Google
  • Apple
  • Untappd
  • Yelp
  • Trip Advisor
• Update/add your link in bio
  • Instagram
  • TikTok
• Update your profile/cover photos on the appropriate sites. If your profile photo is the brewery’s logo, leave it be, but updating a cover photo can put you into fans’ timelines, reminding them you are still around and giving your page a fresh look.

There are likely other sites where your company is listed that drive business to you. Check your state and municipality’s tourism site, sites like BringFido if you’re dog friendly, or other beer-centric sites. Also look at your website’s analytics and see what other sites are driving traffic to you and make sure everything is updated with them.

Fix Your Sh*t!

More than likely you have a lot of deferred maintenance that needs to happen. It can be small stuff – like balancing a wobbly table – or big stuff – like hauling that collapsed fermenter to the dump. Some items require regular maintenance that gets pushed off until “it’s slower” – well – guess what!? It’s slower. Let’s get it done so that you start the year with them off your plate, your calendar, and your mind.

Whatever the issue is, yesterday was the best time to tackle it, but today is the second best, so might as well get ‘er done.

Draft Line Maintenance

A tap line deep clean should be done every six months, with regular cleaning every other week AT A MINIMUM.

The Draught Quality Manual is an invaluable, FREE resource that should be in every brewery. This time of year is great for doing a full service on your lines and for getting into the habit of regular cleanings.

Cleaning your lines not only results in a better product experience for your staff and customers and is more sanitary, but also saves you money. Dirty lines result in more foam, more waste, and, potentially, infections that can cost beer and customers.

A great little piece of marketing your commitment to quality is posting the date your lines were cleaned behind the bar. This lets customers know that they are drinking beer out of a properly maintained system, it is a point of education between you staff and the customer, and builds trust that you care about both your product and the customer.

Many people hire outside companies to do their draft maintenance, and it can be an incredibly smart use of money as the specialists will have all of the best equipment, chemicals, and will not only clean your lines, but can also balance your system.

If you have a draft system that isn’t balanced, and your staff is pulling foam instead of beer, you are, in a very literal sense, pouring money down the drain. Balancing a draft system means making sure that everything is in equilibrium so when you open the faucet, beer (not foam) is poured into the glass, and CO2 is released at the appropriate speed to create a beautiful head on the beer while keeping the beer itself appropriately carbonated.

So often I see FOH staff open the tap and allow foam to pour down the drain until it turns into beer, then putting the glass beneath – or – they fill the pint with foam pouring over the sides and into the drain until it is filled with beer. Both cause waste, with the latter also resulting in a flatter pour. Either way, balancing your draft lines will result in a better experience for staff, customers, and more profit for the brewery.

Where The Magic Happens

Just like the front of house, the brewery is likely in a constant state of cleaning, maintenance, and repair. However, there are some things that only need to be addressed periodically, and January/February is the ideal time to take care of some of the bigger items that may get pushed aside because of production schedules and other priorities.

The number one more ignored regular maintenance item in the brewery due to its complexity, time commitment, and plain intimidation factor is the heat exchanger deep-clean.

Yep, pulling apart your wort chiller and scrubbing the plates and replacing the bad gaskets is a necessity that should be happening every six months to a year. The timing depends on your production capacity and how much particulate might be making its way through your heat ex, such as hop matter or adjuncts. While a strong cleaning routine, including flushing the heat ex both forwards and backwards helps greatly, even the most stringent closed-cleaning system does not eliminate all of the particulate in the system and does not allow for examination of the gaskets.

The longer you put it off, the more likely it is that expensive gaskets will need to be replaced or other costly maintenance issues will arise. In addition, a dirty, malfunctioning wort chiller slows down knockout, costing money in the time of staff and the cost of cooling liquids. Besides these direct costs, there is also the reputation cost of quality issues that can arise from particles becoming lodged amongst the plates. Remember that the heat ex is really the first step to cold side, and you want to reduce the possibility of introducing anything to the wort after the boil.

There are very few companies that do heat exchanger deep cleaning: but I do know a guy (who also does draft maintenance, by the way).

This is also a great time to take inventory of tri-clamps, hoses, gaskets, etc and figure out what needs to be replaced, repaired, or supplemented.

The packaging line, being chockfull of moving parts, is another source of frequent maintenance and frustration. Go through and make sure everything is cleaned, oiled, and running smoothly while there is a break in production. If there are broken parts, order new ones and replace them and update any software. However, if your line is run via a tablet and it’s still functioning, but could run better, hold off replacing until late summer, when technology goes on sale in anticipation of the new school year.

