The speech behind this thread

[SierraBlanca]

Right on

Matt,
You're echoing the sentiments of other brewers in this thread and those who've contacted me directly.
Kim Jordan's first steps are where most of us are. We've been around a few years and have developed quality and consistency. Some of us have established a brand image within our marketplace.
We have had success reaching out to the lifestyle activities of our buyers (events, sponsorships and benefits).
An interesting part of the article: Jordan emphasized the attraction of small brewers to the consumer. "There are not many industries out there that are as much fun as we are. We are an eclectic, kooky, fun group of folks. We need to cultivate weirdos and remember that being buttoned up is for bankers, not brewers," she said.
What wasn't said is New Belgium is willing to give away beer and place product at or below the cost of Busch. So the reality is appealing to the "banker" bottom line and not the quality. An economic approach most microbreweries can't do, and an approach many distributors aren't willing to do for a small brewer.
There is a great attraction of small brewers to the consumers. The perception of our ability to make great beer is lost in price points in the marketplace.
As an industry, we can stand for the quality and quirkiness that was mentioned, or, allow the "pay-to-play" rule determine who survives.

[OregonMtnBrewer]

Someday craft beer will be 10% of the market. And then its marketshare will grow even more. But it will take time. Public tastes change gradually. The progress that has been made in the past 20 years is excellent.

Some basic things for brewery owners to keep in mind:

1. Don't get in too much of a hurry to grow the market share.
2. Don't expand your brewing operations too fast.
3. Build financially sustainable businesses.
4. Figure out a succession plan or an exit plan. Every business needs one.

There are only 3 ways to exit a business: you run it till you die and you leave it to your heirs; you sell it; or it goes bankrupt.

Exit Plan: are you going to sell out to the big brewing co's? You might get more money for it that way, but then afterwards -- what will they do to your brewery?

More Exit Plan Thoughts: if your brewery has multiple owners, have you planned for handling situations like one owner passing away or wanting out of the business?

There are other options. It is possible to sell a craft brewery to like-minded purchasers for a good price and leave a legacy behind. To do it, you need to do some planning. Unless you have sold a business before, you'll need to educate yourself about it -- selling a business can be quite a lengthy process taking 6 mos to 18 mos.

Expansion: It is nice to see Widmer and Deschutes and Boston Brewing and so many other brewing companies grow. But at the same time, there have been more & more articles in industry press about large craft brewers operating in the red due to expansion. Just like before, there will be downturns in this industry again, so allow yourself plenty of fiscal cushion for that time period.

[beauxman]

We have an active brewers guild here in Washington State, check out our (the guild) website that promotes "our" industry. We (the guild) also have coasters at all our pubs with this campaign on them. Kinda raises all of our boats if you know what I mean. If only all the states organized brewer guilds that promoted local craft breweries...

https://www.washingtonbeer.com

-Beaux Bowman
Ram/Big Horn Brewing - Seattle

[crassbrauer]

I think that most of all, craft beers have "this is YOUR neighborhood/local beer" going for them. Customers need to feel like the brand is theirs, even with the larger regional brands. Perhaps, it should come across in the marketing that the mega-national brands are just big industrial producers of non-individual products, "the customer as a number in Anywhere, USA" sort of thing. As Kim stated, strengthening the close-knit bond between craft ?brewers and their customers through marketing, etc. seems pretty important.

Perhaps creating some sort of national fund for lobbying state governments to make distribution and sales easier for the small guys might be useful. (Maybe that's a bit too pie-in-the-sky.) Obviously, the big boys have powerful lobbyists in their key states. It'd be great to beat them at that game, if possible. (I can't remember which craft brewery it was in the Internet that did the Star Wars thing with the craft brewer rebels vs. the evil imperial megabreweries, but it certainly would be a fitting analogy for the lobbying fight.)

[beauxman]

Actually that is what being a member of the Brewers Association gets you, collective lobbyist work on behalf of the industry, for a very low price for what you get....in my humble opinion. Then again, that is on the national level. The real action is on the state level since they have direct control over distribution and manufacture of beer. This gets back to the state level guilds and grass roots efforts, that I submit Washington brewers have done a fine job of.
-Beaux

[Butcher Scott]

From a business perspective, I think the hardest part about growing market share (to 10% or otherwise) is that at some point each incremental market share point becomes significantly more valuable to the macro's than it does to the micro's who are pushing the growth. At that point, they just step in, pay double/triple/whatever what a micro is worth as a micro, and regain the market share. The macro's resources are so vast that the only defense against it is microbrewery owners sticking to their guns and "not selling out." Obviously, that is easier said than done.