Last Updated on February 25, 2021 by Guest
Over the past few years, the world of humble breweries has only grown into a successful commercial niche. What’s more, it has resulted in many craft breweries increasing in popularity as they’ve started generating more visitors and thereby more sales every year!
With the realm of craft breweries constantly thriving and expanding their horizon, it only makes sense that you grab this opportunity and launch your very own brewery.
Now, we know what your very next question is going to be – where do I start when planning to open my own craft brewery?
Well, here we’ve put together a comprehensive guide explaining the A to Z of launching your own brewery in 2021 (along with how you can improve your brand’s popularity by incorporating various elements like aesthetics, custom printed beer coasters, and other brewery equipment).
Let’s take a look!
1. Start With the Basics
When you’re in the initial stages of launching your business, know that it will be a long procedure and require most of your time and investments; however, the results are absolutely worth the blood and sweat!
Building on that, opening your very own brewery is also going to be the most exciting yet frantic experience.
However, the good news over here is that you’re not the only one to go through these feelings while looking at all the choices coming your way and the ones you have to make.
By leveraging the right skills, support, and resources, you can ensure that this journey of yours not only turns out to be a successful one but is also worth it.
What’s more, to make sure your craft brewery business is successful, you need to find the right balance between creating a robust strategy before starting and offering yourself the required liberty to pivot or adjust the existing plan as you move forward.
2. Come Up With a Proper Business Plan for Your Brewery
A business plan is an essential tool that you must create in the initial stages of launching your brewery, particularly if you’ll be trying to obtain capital from lenders or investors.
This is because when you’ve got a plan ready with you, it increases your business’ chances of getting approved.
Additionally, for entrepreneurs looking for investments, their business plan’s quality can literally make or break their deal – after all, it shows the investors that you’ve done some research from your end and have taken every possible factor into consideration.
While creating a plan, make sure that it’s concise and to the point, and also ensure that you’re regularly updating it.
With a complete plan in place, you can move a step closer to fulfilling your dream of launching your own craft brewery in 2021.
3. Figure Out the Expenses Required to Launch Your Brewery
While the startup costs involved in launching a brewery can be slightly higher, the actual expenses depend on your plan, the brewery’s location, production levels, and more.
However, the biggest challenge is going to be the way you plan to deal with hidden costs and fees that are likely to pop up.
Here, the costs can be separated into 2 categories:
- Major Expenses
- Smaller Expenses
If you’re opening a craft brewery for the first time and aren’t sure if you could receive the required funds for it, it only makes sense to launch a microbrewery as an alternative.
This comes with many benefits, especially for beginners just dipping their toes in the industry – you don’t need to rely on consequential costs required for full-scale breweries. What’s more, although microbrewery can also be slightly expensive, they’re usually more reasonable to launch.
4. Create a Brand for Your Craft Brewery
Once you’ve created a business plan and made financial arrangements for your brewery launch, it’s time to get started with its branding process.
Now, to create a design for your brewery, you don’t have to be a professional graphic designer. It also doesn’t matter if you’ve been to a brewery before or not. You may already have a rough idea of the themes and aesthetics used in most breweries and what you’d want to add to yours.
Moreover, the realm of craft brewery has come a long way in branding and enunciating their product’s personality – this has further resulted in them building robust customer loyalty and increasing their returns.
That said, here we’ve mentioned the top 4 things you need to focus on when creating a brand:
- Always start with choosing a unique name for your brand; ensure it’s something that people have never heard of and that it piques their curiosity.
- Create a visually appealing logo; this is another way to lure more customers to your brand.
- Choose the perfect color scheme for the interior of your brewery. Here, make sure that the selected scheme helps uplift the entire ambiance of your brewery.
- Select the perfect location, one that’s easily accessible for everyone.
Only after you’ve ticked these things off your list should you be moving on to the next step.
5. Purchase the Required Brewery Equipment
Now that the brand has been created and the location has been decided, start purchasing the required brewing equipment to keep your production going while maintaining the quality standards.
While you’re at it, don’t forget to purchase branded beer mats from a professional beer coaster printing company. This will help you add a hint of your personality to the brand and help you create stronger brand awareness amongst your customers.
There’s no doubt that this equipment would eat up a huge chunk of your budget, but ensure you’re doing your research and speaking to multiple vendors.
This is because they can offer you the best possible guidance on which equipment and tools would work the best for your craft brewery while also helping you compare its prices.
6. Get the Necessary Licenses, Permits and Insurance
Since you’ll be directly connected with alcohol production and sales, you need to abide by your respective state’s laws and regulations.
Moreover, with close governance on the alcohol niche and state laws exercising control over how one can run a brewery, you must research your location requirements.
Of course, every state has its own laws and regulations for launching and running a brewery; however, there are certain documents and obligations that you need to have at the ready beforehand. That way, you can avoid potential issues in the future.
7. Prepare a Financial Forecast for Your Brewery Beforehand
Last but the most important step you need to look at while trying to launch your craft brewery is – Forecasted Sales!
For this, you could seek assistance from either a brewery consultant or an accountant. Since they’ve got the necessary experience in this industry, they’ll be the best person to provide you with all the information alongside additional assistance.
All you need to make sure is that all your legal documents are in top shape!
You’re All Set to Launch Your Craft Brewery Business
Now that all the crucial fundamentals have been set straight in terms of how you need to launch your brewery, you can start turning your dream into reality!
Launching your brewery can be a mix of both daunting and thrilling experiences, particularly if you’re starting.
However, bear in mind that you aren’t alone in this journey and that there are several tools and resources available out there. You can also reach out to other brewers in the industry to gauge their knowledge and experience.
The bottom line is, as long as you’ve created a proper plan and got the foundation right, you’ll surely witness great success and growth.
So get started and do what you always do best – Get Brewing!