About that Wobbly Table…

As with anything related to spaces your staff spend most of their time in, the first step to finding what needs to be worked on starts with a conversation with them. Everyone has their pet peeve – be it an oddly-situated heater, a towel dispenser that spits out fifty at a time, or, yep, a wobbly table, your staff is your best resource for finding what needs to be fixed.

Some of the front of house maintenance items you can knock off the list this month:

• The dishwasher
  • Even if you have a company that is supposed to be doing the maintenance, it doesn’t hurt to pull the tray out and wipe it down. You may find spots where the jets are not spraying, there is buildup, or other issues that you can communicate to the company.
• The bottom of your glassware
  • Dishwashers *should* take care of this, but people frequently forget the bottom of the glass when handwashing, leading them to become spotted, dusty, and grimy. A beer-clean glass means the ENTIRE glass.
• The shelves
  • Where the POS sits. Where the glass grid is (and the glass grid itself). The crowler/growler shelf. Where the rags sit. EVERY SHELF.
• Tables
  • Flip them over. Check the bolts. Chip off the gum. Wipe them down. Replace feet.
• Chairs
  • See above
  • Repair any busted upholstery
  • If you have any permutation of these chairs (or these or these or these), go ahead and just yeet them into the abyss and start fresh with something that isn’t a torture device. Remember: you want people to be comfortable and hang out so they spend more money, not sob in agony as their bums, hips, and legs cramp and die.
• Light fixtures, fans and other elevated things
  • Dust your shit. Yes, it’s up high. It’s easy to forget and hard to get to. But do you really want dust floating down into your carefully crafted beer? Nah. Get a painter’s extension pole if you need and wipe all that dust away.
• Bar- and table-top
  • If they are scraped or scuffed, time to repair and/or refinish

People Pleasing

Some say that the hardest part of running a business is dealing with the people. While it is certainly the most challenging aspect, it can also be the most rewarding. Working in collaboration with your staff affords an incredible opportunity to develop them as people and within their careers as well as learn about your business, your customers, your product, and yourself.

Talkback

While you should have a regular schedule where you are meeting with your staff, providing and soliciting feedback, the new year is a great excuse for a fresh start. Develop a schedule for meeting with staff: regular one-on-ones, semi-annual review sessions, managerial checkpoints and departmental and all-staff meetings. Sit down with each employee and give them any updates and then- and this is far-and-away the hardest part – listen to them with openness and without judgment. In a quality one-on-one, some of the topics you might want to cover with staff are:

• What were their big successes of the year?
• What are things they want to work on?
• What are their pain points?
• What are things they see that can be improved?
• If the business is hiring, what kinds of people do they want to work with?
• What kind of engagement/training would they like?
• Is there anything else in the brewery they would like to learn or participate in?
• Do they have any ideas for making the brewery better?
• How can you support them as an employee and, most importantly, as a person?

These conversations require putting your ego aside and being open to feedback. It can be very difficult, but it is an incredibly rewarding skill to learn and pays dividends immediately between the things you learn, the empowerment of your staff, and the trust developed.

Training

There is literally no better time than now to train your staff. Well, maybe like maintenance, yesterday was the better time. But now is pretty dang good. You will discover a lot about what training is needed and wanted just by having the above conversations with your staff. However, here is some training that would benefit any brewery:

• TIPS
• ServSafe
• Cicerone
• Off-Flavors and sensory
• Safe Bars
• Insights

If you would like help with staff development and management or are interested in in-person Cicerone, off-flavor, or sensory training, reach out!

Make. Better. Beer.

You opened your brewery to share your unique perspective on beer with the world, so you need to make sure that the beer you are putting out there is of excellent quality and aligns with your brand.

The process of sitting down and really examining whether a beer is worth continuing to produce – as with any important examination of your business – will require a level of honesty and criticism that will be uncomfortable at times, but will pay off in the end.

This work should be done in collaboration with your brewer(s) and FOH manager, at a minimum.

Some questions to consider when sitting down after evaluating sales trends, inventory, and schedule:

• What beer needs an increase in frequency or quantity?
• What beer should have a reduction in frequency or quantity?
• What beer should be brewed at a different time of the year?
• What beer should be nixed entirely?
• Where are there gaps in the lineup?
• Are there any beers that the brewer wants to try brewing?
• What ingredients are there in inventory that need to be used up?
• What ingredients need to be re-ordered or supplemented?
• What feedback has been received regarding beer styles/quality that should and can be acted upon? Are there any themes?
• What events need specialty beers?
• What beers need to be brewed for competition?
• What are opportunities for collaboration with other breweries/businesses?
• What charitable causes are you excited about brewing beers for?

