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  • Brewery wages

    Hi, all.
    I was just wondering if you guys and gals would be willing to share some info on what a brew master should expect to receive as compensation for their labor. i.e. wages, bennies, and should the brew master be expected to pay for their beer over and above the shiftie?

    This is a small brew pub in a tourist town with a high cost of living.

    Thanks in advance, JJ

  • #2
    Oh, and we will probably be producing around 600 bbl/ yr.

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    • #3
      All Brewers should get free beer.

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by Team JJ
        Hi, all.
        I was just wondering if you guys and gals would be willing to share some info on what a brew master should expect to receive as compensation for their labor. i.e. wages, bennies, and should the brew master be expected to pay for their beer over and above the shiftie?

        This is a small brew pub in a tourist town with a high cost of living.

        Thanks in advance, JJ

        Hi JJ,
        Well, first and foremost, regardless of what "a brew master should be expected" to receive, at 600bbls a year your bottom line may not support a salary more than, oh, around $11 an hour.
        As a head brewer in a small production brewery affected by a seasonal customer flow (much like Leadville), I would love to get health insurance, 401K, paid vacation, etc. That's what I'd like to get. The bottom line drives all. It is a difficult balance to strike: paying your talent enough so they feel appreciated but not so much so that it bleeds the company.

        As far as free beer over and above the shiftie; unless this person is in a ownership position (shareholder, partner, etc), I would not give carte blanche. The company/owners bought the ingredients, paid for the utilities, paid the payroll. They own the beer, not the brewer. Maybe establish a weekly or monthly beer budget for employees. And make sure ALL beer, including shifties, are "run through the register" and accounted for. Your accountant and TTB agent will thank you!


        Prost!
        Dave
        Glacier Brewing Company
        406-883-2595
        info@glacierbrewing.com

        "who said what now?"

        Comment


        • #5
          Above and beyond a shiftie

          Generally as a matter of respect your 'Brewmaster' should have access to the product that they create. Remember that this is the person that makes the beer. Keep in mind that this person can spill more beer in a mishap than they could manage to drink in a year.

          It is just a sign of good will.

          That being said the abuse of free beer is it's own issue. Some brewers are very poor at using good judgement so you'll have to find someone who does not have a pre-disposition to over consumption.

          Tash

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          • #6
            I worked as head brewer in a busy tourist town producing less than 500 bbl annually for several years.

            It depends alot on the age & experience of the brewer. Any good company should offer some sort of health benefit package. I always viewed benefits (health & vacation) as being worth 3-4K a year. So adjust the rest of what I'm saying accordingly. These are based on a job with at least some form of benefits.

            If it's a young brewer (say 26-27 yrs old) with only "assistant brewer" experience then I would say 24-28K. 22K is the very bottom I would think is acceptable. But for someone over 30 yrs old, even with limited experience I would think 28-32K.

            If you've got someone in the early to mid 30's with several years experience as a brewmaster? I would say 35K is the absolute minimum. 38-40K is better.

            And no matter how experienced and great at your job, how much recognition & business you bring in, the brewmaster will probably never make over 45K in this situation.

            Keep in mind though, there are other ways to structure compensation besides just salary. There's equity, sales bonuses, budget efficiency bonuses, etc...

            These are very ballpark figures, it really depends on the person and the position. When I was a 27 yr old trying to find a job, I was thrilled when someone offered me $10/hr. I have no idea how I lived on that at the time...

            As far as free beer goes? Usually a little common sense plays into it. I always felt like pints & growler fills should be free for me. But kegs I paid at least cost (not wholesale cost, but just real cost). I tried to be responsible in my consumption. Always off the clock, but that was a personal choice. I know brewers that enjoy a beer (responsibly) at lunch.

            Do a search, at one point on probrewer there was a survey about pay scale...
            Hutch Kugeman
            Head Brewer
            Brooklyn Brewery at the Culinary Institute of America
            Hyde Park, NY

            Comment


            • #7
              Pay for beer?

