Microbrewery or Brewpub?

[Hop Head]

I am in the business planning stage for Chula Vista Brewing Company, San Diego (off premise sales only), but I also want to own a brewpub so I can offer food services. In terms of branding and stability, would it be better to start the brewpub first and once the brand is established, start selling off-premise, or, build the brand as a microbrewery and then open a brewpub?

Understanding there are no set rules or magic formulas (or everyone would be successful), all opinions and/or case studies are appreciated.

Best regards,
Charles Smith
CVBC, San Diego

[Larry Horwitz]

Got Cash?

Really depends on a lot of things...do you have experience running a restaurant? How big do you plan to be? How much startup capitol do you have? Have you done your market research? (not pints at the local, site survey, demographics) Fail rates are high.

[Hop Head]

Larry:

Thank you for the response. There are a few factors that I am taking into consideration. First, I have a contact with a family that runs a few, very successful restaurants here in Southern California and my thought was to joint venture; they will run the restaurant and I will run the brewery. I am currently a commercial real estate broker and I represent the developer of a very large mixed-use project. Since I represent the developer and will be the leasing broker for the retail element, I will have first dibs on a great space. These are my thoughts, if I were to start a brewpub first. I think I just further sold myself on this idea…. If you have any insight on why starting a micro first would be beneficial, please give me your opinion.

Thank you again for your response:

Charles