The BEST Brewery Marketing Tool You've Never Heard Of...

If you're ready to get serious about improving brewery profits and cash flow, the Beer Business Finance Association is here for you.

The association is a network of brewery owners and managers who come together to share ideas and best practices to help run a financially successful beer business.

In today's podcast, I'll share why the network came to be, and how you can join and transform your brewery financial results. 

Key Points

• Quarterly financial round-table meetings with beer industry peers
• 24/7 online access to a library of brewery financial training courses
• Access to brewery workshops and webinars
• Brewery planning templates, models and spreadsheets

Resources

• Book a 15-minute discovery call 
• Learn more about the benefits of the Beer Business Finance Association

Today we talk variable compensation and incentives with Aaron Gore, Director of Partnerships and Community at Arryved.

Key Points

• 99% of breweries in the U.S. see taproom operations as the biggest profit driver
• How to align employee compensation and incentives with top brewery objectives
• Examples and benchmarks to follow when setting up incentives
• First steps to implement a variable comp plan in your brewery

Resources

• Connect with Aaron Gore, aaron.gore@arryved.com
• Learn more about Arryved POS

Michael Varda from Craft Beer Advisory Services joins the podcast and shares early insights on 2023 taproom data trends. 

The goal of Michaels data is to show you why customers come to your taproom and what you can do to keep them coming back. 

Key Points

• The #1 factor in negative experiences: It's food. 
• What the "Food Ladder" can teach you about a customer's likelihood to come back to your taproom.
• Michael's mind blowing data point: 1 in 3 negative experiences are related to first impressions.
• Two years ago, 1 in 10 negative experiences mentioned price. Now it's 1 in 4. Pricing matters. Michael shares tips on how to be strategic when pricing food and beverages.

Resources

• Learn more about Craft Beer Advisory Services
• Join the Network of beer industry professionals

Today on the podcast we hear from Brynn Keenan from Grist Analytics.  Brynn and I talk all about brewery data and key metrics to track to ensure cost effectiveness in production.
 
Key Topics

• Case studies of how Ninkasi and New Belgium cut production costs and increased tank capacity
• KPI's used to track efficiency, throughput, resource utilization and equipment performance

Resources

• Connect with Brynn, brynn@gristanalytics.com 
• Connect with other brewery owners and operators 

Today on the podcast we hear from Justina Marcial, Director of Operations at Cape May Brewery. 

Justina shares Cape May's story of selling their distribution rights, how they build a strong culture with their 7 core values, and how they take company communication to a new level with a structured process. 

Key Topics

• Cape May's financial and business planning process, software stack and 2024 goals
• SWOT planning, Swim Lanes, and Resolutions - Cape May's keys to success
• How to use a business coach in business planning

Resources

• Connect with Justina Marcial at Cape May Brewery
• Learn more about the financial network for brewery owners and operators

Today on the podcast we hear from Dave Williams, VP of Analytics & Insights at Bump Williams Consulting.

Dave shares tips on how to create a portfolio strategy for the new year. He highlights several areas where beer is "winning" and how breweries can take advantage. And we dig into pricing and price sensitivity at retail.

Pricing is a big deal. Dave shares what you need to know about pricing trends and consumer behavior, so that you can position your products for success.

Key Topics

• Trends in ABV, beer styles, pack sizes - what's working, what's not
• What you need to know about pricing and price elasticity

Resources

• Learn more about BWC and connect with Dave on LinkedIn
• Learn more about the network of beer industry professionals

In today's podcast we share tips and tactics to build your taproom financial plan.

The process of financial planning (budgeting) can be long and arduous. Today, we talk about how to make it easier and maybe even enjoyable!

Key Points

• How to motivate your taproom manager to tackle the budget
• The first steps you should take when starting your plan
• Models and explainer videos to guide you through creating your taproom financial plan

Resources

• Learn about Taproom Success and claim your FREE MONTH
• Taproom financial planning...where to begin

Today on the podcast we hear from Scott Birkner from Dogwood State Bank.

If you're looking to fund a startup brewery or expand existing operations, you'll want to listen to this podcast.

Scott shares all the details you need to know about SBA lending and how to position yourself to get the best loan possible. 

Key Points

• Types of SBA loans available to breweries 
• Eligibility requirements, interest rates and terms
• The most common errors breweries make in their financial projections
• Specific requirements for start-up brewery loans

Resources

• Connect with Scott Birkner - sbirkner@dsbnc.com or cell: 704.564.5940 
• Check out the financial network for breweries

In today's podcast Bump Williams shares an early read on the BWC growth strategy survey.  

The results are...surprising. 

The survey is sent to hundreds of retailers, wholesalers and breweries, and asks one simple question:  What are your strategies for growth in the upcoming year?

The results are tallied, sorted by the most common answers, and analyzed to determine overlap amongst the companies in the 3-tier system.  

One of the goals of the survey is to identify where there is alignment or common growth approaches in the 3-tier system. 

One big takeaway: The results show a lot of misalignment. 

What does misalignment look like? Past surveys have shown breweries focused on innovation, while distributors focus on core brands, and retailers emphasize high-end products.  Hard to grow when everyone is rowing in a different direction.

Key Points

• Top 3 growth strategies for retailers, wholesalers, and breweries
• The divergence of growth strategies keeps getting wider
• How beer industry companies can use this information to align their own growth plans

Resources

• Learn more about how Bump Williams Consulting can help with your growth strategy
• Join the network of beer industry pro's

Today we hear from Andrew Coplon, founder of Secret Hopper, a mystery shopping service for taprooms and brewpubs.

Andrew has tons of data to share from over 6,000 unique taproom visits.

Examples include adding paper menus to increase guest spending by 25% and increasing to-go beer sales by 5x with one simple question. 

Key Takeaways

• The most important taproom data points to measure and manage  
• Tactics to train and motivate your staff 
• How Secret Hopper provides feedback and data on the customer experience 

Resources

• Learn how Secret Hopper can transform your taproom business
• Data points: The impact of menu types on taproom spending