Craft Brewery Financial Training Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Today we welcome back Tim Near from Agrowgate, a company that works to save you money on cost of goods sold. Think cans, cardboard, malt, freight and so much more.

Key Points

• State of the industry: Trends in costs and commodity pricing
• Brewery purchasing 101: Best practices 
• How to properly source key ingredients 
• Keys to benchmark your costs against industry averages

Resources

• Connect with Tim Near and learn more about how to save money 
• Listen to the Brewery Supply Chain Management podcast
• Join the brewery financial network - connect with other brewery owners to learn best practices to improve profits and cash flow

In today's podcast we hear the audio version of a recent Brewery Financial Round Table meeting where we tackle brewery cost management and expense reduction.

Summary of key points:

• ​Use this 1-2-3-4 step process to put a laser focus on cost cutting and reduction
• Share the Brewery Financial Training Program with your managers and staff – train them in the ways of identifying and reducing (or eliminating) bloated costs
• Key challenges we discussed: Controlling costs related to production and materials, freight and shipping, finding efficiencies, avoiding cost surprises, improving culture and communication
• 78 Ideas to cut costs and improve financial results – Double Your Profits in 6 Months, by Bob Fifer
• Dan Klasen from the Beverage Federation shared details on the group purchasing organization (GPO) to help you save a ‘craft load’ of money

​Join the membership today and get instant access to the brewery financial round table replay, presentation deck, and brewery cost cutting resources.

Larry Chase is a certified Open Book Management Coach and teaches companies how to be financially transparent with all of their employees.

In this podcast, Larry and I talk about brewery compensation and bonus plans. Larry shares what NOT to do, and best practices to follow if you are thinking about putting a bonus plan in place for managers or staff.

Key Topics

• Top reasons why bonus plans fail...and how to avoid them
• Bonus plan best practices
• How to use mini-games to create 'early wins'

Resources

• Connect with Larry Chase
• Learn more about the brewery financial round table

In today's podcast, you'll hear a replay of the live Q&A session from the Brewery Financial Training Program.

The Brewery Financial Training Program is for craft brewery owners, managers and staff who need practical financial training to improve cash flow and profitability.

The Course includes 40+ lessons delivered across 6 modules, with a total of 8 hours of instruction, 6 graded quizzes and a final exam. Watch a short video to learn more.

Key topics covered:

• Best practices for your brewery Chart of Accounts & General Ledger
• How to create brewery Financial Statements & Reports
• Routines and Month-end financial process to ensure your brewery numbers are complete and accurate

Learn more about the Brewery Financial Training Program!

Today we learn about taproom sales growth tactics with Andrew Coplon from Secret Hopper. Secret Hopper is a mystery shopping service for craft breweries that is helping breweries increase their revenues, create more repeat customers, and fine tune their tasting rooms.

Key takeaways:

• Average taproom tabs have been higher during the pandemic (Andrew shares the data and how you can use this information to increase your taproom sales)
• Incentives and leader boards are great tools to motivate taproom staff to sell more beer (Andrew shares examples and ideas that you can implement)

Quick sales growth tips:

• Single use paper menus (data shows a 35% lift in sales when you use them)
• Ask customers if they want to go beer - the Upsell (data shows 49% buy when you ask, but only 9% buy when you don't) 

Resources:
Ten Strategies to maximize your customers' experience and revenue in the new normal
5 Tips to create a better merchandise display

Sign Up for the Free and World Famous Craft Brewery Financial Training Newsletter! 

Open book management is a system to communicate the numbers of your brewery business and engage employees to improve financial results. In today's podcast, we talk about Open Book Management (OBM) with Audra Gaiziunas from Brewed for Her Ledger.

In the podcast, Audra and I cover a wide range of topics including: The major benefits of OBM, mistakes to avoid, sharing financial information, key metrics, critical numbers, and much more.

There are many details involved in an Open Book Management system, but Audra and I agree that these are the keys to success...

3 Keys to OBM Success

1. Financial literacy training
2. Bonus program
3. Financial reporting and forecasting

Resources

• Get in touch with Audra - Accounting, Finance, Operations Strategy For The Beer Industry​. Hel​ping You Understand The Numbers Behind The Beer.
• Check out the Brewery Open Book Management Online Course

Sign Up for the Free and World-Famous Craft Brewery Financial Training Newsletter

Today, we hear from Josh Lance, CPA from Lance CPA group. Lance CPA Group is a virtual certified public accounting firm built to help small business owners and entrepreneurs grow and manage their businesses.

In this round two of our conversation we talk about the employee retention tax credit (ERTC). A huge deal for craft breweries. Josh breaks down the rules, the details, and exactly what you need to know about this program right now.

We also talk about how to use advanced financial forecasting models. Tools that can be quick and easy to update during these uncertain times. 

Resources
Learn more about Lance CPA Group (and the ERTC)
Read the Lance CPA Group blog on the ERTC

Sign up for the World Famous (and Free!) Craft Brewery Financial Training Newsletter

Today we hear from Josh Lance from Lance CPA Group, a virtual certified public accounting firm built to help craft brewery owners and entrepreneurs grow and manage their businesses.

Josh and I dig into the details of the ultimate software stack for breweries - from accounting software to POS to brewery management software and benchmarking tools.

We talk about a common question from brewery owners - When is the right time for a brewery to bring on a finance person or outsourced accounting option?

And Josh walks through the key questions to ask when considering an outsourced accounting option - from onboarding through implementation. 
 
Resources
Learn more about Lance CPA Group (and Josh's obsession with the tv show Full House)
Get the Free PDF: Strategy. Structure. Compliance. Benchmarking.

Sign up for the World Famous (and Free!) Craft Brewery Financial Training Newsletter

Daniel Lust is co-founder and partner of PINTS LLC, a beverage advisory firm that partners with suppliers and distributors across the country to provide objective support, guidance and best practices related to the beverage alcohol industry.

In today's podcast Dan and I talk about performance metrics for beer wholesalers and breweries: Out of code, out of stocks, gross profit %, profit per stop and many more.

We also dig into the details of brewery-wholesaler business relationships, and what breweries can do to make sure their brands get attention and focus to grow sales. 

Resources
Contact Dan Lust at Pints, LLC

Sign up for the World Famous (and Free!) Craft Brewery Financial Training Newsletter

In this podcast we talk with Jim Gunther from Gunther Creative Agency. Jim specializes in creating beautiful visual identities: branding, packaging, print, digital and more. He has recently added beverage formulation to his list of services.

Jim has created a Product Launch Checklist which includes all the things you should consider when launching a new product.

The product launch checklist includes to-do's for legal, product development, graphics, marketing production, operations, and much more. The checklist pulls it all together in one place to help you have a profitable brand launch.

Time is money. You can't afford to make mistakes or have delays during a product launch. Listen to the podcast and use Jim's checklist to keep your team on task and on deadline.

Resources
Get the Brewery Product Launch Checklist
Contact Jim Gunther at Gunther Creative Agency

Sign Up for the Free Craft Brewery Financial Training Newsletter