Brewpub start up info...if you got it?

[kiltedtexas]

Hello, my name is Justin Cobb. I live in a town of about 100,000 people. Currently, there are no brewpubs in my town or really anything like a brewpub, just your garden variety bars. My partner and I are interested in opening a brewpub here, but honestly have never brewer beer or owned a bar/resturant. I have worked in the service industry as tennis pro for 15 years and served as a head cook in a resturant so i have some idea of service, food cost, and hospitality. Our vision for the new brew pub is a building of around 3000 sq ft with all of the brewing equipment visible to the patrons with a very limited grill type menu (Finger foods mainly). My partner, who bartended for years and now a succesful businessman, and I are looking to start this brewpub at a minimal cost and build it into a solid cash flowing business. In other words, we are intersted in low-cost/hard work beginnings without shooting ourselves in the foot. Our brewpub would start out with two brewed beers, a light and a medium dark. Hopefully, we can find a recipe that will lend us a signature light beer that we can call our own and label it as such. We were thinking of making the darker beer a "beer of the month". Swithing recipees until we found one that was also popular and then adding it as second signature beer. We would then have the two signature beers and a beer of the month. Our goal is to have this achieved within a year of opening. We tell you this so that you might help us with our design of brewing equipment. We are looking to be open Thursday-Sunday. The building we are looking at should seet around 300 people and used to be a restaraunt/bar a few years ago. It will need some remodeling a redecorating at the least, but still has all of the equipment in it.
Hopefully with this knowledge you can give some idea of what needs to be done to get this new business venture underway and possibly what our start-up costs will be. We look forward to hearing from you. Thanks in advance for your time and help.

Sincerely,

Justin Cobb

[brewmonkey]

Do a search on here for some good information.

I will say though (this is coming from someone who has been a brewer) that 3 beers is not enough for you to get started. I would suggest you have a minimum of 5 beers with at least one being a seasonal or you will be done before you start. Lighter offering like a Cream ale or wheat beer (NO FRUIT!), Pale Ale or an IPA, Brown/Red Ale, Porter or Stout and then a seasonal. You need to have something for multiple tastes and these would be the minimum IMHO.

The way to determine your recipes is brew them before you open. Several times if need be and invite some local folks, VIP's and whatnot as well as the staff to help you decide which recipes are liked. Then brew those and have them ready to go on opening day. If you open with 1 or 2 beers and keep switching them out you will lose business. That is what your seasonal beer program is partly about.

Start up costs cannot be easily predicted as we have no idea about the shape your building is in, the electrical/plubing/sewer situation, how the floor for the brewery is done and so on. The floor for the brewhouse is a BIG part of the deal and needs to be done correctly. The proper slope and drainage to accomodate your brewlength as well as made from a concrete mix that can handle the extreme loads (from empty to full tanks) as well as the pH swings. Any old floor will not work, STAY CLEAR of tiles!

Equipment is also something you need to consider. There is a TON of cheap used equipment out there, some of it is good most of it is not. Buying cheap can cost you more in the long run to get the equipment up to speed and then keep it there. There are also several manufacturers you need to stay clear of, like Pub (my personal opinion here but many other brewers will back me up).

You should also stop by probrewer.com and check out those boards.

Best of luck to you!


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