And I remember when I could buy a full size candy bar for 50 cents, perhaps you should have spent a little less time at Cy's and a little more time in ECON101.
Oh let's just say have done pretty well and am well past Econ 101....
Is the Brewery era over?
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Oh let's just say have done pretty well and am well past Econ 101....
I have no idea...Do know they have done a lot of non traditional things securing equipment, real estate, and labor. My guess is their cost of operation is significantly lower than most microbreweries.
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I’d be interested in knowing some of those non traditional things. Getting licensed to brew and sell beer is not an easy task. You have to prove you own or rent a commercial space, own the brewing equipment you say you do and have to prove you are going through the normal channels to pay your workforce for all the insurance you have to carry. Not calling your friend a liar, I am genuinely interested. If I could brew beer for 8¢ A pint, I would definitely start a brewery.
Most numbers I looked into are well into the $3/pint range, on the low end, after you add all operating costs. Most breweries, relying on tap room sales for business, use their base beers as a break even point and charge more for the specialty beers to hopefully boost profit.
Put 1,000 guys on an island with 500 ladies and they aren't all getting laid. It's a numbers/quality game.
But if we change that to 1000 ladies and 500 guys it could work.
They use an old farm milk cooler that they bought for $300 to do initial batch. Roller mill came out of feed industry. Motor that powers it was bought at an auction for next to nothing. Fermentation tanks came out of China. Cooler actually use window a/c units that are tricked into cooling cooler than they normally operate. It's nothing fancy, but passes code, is extremely clean, and let's them spend the money on quality ingredients. They hired very few contractors to do the work and did almost everything themselves. I may have the 8 cents a glass figure wrong, but am sure whatever it is was under 20 cents...My guess that is simply product cost and overhead needs to come off too, but they don't have a lot stuck in overhead and those are fixed costs that will get lower with the more beer they sell.
Back to my original point $8 a glass that some of the places charge seems excessive, but hey it's a free country and they are charging what the market will bear. I would think demand is elastic however and will limit sales, but it hasn't seemed to yet...
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The specialty and limited releases can make some big money if you have a tasty beer. TG will be selling 1500 two packs of Assassin bombers for $100 and they won’t last even one day. I realize not everyone can brew like TG does but the potential is there if you can.
I think that's crazy, but obviously they have a good product that beer snobs will pay for. This consumer will use his $100 to buy a lot of other things (including some good beer.).
Because you like water.
Actually it's the biggest beer in America because it's good.
Have friends who are building 2 barrel brewery/taproom. They own the space. Spent at least 20,000 on electrical/plumbing, structural remodel. At least another twenty thousand on cold room, brew in bag system, two brite tanks, draft system. In the neighborhood of another ten or twelve thousand on kegs, industrial pump, four plastic fermenters with CIP options, etc.They believe they can produce a pint for less than a quarter. All depends on how much goes out the front door.
Probably alcohol content. Most of the crafts are double that of Bud or Mich and they're not something you're going to sit around and pound all day like the macros.
They would probably be better off renting the space out. My guess is making the beer isn't the expensive part.
McDonald's makes the best hamburgers in the world, right?
No but Bud is good. It tastes good. I love it.
