Brewery Taprooms: Risks and Rewards

Today, breweries are hyper-focused on their taprooms. Serving beer directly to customers offers not only a financial advantage but also a strong connection to customers.

Increasingly, taprooms are beginning to look a lot more like brewpubs with partial or full-food service. If you started out planning to run a brewery but now find yourself running a restaurant and brewery, what are the risks and rewards of operating two very different businesses?

This fall UVM’s new Beer School, offers online continuing education courses aimed at serving operating breweries. We will offer two courses: Brewpub/Taproom and Restaurant Planning and Maximizing Taproom Sales and Profits and the focus of today’s podcast.

How do you hire and build a team? How does the food menu reflect your brand and community needs? How is menu development and pricing accomplished to avoid financial losses? How can you grow or scale for the long run?

Operating an on-premise retail business also involves far more than making good beer. Brewery owners must set-up taproom financial reporting systems and understand how to maximize taproom sales and track key financial numbers.

Please join Kary Shumawy and David Nyhan for a discussion of how to successfully turn a taproom into a strong business asset.

Please call us with your questions at 929-477-1757, or if you are unable to attend the live podcast, send us your questions ahead of time. Email me at gregory.dunkling@uvm.edu.