              My Saturday morning 2cents. Pay for beer? Yes, owning a brewpub/brewery is an expensive ballsy endeavor (that sometimes can pay off nicely). A lot of capital flows out and hopefully back in. There's labor, equipment, spare parts, real estate, investors, banks, repairs, taxes, taxes, operating losses, and raw materials to pay for...I imagine, I'm a beer brewer not owner. But the raw materials involved in making one glass or two of beer are what? Minimal. The beer left in the bottom of tanks, the beer lost during transfers, not to mention inherent losses during production (e.g. in the whirlpool) etc. vastly out-proportion what a brewer drinks while sampling the beer. A pint or two or three or four at the end of the day is negligible!

              There's probably some accounting term for it, but you cannot say you lost X amount of dollars by not selling a beer. That's like a company saying they made a million dollars because they had it left over at the end of the year i.e. they did not spend it - and they had it to begin with. They didn't make the money, they just didn't spend it.

              A brewery/brewpub will make a given amount of money dependent on many variables like time of year and week, seats available, competition, marketing, size of brewery, tanks available, accounts available, kegs avail, etc. I can walk in on Monday and look at the numbers and say if it was a good weekend or not. Taken out over a long period such as a year, and looking at the statistics, then you can estimate how much money you stand to make in a given time period. Whether or not you make more beer. As long as the supply is more than the demand, then you are not losing money by using some of that supply in negligible amounts such as for the guys or gals responsible for making it!

              Comment


              • #8
                I'm a brewer not an owner as well. I will say that sometimes I think it's kind of ridiculous that I have to pay for a keg of beer even when I rarely if ever drink my shifties, but I think I may be abnormal in that regard. I have known brewers that have totally taken advantage of their drinking privileges. Sure we waste a lot more beer than we could ever drink, that's not really the point, the point is that there are some out there that if given the option to have as much free beer as they want would abuse that to the fullest. Abuse may come in the form of giving free beer to friends constantly or over consumption by your brewer. To an extent you have to be prone to it, my dad is a recovering alcoholic, but given the chance to drink as much free beer as they wanted some brewers would more than likely become useless. Should a brewer be able to get a keg free or at a severely reduced rate (cost) now an again? I think so, but should they get as much as they want? Probably not unless they are the owner.

                To respond to the wage question, I'm 28 and have been a brewer for a year now. i make $12 and hour no benefits, to me I would say a head brewer should be making around $35k-$40k a year with benefits (at a small establishment) and someone like me should be making $20k-$30k a year with benefits. I'll admit that I don't work in the most ideal wage situation but circumstances at this time keep me here, I will say that without formal training this job has allowed me to get a great deal of experience, I look at it as paid schooling. Your probably going to find people like me that initially will take lower pay just to get the experience, but remember, if you want to keep good brewers they have to be rewarded over time.

                Comment


                • #9
                  ...

                  Way to shoot yourself (and me) in the foot, dude.

                  I think brewers should all make six figure salaries and be celebrated by the public. We provide WAY more entertainment per dollar than those richer-than-god hollywood stars.

                  Now, pardon me while I go make twelve cents scrubbing this kettle, the beer's a waitin'!

                  Nat

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    What a loaded topic...But I guess I'll weigh in anyway.
                    I'll be 27 next week and have been doing this since I was 23. My first job started at $8/hr with no benefits, my last/first head brewer gig was at a nanobrewery where I made 150bbls the first year and we were on pace for 225 this year before it closed. There I made $10/hr with no benefits. That whole time I worked at another brewery first as cellarman, and then was promoted to production brewer and only then did I recieve benefits and compensation in line with what has been mentioned above.
                    The next project I tackle, despite being under 30, I will insist on that compensation scale (however, the ambition of the project will more than justify it).
                    As far as the beer issue is concerned, depending on the job it has ranged from only a shiftie, to a 'beer card' for tracking, up to however much I wanted.
                    Fighting ignorance and apathy since 2004.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      good beer ,no great beer

                      you want to look for a brewer every year?great brewers are rare my 30 years brewing speaks for it,s self.my beer sells for more should i get paid more?the best thing to do here is to find a semi-retired brew master,pay them based on sales.quality demands a higher price.i,d love to make some out standing brews for this place to demonstrate what real beer tastes like.you need to find a great brewer to come in on company, the only long term solution.don,t ever think making great beer is easy,too many people wanting to get in the beer buis.4 out of 5 fail in 5 yrs.this brewer goes so do your clients.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Natrat
                        Way to shoot yourself (and me) in the foot, dude.

