ProBrewer Expert Topic • Volume 2024, Issue 10
Professional Services to Help Run a Smooth and Profitable Business
This month’s ProBrewer Expert Topic explores in detail the wide variety of Professional Services that can be used by those in the alcohol beverage industry to ensure your business is successful and profitable.
supported in part by Siebel Institute of Technology
Editor's Introduction to Professional Services to Help Run a Smooth and Profitable Business
Now more than ever, it is essential to run an efficient and organized business to ensure profitability and continued growth. It is impossible for a small business owner to handle all aspects of running a business, making it crucial to seek the proper professional help when it is needed.
Outside professionals can offer guidance and expertise in just about any aspect of business management and growth, including human resources, legal, financial, production, packaging, sales, marketing, distribution and regulatory compliance.
Within the pages of this month’s Expert Topic you can find articles on how to know when you need to seek professional services and how to pick the right source to meet your needs. There are also articles on specific types of professional services such as insurance brokers and trademark law and articles to help guide you through how to properly train your staff and tips on how to attract and hire top talent to your business.
Also be sure to check out the ProBrewer Classified Ads for Professional Services here.
Featured Articles in Professional Services to Help Run a Smooth and Profitable Business
Managing a Brewery’s Social Media Accounts
Managing the morass of social media apps can be anxiety inducing for even the average user. When it comes to running business social media accounts, however, the pressure ratchets up. Navigating different campaigns across a half-dozen or more idiosyncratic platforms can border on the absurd. There are tools and tricks to help you more effectively engage your audience online. (more...)
Diversify Where You Pour With Pop-Up Bars with Chris Musil of Coldbreak + Justin Lynch of Arryved POS
Pop-up bars are a growing trend for modern breweries, and taking your taproom to-go is easy with today’s savvy jockey box and tech stack selection. But what’s the value of a taproom on wheels? Join Chris and Justin as they discuss how mobilizing your taproom is good for business:
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Asking For Help: Hiring a Brewery Consultant
It’s a little ridiculous all the hats a brewery owner has to wear just to keep their business going. Even before you first fire up the brewing system, you have to make hundreds of decisions, small and large. The initial planning stages can take months if not years, with questions about location, type of building and zoning restrictions, negotiating the lease, dealing with demo or build out, meeting electrical and plumbing codes, and then tap room design, managing employees, among dozens more topics, all before a single drop of beer is poured. Whether you’re only thinking about getting into the business or have been in operation for years, there is value in seeking out professional advice from brewery consultants. (more...)
A Conversation of Tipping in Breweries
Over the past several years, many breweries have reconsidered their service models – searching for the delicate balance that best maximizes the experience for both guests and staff. In doing so, this has also generated more conversations about best practices regarding tipping. In this panel, we will discuss different tipping models, their benefits, their challenges, and how conversations on tipping can result in greater success for your taproom.
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Attracting (and Keeping) Top Talent: ESOPs vs. Profit Sharing with Brandon Selinsky of Beer Law HQ
Good employees can be difficult to keep around. Never has this been more true than in the Great Resignation. So how do you stay competitive as a workplace?
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Considering Employee Ownership: Questions to Ask Before Undertaking the Initiative
For many, the idea of owning a business is part of the American dream and there are thousands of examples of that in the country’s small breweries. There are times when founders and owners want to add new people to the mix and considering bringing on existing employees as owners can have a lot of benefits. (more...)
An Exit Strategy: Questions to Consider Before Closing Up Shop
The small business survival rate can be terrifying to people contemplating opening their own shop. According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, approximately 20 percent of small businesses in this country fail within their first year of operation. By the end of year five, half have closed. And these stats were before the pandemic took its toll on already strained businesses. (more...)
How to Recruit and Retain Exceptional Employees – An Interview with Pontoon Brewing CEO Sean O’Keef
As the brewing industry grows and becomes more competitive, brewing companies need to make sure they are offering competitive salaries and benefits to recruit and keep top talent. Sean O’Keefe, the CEO and co-owner of Pontoon Brewing in Sandy Springs, Georgia spoke with Beer Edge editor John Holl about his brewery’s approach to employee compensation. (more...)
Insurance Checkup: Tips for Reevaluating your Insurance Coverage From Peter Whelan
Let’s be honest, absolutely no one enjoys dealing with insurance issues. In the best of times, insurance can seem like a pricey extravagance, a hedge against some hypothetical crisis that will likely never appear. And every year when it comes time to renew your coverage, the irritating process starts all over again. (more...)
DEI: Closing the Gender Gap in Beer – an Interview with Deborah Brenner of Women of the Vine & Spirits
There are a lot of conversations that focus on closing the gender gap in the beer industry and actionable steps have been made in recent years, but more work needs to be done. It is not as simple as simply offering jobs to women. There are rooted problems in the beer industry that need to be addressed to make companies responsible employers and to set a culture that fosters inclusivity. (more...)