In What Order Do I Do Things

I almost didn’t write this week. Sandy and I are on vacation in the highlands of Scotland and we just finished a really good hike in reasonable weather. I am sitting on the bed and have a bottle of Cairngorm Wildcat, a nice Scottish Ale from the local Cairngorm Brewery and said, “Sandy, I don’t need to write every week.” She said of course you don’t. But then my old Catholic upbringing kicked in.

While I was hiking I was thinking about a question I get a lot, which is, “In what order do I need to do things to open my brewery?” Well, this is how I go about it.

One

Form a company. Either a Limited Liability Company or a Corporation. If you do a Corporation, you can make it a Sub-Chapter S Corporation, which will allow you to pass-through profits and losses to your personal taxes. Talk to a lawyer and an accountant about this to understand all the ramifications. It should only cost a couple hundred to talk to an accountant, and five hundred to fifteen hundred for a lawyer to set it up.

The lawyer will file an application for a federal ID number (like your social security number but for your brewery). They can also do this for a state number as well.

You will need to put some of your money into the company. Probably about two to five thousand. Any money you personally put in after that can be booked as a loan - talk to your accountant!

Two

Open a business checking account. This is where you will put that two to five thousand dollars. To open a business account the bank will need to see your companie’s organization papers and also have your tax ID.

This is when you want to set up your accounting software, like Quickbooks. You can hire a bookkeeper (your accountant will know of some) and they charge about fifty per hour. They can set this up and show you how it works. This way when you start paying for things from your company, you are keeping track of the expenses, which you will need for tax purposes.

Three

Find a location. I’ve written quite a bit about this. It’s in my book Brewery Operations Manual. There are some ways to save a bundle of money and a ton of time with the right building.

Four

Apply for your federal and state brewers licenses. The federal one is through ttb.org. It can be done online and doesn’t cost anything. Each state has their own licensing maze you need to go through, but to lead you in the right direction, just go to your town clerk. They may be the one who handles it. Most likely it will require a fee, a background check including being fingerprinted, and getting approval through your town council - but not always.

Five

Design your space and start construction. If it is an existing use like a restaurant, this can be very simple. If you are turning a space like a warehouse into a brewery, you will need to hire an architect and an engineer. This should be done as soon as you acquire the space.

Construction can take four to six months most likely. This is fine because your license will take this long. Also, you need that much time to put your equipment together……

Six

The fun stuff. Buy your equipment. I say save money and go Frankenbrew. That would be my book The Affordable Brewery, but do what you want. You need the time to get it all together and then into your space.

Seven

Set up your business operating system, which is how you will run the type of brewery you are planning. It takes time so start working on it during this six month period. It’s super important.

Eight

Oder everything else you need. All the other equipment, signage, logo work and tee shirts, glasses, furniture, etc. Set up your web site and other social media. Order your POS system. Set up you office. It’s getting scary now.

Nine

Start brewing beer as soon as it is legal to do so. You probably need to be brewing at least one month to two months before you open so that your beer is on tap when you do open.

Ten

Training and opening. In the Brewery Operations manual I outline a training week for your staff. Also super important. Then an opening party, a day off to clean, and finally open for business.

There, I know I left a lot of things out, but this is the basics. It will change depending on the type of brewery, the location, the building, even the type of beer you brew, but I think you get the idea.

Anyway, I finished my beer and we are now heading to a pub for dinner. Woohooo.