Ask Dr. Frankenbrew
10/1/23
For something different this week, I thought I would describe what to me at least, would be a perfect Frankenbrewery.
Wayne and Martha are in the mid 30’s. He works for a plumbing contractor making pretty good money. Martha is an electrical engineer who works remotely so she can take care of their three year old son Todd. They have both been avid home brewers since they met in their 20’s and belong to the local home brew club.
Their dream would be to own their own brewery and one day Wayne goes to a job at a sandwich shop that had closed down and the landlord was making repairs before putting it up for rent. It’s not large, about 1,800 sq. ft. but in a decent location. A thought occurs to Wayne and after work he sits down with Martha and tells her about his idea.
“Didn’t Dr. Frankenbrew say to start with an existing restaurant location? I can now see why. This space has a large walk in cooler, floor drains, HVAC, two restrooms that are up to code, a nice paved parking lot and a good location. The inside is a mess, but we could re-decorate it.”
Looking at their money saved in 401k’s they have about $50,000. The rent for the space is $2,500, and the land lord needs first and last and a $2,500 deposit, but, she will forgo the rent for 4 months while they build, and tack those 4 months on to the end of the lease (5 years with two 5 year options) to make her money back.
They contact friends and family and figure they need another $75,000 to get the brewery off the ground. They will borrow that money at 10% interest only, paid monthly and eventually switch to principal and interest. Paying interest only at the beginning will only cost them $625 per month. They can afford that.
A layout is drawn up placing the brewhouse and fermentation where the kitchen was, but leaving some of the kitchen in place so they can prep panini sandwiches they can serve to their customers. Serving tanks will go in the walk in cooler which lucky for them is right behind the service counter they will turn into a bar.
They decorate in English pub fashion, wanting to make it look like a warm and friendly pub where neighbors can meet. All it requires is a lot of paint and many trips to thrift and antique stores - fun!
The space had proper zoning because the cafe had been serving beer and wine already. An application is put in with the city and also with the TTB (Taxation Trade Bureau) on line, once they form an LLC and deposit money into a commercial account at their local bank. Martha’s friend knows Quickbooks, and sets that up for them as well.
While they need to get a building permit and also apply for a food license, they do not need an architect or structural engineer because they are not changing anything structural to the space.
Wayne looks on www.probrewer.com under classifieds and finds a used 7-barrel direct fired kettle for $5,000. It’s not pretty but it will be out of site in the back kitchen under the existing kitchen hood. He also finds 4 used serving tanks for $3,000 each with pressure relief valves and carb stones. Next he goes to eBay and finds a used Thomsen pump on a cart and two dairy tanks. One he will convert into a mash tun and the other as a hot liquor tank. That one he will raise up so the water that is heated in the kettle can be transferred to that hot liquor tank, and gravity to the mash tun for sparge. Sweet.
He contacts breweries in his state to see if they have any spare parts in their bone yard they want to get rid of and scores a lot of tri-clamp parts, and what more he needs he buys from Glacier Tanks. Finally he buys two Letina Z-1000-C’s from St. Pats of Texas and a UBC 3/4 HP glycol chiller from Foxx Equipment. Reading Dr. Frankenbrew’s book on the Affordable Brewery he sees how to set that up and being an actual plumber his looks much better than Dr. Frankenbrew’s.
One important thing he does is to add a window behind the bar into the cooler so his customers can see the tanks. It’s important he knows that the guys who come into a brewpub see some stainless!
Finally, they decide what positions they need. A Brewer, a General Manager, a shift manager and a server. Then they create a training checklist for each position, and next a daily checklist for each position so they know what to do each day. On this they add a side work list so that each position does one thing extra every shift to clean or organize.
Their place is small so they can get away with a shift manager/bar tender and two servers. The servers as part of their opening duties will prep up some sandwiches for the night according to a par sheet. When someone wants a sandwich, the bartender takes it out of the cooler and places it on a Panini Grill behind the bar. It will be served with a bag of chips in a wax paper lined basket.
The Point of Sale system they start with is Arryved, knowing that there is no perfect POS system, this one was at least designed for breweries and it doesn’t use expensive Apple products.
Before they open they do a training week with their staff, at first serving each other, then members of the community. When it comes time to open the door they do it quietly. They don’t want to be slammed at first, but it is a small town and they are slammed. But the beer is good, and reasonably priced. The place looks great and inviting and the staff at least knows what to do, though hick-ups will occur.
At the end of the first night they do the books and using Dr. Frankenbrew’s excellent Score Board they can start to see what kind of a pace they will be on for the month, fully realizing that it will change day to day, but they will be watching it to see if they hit their targets each and every day. Best of all, they are taking money to the bank the first day, reversing finally, the direction of cash in instead of cash out. They are glad they also followed Dr. Frankenbrew’s advice not to distribute and package, thereby simply serving by the pint and getting paid right away full retail on their excellent beer.
They are on their way. One thing for certain, their business will change. Every day they will make improvements to their systems. They will start to buy more equipment as they need it. They will expand the menu and hire more staff until their little brewery is busting at the seams. Then, and only after they have replaced themselves with others in the positions they were occupying, will they start looking around for another location. “Isn’t that old bowling alley on Route 5 sitting empty? Hmmm.”
This is not really a work of fiction. I have done it, and so have a lot of our students. In fact most legacy breweries started this way. Don’t let someone tell you that you need a million bucks to get into this business. What you DO need is a desire for the craft and a lot of imagination to get it done. Frankenbrew is not the be all end all. It is a way for you to start your own brewery that is profitable for not a lot of money. What you do after that is wide open - you have choices.
Let me know if you agree or not.
