How to Start a Brewery

Business Overview:

Beer lovers rejoice: Learning how to start a brewery can put you on the path to a fun, profitable—and possibly life-changing—business venture. If you’re considering opening a brewery of your own, you must have a detailed microbrewery business plan, which should include the location of your brewery, the type of beer you plan on brewing, the type and supplier of brewing ingredients you’ll use, a bottling and distribution plan, and your marketing plan. It also must include your means of funding a business like this; after all, the location, equipment, ingredients, and distribution of handcrafted beer are expensive. You should be prepared to invest at least $25,000 USD in the startup of your brewery. If you’re still excited by this business idea, here’s the lowdown on how to start a microbrewery. First you’ll need to find a location for your brewery, one that’s large enough to house all of the equipment you’ll need to brew and bottle, and then a bar area if you’re planning on including a brewpub in your master plans. As an alternative, you might also consider seeking out an existing brewery and leasing or buying a share of that space to brew and bottle your recipes. An added bonus to this type of shared brewery could be that you’ll have another brew master to turn to for business advice and brewing techniques, especially if you’re rather new to the beer-making process. Then you’ll need the ingredients to make your magic and the equipment required to bottle your beer. Finding a reputable supplier of ingredients and learning the ins and outs of bottling and labeling will be key to your smooth running operation as well. Finally, a plan to sell your brew, either in stores, on a website, or at a pub, will be necessary to make your business lucrative. At the end of the day, you get to sit back and enjoy a pint of your own creation while mingling with friends and customers if you’ve opened a pub, knowing it’s your great business idea that afforded everyone the opportunity.

A Day in the Life of a Brewery Business Owner:

If you’re the owner and master brewer, you will need initially to be hands-on in the mixing, pouring, and tasting of your brew. You will make the daily decisions about what brews to craft, when a brew is ready, and various other operational decisions. If you have employees doing most of the work, you will still want to oversee the major operations to ensure the quality—and the vision—remain your own. A daily check on inventory might lead to a call to your suppliers, and a review of your bottling, labeling, and distribution systems will be necessary to see how your inventory is moving. Of course, the nitty gritty details will always be an important part of each day—reviewing financial records, handling payroll and rent, and ensuring your advertising is effective will render your business truly successful.

About Your Customers:

Customers of a brewery business will be interested in sampling and buying handcrafted recipes of beer. They might try your brews because of the quality ingredients you use (maybe your beer is organic or uses all fair-trade ingredients) or because you’ve created a craft brew that they is far superior to a commercial beer. No matter, they will likely be connoisseurs of good beer and will enjoy learning about your brew’s origins.

What You Need to Start:

• A brewing location
• Brewing equipment
• Bottling, labeling, and distribution equipment
• Business license, permit, and insurance
• Recipes for your homemade brews
• A means of selling your brew for profit
• A pub to showcase your goods, if desired
• Suppliers for your brewing needs
• Employees, if desired
• Financial-tracking software

The Good:

• This is one business idea that can be extremely enjoyable at the same time it is profitable.
• You can act as sole proprietor or you can share your business with partners and employees.
• You can operate a pub in addition to your brewery to increase your profits—you can even give tours of your brewery as an attraction.
• Your business can make others very happy.
• You become an expert of beer making.

The Bad:

• The startup investment is steep, even if you utilize the equipment of an existing brewery or buy out an established company.
• This is not a part-time business venture. It will likely require a great deal of time, energy, money, and knowledge in order to get off the ground successfully.

Resources:

• Brewers Association
• Master Brewers Association of the Americas
• North American Brewers Association
• Wikipedia on Breweries

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