Craft Brewery Financial Training Podcast

This month in our brewery financial round table meeting we take a deep dive into financial standard operating procedures. Financial SOPs help you create complete, timely, and accurate financial statements so that you can make better business decisions. Highlights from our session: Use this hack: Rather than writing out a long SOP, use a screen recorder and show how the process is done Follow a sim...

In today's podcast we review the Top 12 Financial Challenges facing Craft Breweries.  This list was assembled by our network of brewery owners and managers in the Beer Business Finance Association. In the podcast, I review each challenge and provide one thing you can do right now to help overcome the difficulty in your beer business.  The Top 12 Challenges: Cost management . How to implement...

On today's podcast you'll hear the audio version of our brewery lease negotiation workshop.  You'll learn strategies and best practices to tackle a lease negotiation (or re-negotiation) for your brewery.  Key Points Lease terms, definitions, what you need to know How to build 'optionality' into your brewery lease Triple net lease watch-outs Negotiation strategies and tacti...

Today on the podcast we hear from Dave Williams, the Analytics Czar from Bump Williams Consulting . Dave provides a recap of 2024 beer industry data, trends, and insights. We also cover “Dave’s Top 7”. These are the hot topics that he's been hearing about recently in the beer business. Key Points Growth in non-alcohol beer and ready-to-drink products On-premise results Health guidelines and t...

In today's podcast you'll hear the audio version of our workshop on brewery expense management and cost cutting tactics. We hold these workshops monthly for our Beer Business Finance Association members.  If you'd like to join 150+ other breweries in financial success, learn more about membership packages here. Key Takeaways 2 cost analysis models to identify and reduce unnecessary...

Today on the podcast Chris Overlay from Get Hoptimized delivers a master class in brewery marketing. You'll learn how to build your brewery sales forecast and super charge results with a best-in-class marketing plan. Key Points Sales forecasting best practices Brewery revenue drivers and key metrics to simplify planning Tools and models to build a comprehensive marketing plan Tactics to align...

In today's episode you'll hear the audio version of our 2025 Brewery Budgeting Workshop. We cover questions ranging from how to build your payroll plan to what key metrics to track to the best way to forecast beer margins.   Key Points 3 steps to supercharge your 2025 financial plan Best practices for building your financial key metrics dashboard 6 questions to ask before building your b...

Today on the podcast we hear from Jake Lohse from Presidential Brewing in Portage, Michigan. Jake has written a new book which serves as a road map for folks looking to open up a new brewery: In Shifting Gears: The Ultimate Roadmap To Crafting Your Legendary Brewery Or Restaurant, I will show you step by step how to pull it all together. Leveraging experience from having built a legendary brewery...

In today's podcast I share the 5-step process that I use to assess our financial position, create our goals, and build a road map to success. This process is designed to help you create timely, accurate, and complete financial statements so that you can make data-driven decisions in your beer business. Key Topics How to create a process for predictable financial results How to build a plan th...

Key metrics measure the most important things in the brewery. Things like sales growth, margins, profits, and cash flow. When identifying key metrics, the first step is to measure what matters. Start with one problem you need to solve or one opportunity to take advantage of. The next step is to build a dashboard of key metrics. Identify one company goal, one KPI that is critical to watch, like cas...

The average health insurance premium for families and individuals has increased more than 24% in the last five years, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.  And there's no sign of this slowing down. For breweries who want to provide good, affordable healthcare for employees these cost increases are a real problem. One option to lower costs and provide better benefits comes in the form of...

In today's podcast we break down the key steps to build (and implement) a successful brewery financial plan. The financial plan is the road map. Where are you now? Where do you want to go? What does financial success look like?  Listen to the podcast. Download the resources. Build your best plan EVER today!  Key Takeaways Use the 6 building blocks to organize the planning process The X Factor...

Tom DeMayo is a partner with PKF O'Connor Davies, specializes in cybersecurity, and is a self-described 'ethical hacker'. Cybercrime is a $10 trillion problem globally, and breweries are target. In today's podcast, Tom shares how these crimes occur, how to find out if your brewery is vulnerable, and what steps you can take right now to prevent a ransomware attack. Key Points Te...

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 Ne...

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...

Today on the podcast we hear from Scott Birkner, VP and Business Lending Specialist at Dogwood State Bank. Scott shares insights on how to use SBA loans to purchase an existing brewery or make a partial acquisition of a brewery. Key Topics How to finance a start-up brewery, buy an existing brewery, or make a partial acquisition using SBA loans State of the lending industry: Credit availability, in...

Today on the podcast we talk non-alcohol beer with Dave Williams from Bump Williams Consulting . Dave shares data, insights, and analysis on the non-alcohol beer category.    Key Topics Major players in non-alcohol beer, sales volume, and growth trends  NA beer sales by market channel: Chain and grocery, liquor, convenience, and on-premise accounts   Retailer response to NA beer: More shelf space,...

Today on the podcast we hear from marketing guru Julie Rhodes from Not Your Hobby Marketing . Julie and I talk about The Power of Marketing + Finance . And dig in on why NOW is the time to invest in your marketing and sales strategy.  Key Topics: Brewery marketing trends, new ideas to try, fundamental marketing tactics to revisit Why NOW is the time to double down on your investment in sales and m...

Today on the podcast we hear from Ross Stensrud, co-founder of Tapwyse , a developer of custom branded apps for taproom breweries. Ross shares his experience working in commercial fitness - where the business model is all about memberships and recurring revenue - and how this idea can be applied to your taproom to grow sales. Key Points How to develop an app for your brewery to grow sales and crea...

Webinar Replay: How to Build Your Brewery Key Metrics Dashboard In today's webinar I am joined by Alec Johnson from Ekos who shares his favorite KPIs and shows you how to build beautiful (and profitable) dashboards. Here's what you'll get: 50+ key metrics used by other breweries KPI best practices: How to pick the right numbers for your business Sample brewery KPI Scorecards and tem...

Today on the podcast we hear from Brian Deignan, founder of Validation Ale in Santa Barbara, California. Validation ale's tagline is: "Allowing great beer to rise to the top. Your order is a vote toward Validation."  The concept is to curate an evolving tap list based on customer orders and taste. Validation uses data to drive decisions on what beers belong on tap. This approach giv...

In today's podcast we'll cover the key drivers of brewery profitability, and give you specific action steps to follow to improve the bottom line in your business. Key Topics Key drivers of brewery profits Scorecards to measure and improve the bottom line Most effective ways to cut costs, increase margins and grow sales How to create a profit plan and profit routine Resources Learn more a...

On today's podcast you'll hear about a new project from A-Bay Engineers called the Craft Brewing Community Dashboard. Many brewery owners and managers are looking for financial and operational benchmarking data, and this new dashboard could be just the thing. Jamie Schild, CEO and Jim Oilschlager, COO share details on the community dashboard, what it is, how it works, and how breweries c...

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......

Today on the podcast we hear from Chris Overlay, CEO of Get Hoptimized, a craft beer marketing and advertising agency. Chris' company helps breweries and craft beer businesses grow with effective and affordable marketing services, from label designs, to social media ads, to strategizing world domination. Key Topics How much to spend on brewery marketing The marketing metrics that matter for c...