Haha, lucky you. A great book I read a long time ago said the best business that started was because the entrepreneur couldn't believe no one had thought of it before. Jump on this as soon as you can!!!
That’s what I’m racking my brain over, how can I differentiate myself from other nano breweries and find a niche in the market. I was even considering traditional brewing methods, but time constraints would probably come into play. I attended a brewing event back in march where they used 18th century techniques, and to tell you the truth, I found it very interesting.
I look forward to it! We don't have a lot of appropriately sized restaurants that go out of business out this way unless they are immediately snatched up by someone much bigger, or more aggravatingly, left vacant as a tax write-off forever. After I was laid off from Oilfield after oil prices tanked a week before the Coronavirus Panic took off, I walked the streets in and around Cheyenne, Wyoming looking for an opportunity but to no avail. I want food, but food trucks are unreliable in these parts, though I had already been pondering maybe having my own food truck like you were recently suggesting.
I'm not sure but it looks like not much activity here in the comments. I hope this gets to you!
We started as a brewpub and both the restaurant and brewery grew swiftly. They could not coexist in the original space. We moved the brewery to a former muffler shop 1/2 mile away. We just did free popcorn and sold chips the first year. Sales were not great. We found a reliable food truck operator and after 6 months of coming to the brewery, we partnered with him to make a food stand. (Our local health department is terrible to mobile food) We placed a 20' shipping container in the beer garden. I fitted it as a full commercial kitchen. Taproom sales doubled. the venture (50/50 split) was profitable in the first 6 months. This was slightly more expensive than a trailer but not a truck. We do smash burgers, fries and desserts. The brewery owns the container and supplies utilities. We don't charge rent, but in return he (chef) manages all the food and staffing. We like this arrangement.
We still have a restaurant that is 80% of the trouble and 20% of the profit. We are making it show good cash flow so someone will buy it and the brand and commit to buying our beer for 60 months. My wife also has said, "no more restaurants!"
Tom your words aew always an inspiration. Your ability to be self disciplined is ONE of your greatest strengths. Seeing you implement these principles over the years is proof of your advice. Sandy is obviously your largest assest/Blessing in life. Congradulations!!
Am I completely missing something? In my market (a little under 750K pop metro area encompassing 2 cities and a couple towns in between) and NOBODY has a sports "bar" themed tap room. We're 25 miles from Green Bay, WI. We have 16(?) high schools that all compete throughout the year for state championships and are seriously competitive and their games are televised (primarily football). And we also have a small university that fields sports.
Doing a search for "sports bar" in Appleton, WI nets over 20 results. Not one is a brewery/tap room. The four primary breweries in town that I've talked to never thought of sports as a "theme" when they were planning because they didn't have an interest in sports. So, we have two without any screens whatsoever (one modern, one English pub style), one is similar to a cave and one with 2 screens (both with Untappd information) and a modern/Florida-like vibe. This seems insane to me.
Haha, lucky you. A great book I read a long time ago said the best business that started was because the entrepreneur couldn't believe no one had thought of it before. Jump on this as soon as you can!!!
That’s what I’m racking my brain over, how can I differentiate myself from other nano breweries and find a niche in the market. I was even considering traditional brewing methods, but time constraints would probably come into play. I attended a brewing event back in march where they used 18th century techniques, and to tell you the truth, I found it very interesting.
I look forward to it! We don't have a lot of appropriately sized restaurants that go out of business out this way unless they are immediately snatched up by someone much bigger, or more aggravatingly, left vacant as a tax write-off forever. After I was laid off from Oilfield after oil prices tanked a week before the Coronavirus Panic took off, I walked the streets in and around Cheyenne, Wyoming looking for an opportunity but to no avail. I want food, but food trucks are unreliable in these parts, though I had already been pondering maybe having my own food truck like you were recently suggesting.
Hi Tom,
I'm not sure but it looks like not much activity here in the comments. I hope this gets to you!
We started as a brewpub and both the restaurant and brewery grew swiftly. They could not coexist in the original space. We moved the brewery to a former muffler shop 1/2 mile away. We just did free popcorn and sold chips the first year. Sales were not great. We found a reliable food truck operator and after 6 months of coming to the brewery, we partnered with him to make a food stand. (Our local health department is terrible to mobile food) We placed a 20' shipping container in the beer garden. I fitted it as a full commercial kitchen. Taproom sales doubled. the venture (50/50 split) was profitable in the first 6 months. This was slightly more expensive than a trailer but not a truck. We do smash burgers, fries and desserts. The brewery owns the container and supplies utilities. We don't charge rent, but in return he (chef) manages all the food and staffing. We like this arrangement.
We still have a restaurant that is 80% of the trouble and 20% of the profit. We are making it show good cash flow so someone will buy it and the brand and commit to buying our beer for 60 months. My wife also has said, "no more restaurants!"
Cheers,
Greg Hershner
New River Brewing
excellent advice. This is especially true now with the explosion of microbreweries over the last 10 years .
Tom your words aew always an inspiration. Your ability to be self disciplined is ONE of your greatest strengths. Seeing you implement these principles over the years is proof of your advice. Sandy is obviously your largest assest/Blessing in life. Congradulations!!
Am I completely missing something? In my market (a little under 750K pop metro area encompassing 2 cities and a couple towns in between) and NOBODY has a sports "bar" themed tap room. We're 25 miles from Green Bay, WI. We have 16(?) high schools that all compete throughout the year for state championships and are seriously competitive and their games are televised (primarily football). And we also have a small university that fields sports.
Doing a search for "sports bar" in Appleton, WI nets over 20 results. Not one is a brewery/tap room. The four primary breweries in town that I've talked to never thought of sports as a "theme" when they were planning because they didn't have an interest in sports. So, we have two without any screens whatsoever (one modern, one English pub style), one is similar to a cave and one with 2 screens (both with Untappd information) and a modern/Florida-like vibe. This seems insane to me.
Am I under-thinking this?