Investing in a craft brewery means more than free beer for life

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You have taken craft beer for many years. A weekend cannot pass by without visiting your favorite brewery with friends and family and enjoying tasty beers. Then one day, you start discussing how you can invest in the craft beer business and enjoy free beers.

Well, before you start thinking about the possibility of getting free beers any time you want, you need to understand that starting a craft beer business is not easy. It comes with a lot of patience, money, and planning to ensure that it succeeds.

Starting any business is not a walk in the park. Breweries are not different. They require a lot of money, especially when it comes to capital. In addition, permits and other legal requirements might overwhelm you. 

Here are a few things you need to keep in mind, not just free beers;

Location, Building, and Construction

A craft brewery business needs a good home. The cost of this home depends on different things, key among them size and location. If you choose to rent a building, you need to ensure that you have enough funds for rent and a security deposit.

In addition, you might have to change a few things in the building to ensure that it is fit for your business. Things like electricity requirements, plumbing, and building height, among others, will influence how much work you will have to do. Always remember that being a tenant can become tiresome.

If you decide to build from scratch, then you need to look at the cost of land and construction. Again, this will be dictated by the location you choose. Do not just think about the free beers, you need to first look at these costs.

Brewery Equipment

Different factors affect the amount of money you are going to spend on your brewery equipment. Some of the most important factors to look at include the condition of the equipment and the size of the craft brewery.

Those craft beers you enjoy go through different processes before you can take them. All these processes require different pieces of equipment. For instance, the smallest capacity of brewing equipment can cost you about $100,000 for a new one.

You might end up spending more than $1 million on the big ones. However, this cost is slightly lower for those who choose to buy used equipment. You, therefore, need to ensure that you have enough money for your equipment.

Licenses and Other Government Regulations

Before you decide to start a craft brewery business and enjoy free beers, you need to understand that you have to abide by regulations set by both the federal and local governments. This differs from one place to another.

While it might not cost you anything to get a license from the federal government, you will be charged varying fees by the local and state government depending on your location. In addition, the process of getting these licenses might overwhelm you.

For instance, it might take you about four months before the federal government responds to your request. It might take even more time before the state responds to you. You also need to consider other costs such as insurance, bonds, fees, and taxes.

Management

Management is an important part of the success you will experience if you start a craft brewery business. First of all, you need to ensure that you have recruited the right people. You cannot run a brewery business alone.

In addition, you cannot rely on manual processes. Doing this would increase the chances of error, something that would affect the quality of your beers. You need to look for brewery management software such as the one found at www.getollie.com

These software applications play a vital role in helping you manage the entire beer brewing process. Things such as payments, inventory, order processing, customer relationships, brewery production, and reporting can all be handled by a single software application.

Bad Batches

A craft beer brewery business is a business just like any other. No matter how good you are at management, you will go through unfavorable batches that might affect the success of your business. You need to understand what to expect in your first year of business.

For instance, you will not always brew beer that meets your standards. Others might not even be worthy of human consumption. You might also encounter legal issues that might lead to losses.

In addition, you might find yourself in a situation where you need to expand. This needs a lot of capital. Instead of thinking about the free beers that you will get to enjoy, you need to think about the bad times your business might go through.

Investing in a craft brewery means more than just free beer for life. You need to also think about the things discussed above before you can enjoy your free beers.