Building A Small Brewpub - 3
Putting off bookwork as long as possible I dove straight into a simple layout of the plumbing. I had gone back over to the spot and found where the water came into the building - a 3/4 inch line, which would work - and where the sewer line exited. In my experience it is typically in the location of the restrooms, but not always.
I am not comfortable using the old plumbing of the existing garage space, so I plan on putting in new floor drains. I just have to tap into the sewer line. With the floors already plain concrete, I laid out a sewer line that connects all the important areas where I want drains like the serving tank cooler, kitchen, bar and brewery. From these main arteries I will add floor drains, floor sinks and trench drains.
Using a chalk line I could snap lines onto the concrete where it is to be removed. The landlord gave me a key so I can go in there as often as I want. Also, you don’t need a building permit to do demo, so I can hire some guys with a concrete saw to cut the concrete along the lines and remove it. The plumber will install the new lines. One thing I know for sure however is I am going to pour new concrete in the serving tank room and brewery on top of the existing concrete so that there is a slope to the drains. I will be there that day to make sure it’s done correctly. I don’t want a low spot in a corner that’s hard to reach. I won’t begin any of this work until I have a signed lease.
Next order of business is to set up a checking account. My lawyer gave me my corporate documents already. These are needed to set up a business account. As for funding I’m going to open the account with $50,000. Once the account is set up I’ll order checks. These business checks will be one check per page that can be printed with an office printer. A blank check at the top and two check receipts at the bottom. I’ll explain why later.
Then I did a google search in my town for someone who does simple bookkeeping using Quickbooks. I still need a CPA to do my taxes at the end of the year, but I also want someone who can set up my Quickbooks, show me how to input transactions and later once I’m open, come in once a month and do my monthly taxes like sales tax, 940 and 941’s. I could figure this out myself, but I’d rather make sure it’s done right and for $50 an hour, it’s more than worth it.
Another piece of advice I got was how I would post that $50,000 into Quickbooks. Sure it will show up in the general ledger as available funds, but I will post $5,000 of it as my cash contribution to set up the company. The remaining $45,000 and any additional money that goes into the business will be set up as a loan. This way the business can pay me back for the money I lend it with interest. The IRS wants to see that you are putting some of your own money into the business, and I am told $5,000 should do it. But with the rest of the money, it is reasonable to expect a return for that money I am lending to this business. In fact, that’s how I will treat all other money I happen to borrow from friends and family. More on that later too.
For the time being I just set up an office at home. I have my computer, printer (the new type that doesn’t use cartridges but ink is refillable and saves money) a file cabinet for invoices to be paid and for invoices that have been paid, and finally a white dry-erase board so I can keep track of my daily to-do lists. This also will come in handy later.
I started asking around about young architects. I just need them to make my drawings official so someone young and new to the job hopefully won’t charge too much. My lawyer buddy suggested the son of a friend. He was just certified. I called him up and made an appointment. Turns out his wife is an engineer and they recently set up an office. I made my appointment for the next day with my fingers crossed.
Hell, I’m going to do this thing. I have funded an account and set up a company. I still have three weeks before I sign the lease, so a big hurdle to get out of the way is to start on my licensing. This is the Brewpub license through the state. The application process goes through the town clerk, and she already gave me the forms to fill out. The other important license is the federal one. This is done online through TTB.gov. There are a lot of forms for these two licenses that go along with both the state and federal ones. I can fill them out now but I can’t submit them until I have possession of the building. If I start the tedious work now of filling out each form, then once I have a signed lease (something I need to show) I can submit everything. I know it can take anywhere from 6 weeks to 6 months to get approval so I want to get this done now so that while the paperwork is going through it’s machinations, I can be building the brewery: something that is infinitely more fun.
But first thing tonight before I visit with the possible architects, I want to plan out the kitchen. Then I can give them a floorpan that is 80% complete. Busy busy.
Sequence of Events
Find a suitable location - Check
Draw up a floor plan - Check
Check with the town zoning to see if a brewpub is allowed in that location - Check
Get someone from the building department to do a walk through in the space while showing them my plan to see if they see any pitfalls - Check
Set up Company - Check
Set up bank account and fund - check
Draw plumbing plans - check
Draw up detail kitchen plans - to do
Meet with architect and engineer - to do
Apply for state and federal licenses - to do
To be continued…