Answering these questions will help you set your production schedule for (at least) the next six months. However, do not set up such a strict schedule that there is no room for adaptation if need be.

If you package, there are additional considerations, and you should loop in your packaging and sales managers. Some questions related to packaging:

• What format(s) are beers selling best in?
• If working with a distributor, how is that relationship going? Are there any concerns?
• How is the quality of the packaging product vs on draft?
• Are certain beers selling at certain accounts better than others?
• Are certain beers not selling in package that do well on draft or vis versa?
• Are accounts asking for different styles than what is on offer?
• Are there any recurring issues with the packaging line that needs to be worked out?

This is also the time to discuss setting up or refining your formal sensory program. Your brewer is NOT a sensory program, and you should utilize your entire staff, if you can, to provide educated feedback on the beers. This also enhances a sense of ownership over the process that can translate into better relationships between BOH and FOH as well as education of and communication with customers. As with sensory training, I can help you set up a basic (and inexpensive!) sensory program.

Branding and Marketing Check-In

Like most things on this list, this isn’t really a one-off item. This is something that needs a lot of deep thought and commitment, however, it is a good time to sit down and look at the past year to inform decisions made in this new one.

Do a Brand Deep-Dive

Take a critical look at your brand. What is your mission? Your message? Your story? Does your branding and marketing align with those things?

Things to examine in this process:

• Logo
  • When was the last time it was refreshed?
  • Does it reflect where your brand is today?
  • Does it reflect where you want your brand to be in a year? Five years?
• Merchandise
  • What is selling and not? When?
  • What are other businesses offering that sells well? Where can you offer something unique?
  • Can you do different designs to refresh your offerings?
• Packaging
  • Is the branding cohesive?
  • Does the design stand out against other branding on the shelf?
  • Can we do a better job of communicating quality and freshness to our customers on our packaging?
• Social posts
  • What posts received the most engagement?
  • What kinds of posts are other breweries making that are getting engagement?
  • What content will differentiate your brewery while aligning with your brand?
• Decor
  • Does your tasting room reflect your brand?
  • Are there things within your budget that can make it more welcoming and align with your mission?
• Overall atmosphere
  • What do you want people to feel when they enter your space? Are you accomplishing that?
  • Are your staff aligning with your brand in their service?
  • What is the customer ordering and paying experience like? Are there ways this can be streamlined? Are there bottlenecks?
    • If you are not offering tap to pay, consider updating your POS so that you don’t lose customers who may not be carrying their wallet, such as cyclists, runners, hikers, etc
  • Do the acoustics (music, noise level) enhance the experience of your beer and space?
  • What do you want your customers doing while in your space (watching TV, reading, talking to each other, playing games) and how can you encourage those activities?
  • Are your customers comfortable? (Pro-tip: not if you have not yet successfully yeeted and replaced these chairs (or these or these or these)!) Are they staying for multiple drinks? Are they returning?
  • Is this is space you and your ideal customer wants to spend time? How can you reach that ideal?

Work on Yourself

If you glean nothing else from this article, please at the very least take this time of reflecting on this past year to make yourself a little better for the year to come.

Leadership is a passion of mine (I have my bachelor’s in community and collaborative leadership and two professional certificates in organizational leadership), and these are some books that I have really enjoyed and have informed how I develop and work with people.

• FranklinCovey and The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
  • I know it’s cliche, but this book and all of FranklinCovey’s offerings are incredibly valuable and impactful. Through my many leadership courses, I have read the book easily a half dozen times and gain new insight every time I do, and the courses just make the lessons of the book richer and more actionable.
• Leaders Eat Last
  • Being a great leader means building trust and being a resource for those you are leading (read: get the hell out of the way).
• Dare to Lead
  • Anything by Brené Brown is incredible. You cannot go wrong. This is just particularly directed at people in a leadership position.
• Radical Candor
  • Since the heart of leadership is trust, and trust is impossible without communication, this book helps outline a communication and feedback strategy that will help build that trust within your business.
• Start with Why
  • From time immemorial we have shared ourselves through story, and it is through story that we connect. This book shows how using stories and telling your (or your business’) “why” can reap rewards from hiring to selling.

If reading books isn’t your thing, there are a plethora of online resources that can help you develop your business and leadership acumen, from Ted Talks to Instagram creators.

Regardless of the medium, take what feels true and what feels challenging and use those to build yourself and your business into the best possible version.

Roundup, Reflect, and Review

You’ve spoken to your staff, you’ve scheduled things that need to be fixed or maintained, you’ve set up your digital life, so now is the time to stop, pour yourself a pint, and do the hard work.

