The Business Plan. Part 2.

Here’s and update on where we are with the business plan.  We submitted it to the Oregon State competition and apparently there are better writers out there; we didn’t win.  Ho hum.  We did receive very positive feedback.  And in the meantime, we’ve been busting a hump day and night working on updating the business plan.
Here are the basics of the plan:

 

1. Executive Summary


2. Company Overview (who, what, where, when, why)


3. Products and Services


4. Beer Market Analysis


5. Our Market Segmentation


6. Demand


7. Demographics, Etc.


8. Industry Analysis


9. Our Business Strategy


10. Our Marketing Strategy (lots of stuff on social networking!)


11. Operations (including HR!)


12. And…  Profitability - we’re still working the end.

 

Our goal is to have our completed business plan to our banker by December 15^th for a face-to-face meeting in early January.

The business plan is a labor of love.  The more we read and learn, the more we want to keep updating the business plan.  The line in the sand will be drawn on December 15^th for the banker.  The line will be erased on December 16^th as we progress.

 

We’ve got a lead on a piece of property.  It may be a financial leap but it’s all that we could ask for and more.  Ten thousand square feet of light industrial warehouse space in a “hot” part of New Orleans.

 

More to come y’all!

 

Karen

Where Y'at?

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted.  We’re currently under the gun to get our business plan in order so we can present it at the Oregon State University’s short course on how to open a brewery.  We head to Bend, Oregon the week of September 9^th to get educated by the professionals from the Ninkasi Brewery.

So outside of the business plan you may wonder what we’ve been up to…  well let’s see…  we’ve fallen in love with session beer.  The winter weight gain has been pretty hard on me and I have to consider that outside of not exercising as much because it’s cold and dark, a contributing factor could be my love of IPAs!  So, I’m trying to wrangle the weight down before the snow hits the ground again.

Outside of drinking session beer, we’ve toured a few Alaskan breweries.  The folks at King Street and Midnight Sun Brewery gave us impromptu tours…  all we did was ask a few questions and the brewers were happy to show us their ‘kit’.  We also had a chance to stop in Denali Brewery.  We didn’t go to their production brewery but we did visit their brew pub.  Their business is on the rise.

I’ve begun to read the Louisiana Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control’s website trying to understand what it takes to open a brewery.  Hurdle number 1 – we have to have a location prior to applying for a permit so I guess that means I need to contact Stacy Head, Council Woman at Large in New Orleans to try and figure out what we need to look for in a location.  Now, here’s the million dollar question – do we lease or own the property?  I’m in agreement with Mark, we purchase the property and locate the brewery on our on ground!



More to come y’all!

The Love of the Centrifuge

Centrifuge is where it’s at! Who needs a bright tank when you have a centrifuge? Mark and I went to Midnight Sun’s tap room yesterday and we were lucky enough to get a quick tour of their brewery. They have discovered the centrifuge. It’s an expensive piece of kit but well worth the money.

More to come…

Karen