                        I think brewers should all make six figure salaries and be celebrated by the public. We provide WAY more entertainment per dollar than those richer-than-god hollywood stars.

                        Now, pardon me while I go make twelve cents scrubbing this kettle, the beer's a waitin'!

                        Nat
                        Heh, totally really what I meant to say is that I should be making $60k a year with full benefits and 4 weeks paid vacation

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by farmbrewernw
                          Heh, totally really what I meant to say is that I should be making $60k a year with full benefits and 4 weeks paid vacation
                          HEAR HEAR!!
                          Glacier Brewing Company
                          406-883-2595
                          info@glacierbrewing.com

                          "who said what now?"

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            "you're only worth what you will work for"

                            as a wise man once told me; "you're only worth what you will work for", and he was right!
                            So whatever you think you are worth as a brewer, you should never accept a job that pays less than that and then complain about it or do a half assed job of it.
                            I do believe that if you as an owner hire someone in good faith and lead them to believe that there is a bigger picture that includes them eventually being able to make enough to actually survive and maybe even prosper as a brewer, then you should do your best to take care of that person.

                            in my limited experience and in my opinion, I didnt actually get into the brewing business for "money", I did it because I love the idea and practice of brewing and drinking beer. if I wanted to go back to making money, I would get back to using my Mechanical Engineering degree for something more lucrative, like my last business.
                            www.beerontheriver.com

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              12 years ago while in college i started a gig working on the construction of a brewery funded by a pub on the property. We made $6.00/hour and were eventually given free room and board on the third floor. Working the door in the pub and bartending supplemented my income (not to mention the student loans i still owe on). When the brewery finally opened my best friend and myself (homebrewers) got the "assistant" gigs running the show for a whopping $7.50/hour.

                              I spent the next 5-6 years looking for the right gig working 40 hours in breweries and another 20 bartending just to make ends meet, a living wage and benefits was all i wanted. There are too many breweries out there that pay peanuts and don’t understand why they cannot keep a good brewer. It's hard to keep a consistent product when you have fresh meat coming in every 12-18 months, owners trying to save a dime hiring a homebrewer with no pro experience that quickly realizes it's way more work than they realized for way less pay. One guy i worked for used to say "if the state would let him he would train monkeys to go push buttons and turn levers". (I was not there long- insert Office Space line of choice here)


                              Bottom line, if you find a good brewer treat them well, pay him/her a REAL living wage, do your best with benefits (i know this can be tough for small places). A brewery/brewpub is all about the beer...right? Treat your brewer as well as he treats you and your business, he/she can make or break you.

                              My personal opinion on this- for a medium size brewpub 750-1500 bbl's/year:


                              -Head Brewer that just gets the job done - 35,000-40,000 (i.e. ghost brewer that makes the beer and leaves, rarely talks to guests and staff, "don't call me at home" attitude <should be a shift production brewer>)

                              -Head Brewer that takes ownership and truly cares - 45,000-55,000 (i.e. participating in sales building, BS'ing with the guests, going to festivals, controlling waste, producing the best quality beer possible for your market- not just what they like, training staff <the brewer that is the face of the beer/brewery>)
                              * this is before benefits and production/sales based bonus



                              Just a short addendum - run the numbers for your COG's and compare a typical kitchen with a brewery... # of employees in each and your labor and overhead. Brewers are waaay underpaid in most cases.
                              -Your hottie bartenders often make more than the brewer
                              Last edited by Jephro; 09-07-2010, 01:16 PM.
                              Jeff Byrne

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