The new year is a wonderful time to reflect and review as there is an easy timeframe for you to use as sideboards. Sit down with your data and review what did and didn’t work in the past year. Some data to gather to help with this:

• Financials
  • You should know what these are, but a selection of what may be most beneficial for this particular exercise:
    • Beer sales
    • Merchandise sales
    • Food sales
    • Packaging
    • POS fees
    • Events
    • Staffing
    • Ingredients
    • FF&E
    • Subscriptions and services
• Engagement and reviews
  • Socials
  • Untappd
  • Google
  • Yelp
  • Trip Advisor
  • Beer Advocate
• Competitions
  • Medals
  • Scores
• Schedules
  • Events
  • Staffing
  • Production

When you have taken a look at the data, sit back and reflect on the stories that data tells. You have already taken the time to look at some of these things with your staff (like beer sales), but what are some other insights you can glean? Consider what your staff has told you in one-on-ones and other meetings in addition to the data.

• Cashflow
  • Where is money being in ways that don’t align to your mission?
  • Where can money be spent on outside services so staff can focus on their priorities?
  • Where is money being spent on outside services that make more sense being brought in-house?
  • Does packaging make economic sense? Does it align with our mission and brand? Ask these same questions about working with a distributor.
• Food (assuming you do not have an in-house kitchen)
  • What snacks are and are not selling?
  • What snacks can you bring in to encourage people to hang around?
  • Food trucks
    • What trucks were easy to work with?
    • What trucks did a good job promoting their visits?
    • What trucks brought people in?
    • What trucks have you had elsewhere that you’d like to host?
    • What trucks need to be written out of the schedule?
• Events
  • What worked?
  • What didn’t?
  • What opportunities are there?
  • What do you need to book early?
  • What paid events are worth the cost and what are not?
• Schedule
  • When are you over- or under-staffed?
  • What teams work better together?
  • Are there days you can be closed to save money?
    • Look at when other breweries in your area are closed and be open those days (eg most breweries are closed Mondays, so be open on Mondays and closed Tuesdays)
  • Are there opportunities to be open earlier and have owners or managers cover the front of house while doing other duties, thereby keeping overhead the same but also allowing for some cash inflow?

Finally, with all of the above in mind, sit back and think about how you feel about the past year:

• What were the business’ greatest successes? How can you capitalize on them? How can you repeat them?
• What were the business’ greatest failures? How can you avoid them in the future? Are there opportunities for growth and learning? Are there opportunities to turn them into successes?
• What are your fears about the upcoming year? What is the likelihood of each of those situations playing out? How can you be proactive in mitigating those issues?
• What are you most proud of related to your business?
• Who are the people in your organization you want to keep? How can you continue to support and develop them? Are there things you need to change to keep them happy?
• Is there anyone in your organization who no longer fits? Are there ways you can work with them to reintegrate them or is it time to cut ties? Are you the only one who feels this way? Do you have other staff you can engage in this work and decision?
• When you first started this business, what did you hope to achieve? Have you achieved those goals? If so, what new goals are you ready to tackle? If not, why? Are those goals still relevant or do they need to be adjusted or discarded?
• What do you hope for your business for this year? What steps can you take to make those hopes a reality?

Running a business, especially a small business, especially especially a small business in the hospitality sector is exceedingly difficult. The success rate of small businesses as a whole, and hospitality businesses in particular, is slim. But you have made it through to the new year, and that is something to celebrate.

Coming into this next year, if you lean on peer groups like the MBAA and brewers guilds/associations, talk to and build networks with other local brewers in your area, and forge strong, supportive relationships with your staff and customers, you will have the support you need to make it through whatever is coming.

Final Thoughts

Obviously, this list is far from comprehensive, but hopefully it’s a start to help you and your business succeed in the new year. Inertia is truly a force, whether it be physical or psychological. Use these ideas as the outside force that is acting upon you to break out of your routine.

The most important thing to remember when approaching this new year is that, while it was likely your passion that got you into craft beer, passion alone does not keep a company afloat. However, when you use your passion as the drive behind your determination to make a lasting, sustainable craft beer business, you will be better equipped to handle what’s to come and what your priorities need to be.

Over the next few months I will be making in-depth posts about ways you can increase and leverage your staff engagement, branding and marketing, digital presence and, of course, beer quality to recruit and retain customers and grow your business. Make sure to follow me to get the latest updates!

I wish each and every one of you the best in this new year. May it be filled with good fortunes toasted with good beer shared by good friends.

Cheers.