Craft Brewery Financial Training Podcast

Today, I sit down with Maria Pearman a principal with the firm of Perkins & Co.  Maria is a CPA and her focus is on the beverage alcohol business. Perkins & Co. provides a full range of services to craft breweries, including tax, audit, bookkeeping, business transaction services, controller and CFO services. Topics covered in the podcast: Business transactions, mergers & acquisitions i...

Today we chat with Harry Schuhmacher, Editor and Publisher of Beer Business Daily, Craft Business Daily, and Wine & Spirits Daily.  These publications are read on every continent in the world except Antarctica.  Harry has worked in the beer business for over 30 years, and has published Beer Business Daily for the last 20 years.  Harry is also the producer of the Beer Industry Summit and the Wi...

How do you finance your brewery? What does a good loan strategy look like? How can you make the most of your relationship with your lender? So many questions. In this podcast we'll provide answers so that you can create a successful financing plan for your brewery business.   Topics Covered in the Podcast Brewery Financing Basics Loan Terms, Loan Types, Typical Loan Structures Working with Le...

In your beer business you can outsource payroll processing, bookkeeping and tax return preparation among other tasks. The ONE THING you cannot outsource is Cash Flow Management. Having enough cash on hand and access to capital is the key to staying in business. Cash Flow Management is the process to measure and monitor your brewery cash to ensure you have enough.  Topics Covered in the Podcast:  C...

Today we'll talk about brewery financial planning and forecasting. Traditional budgeting takes forever and the plan is obsolete once it's done. In this podcast we'll review tools and models to build a financial plan that can be updated regularly so that it remains useful and profitable. Topics Covered Financial Planning Best Practices and Planning Pitfalls to Avoid 7 Steps to a Brew...

Financial literacy is the ability to read and understand the numbers of your brewery business with the purpose of improving financial results. Improving financial results may be in the areas of increased sales, improved product margins, or better cash flow. Financial literacy can help you achieve these goals. In today's podcast, we review how you can use financial reports - income statement,...

Today we talk about open book management for craft breweries. Open book management (OBM) is a system where financial information is shared with employees so that they can make better decisions. Better decisions lead to better financial outcomes, and better financial outcomes lead to a stronger brewery business for everyone. In this podcast we dig into the Evaluation Stage of open book management....

There are so many good business books out there that can help you improve financial results in your brewery business. Here are three of my favorite business books of all time: Cash Rules: How to Learn and Manage the 7 Cash Flow Drivers for Your Company's Success, by Bill McGuiness The book provides practical instructions to measure, monitor and improve cash flow in your business. The primary...

In today's podcast, we hear from Steven Quish from Cross Insurance. Cross has 40 office locations and 1000 employees. They work with over two dozen brewery clients, so they understand the beer industry. Steve shares his perspective on insurance issues facing beer industry today. Topics range from Business Income Interruption insurance, to Workers' Compensation, and how to prepare a COVID...

Jon Reynolds from BrewPlan is a 40 year beer industry veteran. Jon works with breweries on new brand launches, setting up distribution networks, working with wholesalers and performing brewery analysis and feasibility studies (think of this like a business plan on steroids).  Jon subscribes to 30 industry publications, so he is well-read on current events (and past events) that are shaping the bee...

Today we talk with attorney John Moran about capital raising for breweries. Brewery owners want to know where to get funding and how the process works. They want to know how to use debt or equity (or a combination of the two) to fund their project. John has answers. We also dig into the details of brewery operating agreements and what sections brewery owners need to pay special attention to (votin...

Today we talk about two of my favorite brewery financial tools. These are useful in calculating various aspects of our brewery business: The Beer Case Equivalent Calculator and The Taproom Sales Calculator. The Beer Case Equivalent tool can be used to quickly convert your different package sizes to Case Equivalents, otherwise known as CE's.  What's a CE?  It's a unit of measure that...

Today, we hear from Attorney John Szymankiewicz from the Beer Law Center in Raleigh, NC. John's last name belongs in the finals of a spelling bee, so we'll just refer to him as John S. In our discussion, John discusses the legal concept of force majeure and what brewery owners should know about this contract clause which is included in most supplier and wholesaler agreements. How is forc...

