Building A Small Brewpub - 6
The following is a fictional description of opening a brewpub.
It took a bit more convincing on my part to come up with an extra $100,000. I think the sweetener was being able to show them a location and my plans for it, but I had to sweeten the deal even a little more before I could convince 4 people to each lend the brewery $25,000.
Once the money is deposited in our bank account, they will each receive a check for $208.33 every month ($25,000 x 10% divided by 12 months). They also get a $75 dollar gift card every month to use at the brewery. But I added something else: I gave them Phantom Stock.
Phantom Stock is not real stock ownership in the company. It’s more of a bonus system. For $25,000 I gave them 5% of any profits I take out. That’s the kicker though, I don’t plan to take any profits out for a year. But if the thing goes gang-busters and I decide to give myself a big fat $10,000 bonus, I would actually only get $8,000 and the $2,000 would be split up between the 4 lenders. I think that’s a really good deal for them, but for me also because I still retain 100% ownership. Their 20% is just a bonus plan, not equity.
With this, I just signed the lease. Luckily I had my insurance in place so if anything went wrong in the building, I would be covered.
The other thing I did was have both my state and federal brewers licenses ready to submit. With the federal one, the TTB, I just needed to scan my lease to show I had possession of the property. I had already done all the other forms they require on line. It was easier than I thought.
With the brewpub license I submitted the actual paper application to the city clerk, who will file it with the state after it goes before the city council for their approval. An extra thing I needed to do with the state that I didn’t have to do with the TTB, is take 2 finger print cards the city clerk gave me to the local police station, where I paid a $10 fee and they finger printed me. That goes along with the application so they can look at my criminal back ground. “Come get me coppers!”
With all the license applications turned in I am now ready to get this thing built. I picked up three “bid sets” of plans and found three different contractors. I dropped the blue prints off with each to get their bids. I also asked each one first, if they had built any restaurants because that would be good experience, and second, can I get a list of what locally they had done, so I could go take a look. I also wouldn’t mind asking their former customers what they were like to work with. Sometimes the cheapest bid is not always the best. I want someone I can work with.
No time like the present, I need to start gathering up the equipment I will need for the brewery. So I made the ProBrewer/Classifieds my home page on my computer so every time I turn it on, I can scan to see if there are any deals. I made up a budget for my equipment and as I get things I fill in the spread sheet with the actual cost.
I just got a call from the city clerk. She say’s the sanitation department wants me to write up a description of my effluent and how I will treat it before it goes into the sewer. Hmmm, well I’ll have to make something up. I did fill out a form similar to that for the TTB. I hope something like what I wrote up will do.
In the mean time I have to drill down on the business systems for this place. I can do that at night over a beer. A little bit each night and it doesn’t seem so daunting.
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 - check
Meet with architect and engineer - check
Apply for state and federal licenses - check
Come up with a name - check
Get insurance set up - check
Acquire additional funding - check
Sign the lease - check
Demo for plumbing - to do
Hire Contractor - to do
Start acquiring equipment - in progress
Start on Business System - to do
Food Menu - to do
Service System - to do
POS System - to to
Oyster! - to do
