What have you all seen as the biggest roadblock in going commercial? Capital? Can’t raise capital? Bad marketing?
How many folks here have tried and failed?
I can tell you from my experience so far that raising capital is the single most challenging aspect of the startup. We are still raising the required capital for our startup, and while we’ve made some very nice strides we are still working toward our final goal. We’ll get there in due time. Starting a brewery is extremely challenging in many ways, but a lot of fun and excitement comes with the territory as well. My advice to you is to always keep your head up and try to maintain a positive attitude. 
I would say initially it is capital. If you start with limited capital, you will spend years volunteering for your brewery to build that capital.
On ongoing bases it is maintaining and growing sales. No sales, no money.
This is a food production business. You might get an advice from other brewers, but you have to walk on your own. This is not cool kids gig. Did I mention that this is a lot of work?
I think the licensing and permitting at the local level is big roadblock. Unless you live in the country you can’t just turn a back garage/shed into a legal production brewery. Which of course necessitates renting a space with all associated permits/fees. Then you MUST have more capital to really pull it off.
I think the biggest barrier is knowing what you are getting yourself in to. You need to be an Obsessive, OCD, Artistic, Workaholic with the ability to learn everything from Chemistry to microbiology and everything in between. Money can be earned,Laws and permits can be granted and navigated, But knowing exactly what you are in for is, in my opinion, THE barrier.
Agree 100%. The amount of effort to launch and grow a brewery is Herculean, especially if you don’t have the proper funding. I can also attest that while I have not failed I have gotten close to failing a couple times because of funding (or lack of).
I imagine the biggest barrier would be a full understanding of how much work it is, how much bureaucracy crap there is, how little return there may be, and a fear of getting in too deep before you discover an even bigger barrier
For me the biggest barrier, in fact the reason I won’t even consider it, is the idea of shoveling 3 hundred pounds of grain out of a mash tun. I may be a Gymrat, but I am an old broken down Gymrat, and I am just plain too old to be taking up that sort of thing.
+1
+Me, too! I was recently offered a chance to be the brewer at a small local startup. I considered it for about 5 minutes before deciding that the amount of physical labor wasn’t for me. I signed on as a consultant.
+1!! I think this is why there will eventually be quite a few breweries closing. Too much work for too little pay. You can do that for a little bit but at some point enough is enough.
I really believe that it’s a young mans game like previous posters have noted. There is a mountain between where you are and where you want to go on every level. I had a co-worker see my brewing setup and bar etc and said " You can be a brewmaster somewhere!" I responded: I AM a brewmaster! My production facilities and the drinking establishment where the products wind up are 60 feet apart! 8)
After prodding by neighbors the wife told me to give it some thought. A few random numbers and a ballpark schedule was enough to convince her that instead of pissing away $300k on a minimum wage job, that a $30k private brew pub in our back yard made way more sense. So that’s in our 5 year plan.
300 lbs of grain? Try 3000 lbs of grain, at least. But u have employees to do that for me know.
Plus rampant mediocrity. Meh is ok for a brewpub with good food. For me to buy more than one six pack, or get repeat growler fills, the beer needs to be great.
Depending on the layout of the brewhouse, the amount of physical effort does not have to be all that great. I am 60 years old and I am the sole brewer on a 15 bbl system. The malt bill can range between 900-1600 lbs, dry weight, depending on style brewed. I run a very manual system where grain out is all done by hand. It is not THAT hard. You are pulling the grain straight out the manway with a hoe. It takes me about 15 minutes to empty the tun into containers supplied by the farmers who take away the grain.
All the other work is done by pumps.
The biggest barrier is that most people in a start-up can’t quite understand that you get what you pay for. Too many are trying to get into pro brewing on the cheap. Looking at inexpensive brew houses that do not have local support or readily available replacement parts.
We spent about $300,000.00 on our stainless. Then comes the glycol system, Steam generator, walk-in, refrigeration, bulk CO2 system, draft system, kegs, keg washer, malt mill and malt handling. Not to mention sloped floors, REAL drains, floor treatment, water filter, correct sizing or water and gas lines and electrical service. Then comes the cost of hiring professionals to install all of this.
Lot of people feel they can save money by DIY. Unless you also do this in “real life” hire pros to run the HVAC and electrical. It costs more up front but it will save time and money in the long run.
After all that is done, you have to sell the beer. That is the hardest part.
Yep!
After careful concideration here are my thoughts.
Money is probably the biggest barrier. As Wayne has said, if you have the proper brewhouse labor is minimal. But that takes money. And unless you have $500,000+ sitting around you are going to do like we did and skimp on lost of time and labor saving equipment. People forget to budget for wet are/floor drains, solid waste interceptors, glycol plumbing, etc. To do it properly it adds up, big time.
So if you don’t have the money you are going to have to do a fund raise and then you have share holders and/or partners to deal with.
As a close second to money, partners can be the biggest barrier (assuming you go that route). I get along well with my partners but I have seen restaurants and breweries implode because partnerships dissolve. I have seen very close friendships collapse as well. One local brewery I know of in particular was started by 3 friends and they pretty much all hate each other now.
Funny thing about the Internet, people love to talk about how awesome they are, but they get real quiet when they fail. It’s really too bad, because I think there’s a lot to be learned from failure, and better still when it’s others’ failure.
That’s a great point!! The other thing we never hear about is how much are breweries making? I have heard/read countless times that it takes almost 1 million to establish a 15-30bbl production brewery. I am sure it varies quite a bit but what is a ballpark ROI in the first couple of years?