Jim Keenan is an intellectual property guru who helps breweries protect their most valuable business assets: their brands. John Moran specializes in federal and state licensing and compliance and is the author of an essential resource for breweries: The Brew Kit. In today's podcast, we hear from these two attorneys who specialize in issues that are critically important to craft brewery owners...

In today's podcast we talk with attorney Trevor Brewer from BrewerLong Business Law. We cover a number of topics in Trevor's areas of practice: alcohol beverage regulation, beverage licensing, and distribution agreements. Trevor provides his guidance on executive orders and how brewery's can stay in compliance. We talk about the future of state alcohol regulation (e-commerce, curbsi...

In today's podcast, I sit down with Randall Behrens from Live Oak Bank. Live Oak is the largest SBA lender in the country, covering all 50 states with 650 employees. They also have a have a craft beverage team that understands the beer business. Randall gives his 'state of the beer industry' from a banking and lending perspective. He also provides tips and must-do's for brewery...

In today's podcast, I talk with Kyle Smith from Gorman Smith Beverage Equipment company. In our conversation we cover a variety of subjects from brewery equipment sourcing to using Gap Analysis to model your brewery business. There's no better time than right now to focus on business fundamentals to improve and strengthen your brewery operations. Kyle shares his thoughts on how to re-bui...

This sounds like an outrageous title for today's podcast: How to Increase To-Go Beer Sales 500% by Asking One Question .  But Andrew Coplon from Secret Hopper has the answer. And the One Question. In the podcast Andrew also shares that taprooms who provide paper menus to customers get a 35% increase in sales. Paper menus can increase customer sales by 35%? Really? Really. In our discussion, A...

In this episode, I talk with retail beer sales expert Bump Williams. Bump is very connected in the beer industry - he knows everyone, and everyone knows him. He combines the knowledge he gains from his beer network with retail sales data to provide useful insights that brewery owners can use to grow sales, especially during this pandemic. We talk about a wide range of topics: What's going on...

What is one lesson all breweries should learn from this crisis? Always have a financial contingency plan. In today's podcast, I talk to Audra Gaiziunas from Brewed for Her Ledger, LLC .  We cover  how to build a financial contingency plan, the importance of cash reserves, working capital lines of credit, and investor sources of capital. Other topics covered in the episode: The new beer margin...

In these financially troubled times, the accountant has become an unsung hero. Brewery owners and managers are looking for someone who 'has their back' financially. They need a specialist to guide them, to help with cash flow planning, financial forecasts and navigating the documentation needed for SBA loans and insurance claims. These are complicated times, and now more than ever, the a...

In today's episode, we talk to Julie Rhodes from Not your hobby marketing .  Julie is a beer industry sales and marketing expert.  She has over 20,000 hours of experience in brand management, wholesaler management, and using data-driven results to help breweries grow sales.  Topics covered in this episode: How to use brewery sales and marketing fundamentals to navigate the Covid-19 crisis Ess...

In this episode I talk with Justin Kendall from Brewbound, a leading resource for the beer industry. We discuss how the pandemic has exposed a major flaw in the taproom-only model, and how breweries are responding. We explore topics ranging from brewery 'survival mode' to future diversification strategies for breweries. And, as Justin says,"Just keep fighting."   Ready to trans...

In this episode I talk to Jeff Saari from Workplace Culture Solutions about how brewery owners can manage their mindset during this crisis. We explore the challenges and benefits of remote working, how to stay connected and engaged with co-workers, and how to use this time productively to build new skills so that we emerge from this crisis stronger than ever. Links to resources we talk about in th...

Now, more than ever, cash flow planning is a financial survival skill.  In this episode we review a 3-step process you can use right now to keep more cash in your brewery. I also share the model that I use to keep a close eye on cash to monitor money moving in and out of our brewery business. To get regular brewery financial tips and strategies, sign up for the free Craft Brewery Finance newslette...