tarvelling brew on premises business idea

[Tom C]

Wonder if anyone has an insight, thoughts, comments or other thoughts in regards to this small business I have been thinking of. Now opening a brewery or brew pub has its challenges for me but I was wondering what people thought about a traveling brew on premises type of business. I know of a couple of local businesses in the area (Central MA) like Deja Brew in Shrewsbury, MA that people can go and brew. I thought it would be neat to take this concept on the road. It is kind of like a home brew catering event. I have the equipment that I now use for my all grain brewing with stand and all which would be easily portable. What interest do you think or logistical issues do you forsee with this venture? Does anyone know of such a business? Just a strange thought that seems to become easily implementable fairly quickly.

Thanks,

Tom C

[toneyc]

Are you talking about doing this in a single city, small area, or larger area? I can see where it might work in a single city or metropolitan area, where people might get used to the idea and start making use of it, but I think that a larger area wouldn't work mostly because of attention span. If there were a regular circuit that you made, like one weekend you were at the Coliseum and the next weekend you were at the, um, Smith Center, and the next you were at Jones World, and you just kept making those rounds, it just might work. If there wasn't a regular circuit, I think people would forget.

:D
Toney.

[wortchillergoal]

An interesting idea. I wonder how many of those brew at site bussiness are still operating and viable.

I would say go ahead and try. You really don't have any investment to make though I would make the customer pay for the brew up front . It might be costly to buy ingredients only to have customer cancel.

The only real other concern might be insurance. I don't know if you would be liable for any accidents at the customers' homes or if they would. A n attorney could answer that quickly and cheaply I would think.

If it only turned out to be a once in a while thing itstiil might out money in your pocket and be fun.

[brewmonkey]

BOP's have failed in large numbers in this country due to legalized homebrewing. While people may come in once or twice, repeat business is what I have seen faulted for the failures. Once the people have figured it out they go on their own and get the equipment.

BOP's are not going to attract repeat business that would be needed to keep it afloat. You will get the ones that come in a few times for the novelty of it but those that become serious about brewing will realize they can make it at home for cheaper then they can pay a BOP.

A traveling BOP could be a logistical nightmare. From grain to glass this is a timed event and traveling from place to place you would almost have to be there weekly for the patrons to rack, fine and package. You would need to be able to have refrigeration that is portable, yet large enough for anticipated business as well as the vehicle to move it. These are just a few of the things popping into my head right now.

While the traveling BOP does sound like a good idea, you will also have some state and local laws to deal with. While the ATF does not stick it's nose into BOP's like it does breweries, state and local governments can and will. Those are issues you would need to look into before jumping off.

Here is a link to the ATF's site FAQ which covers some basic BOP questions.

http://www.atf.gov/alcohol/info/faq/newfaqbackup.htm#b1

[chazwicke]

The Shenandoah Brewing BOP ( Alexandria, VA) has survived because they also brew beer for retail.

[Tom C]

I was thinking more like a catering type of style that I would travel to people's houses and brew. That was interesting information about the regulations of B-O-P sites. I was thinking of something like:

1)consumer would choose the type of beer they would want to brew from a variety of descriptions and recipes

2)brew day consist of: brewing and the process (obviously), tastings of a wide variety of micro/macro of style brewing, history and break down of the brew

3)A few weeks later bottling/kegging (mostly bottling)

Costs would range from 120ish and up depending on grain bill of brew and would include grains, hops, yeast, brew equipment, bottles, tasting brews.

The difficulty I forsee is the transportation of carboys and would it be profitable to the point of being worth it. Sounds fun though.

Tom C