Mark and I just completed a week at Oregon State’s brewery startup course in Bend, Oregon. It was by far the best professional education short course I have taken. I learned more than I ever imagined and I am even more excited about opening a brewery than before. The class has made us think about our strategy and now we’re contemplating refining it. My original dream was to open a 60 bbl production brewery; I did and do realize that would take a significant amount of capital and was / am prepared to raise that amount of money.
A few important lessons; we need a one, three and five year plan. Before the class, I was working on just the general plan. I also found out that draft sales are the most profitable but bottles and cans are the most accessible to drinkers. “Bombers” or the 22 oz bottle available at most retail stores are highly profitable and there is significant demand for them.
The Ninkasi Management Team spent a day and a half with us. They shared a lot; especially from an employee value proposition and on the importance to get out of the weeds and plan for expansion.
Bend was fantastic. I forgot how much I love that town; if you haven’t been and you like beer and doing outdoor activities, I highly recommend the trip. We rented a house almost downtown on Mirror Pond and walked to OSU’s campus every day. The weather was perfect and the drivers of cars were quite respectable of our pedestrianism. I also had the chance to connect with my dear friend Steve Edwards and chew the fat with him. The last time we saw him was when Mark and I made a whirlwind tour there in 2010. Lots has changed since then including a few new breweries.
If you are interested in specifics, shoot us a reply and we’ll share what we learned.
Cheers,
Karen
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