Hey guys, I might be getting a cellar position in Ohio, and don’t want to ruin my chances by saying the wrong number. I was wondering if you guys could help me. It’s an entry level cellar position, so would $15/hr be asking too much? What’s a good number? I really want the position, but still need to pay the bills.
Thanks in advance for any help!
My advice would be take it and get a second job.
Trying to pay the bills with an entry level brewing job is likely to disappoint at best and to wreck you financially at worst.
Does the brewer even make $15 an hour?
Yeah, I’d be surprised if it was over $7/hr.
I know one of the brewers, and he’s salaried, but he said it works out to just over $15/hr. So from that point of reference, what would be fair to ask for (if that changes anything)?
Find a local brewery of comparable size and ask the/one of the cellar workers what they make. The wage difference between comparable local breweries is likely minimal. I’d be surprised if it’s much more than minimum wage.
At that level I would expect the brewery to already know what they expect to pay you without asking you for input. After all, there are so many people begging to do this work for free the breweries have little incentive to pay more than minimum wage.
To paraphrase Ray Daniels at the Grand Rapids NHC. “The pay reflects the supply of people wanting to get into the industry greatly exceeding the demand.”
Some small places around here pay about $30k or so for a head Brewer.
As one data point, I made about that as lead cellarman at a mid-size production brewery.
Yep. A few years ago, my buddy took a head brewer position at a new small brewpub and was starting around 32K. He would work 10 hr days + sometimes and I don’t know how he footed his bills. He was lucky he had no kids to take care of…
Ray had some pay ranges in his talk. Yeah, the pay went up for larger production breweries. I know some that even get some nice benefits at the bigger craft breweries.
We start our guys out at $9-10 per hour and move them up accordingly. It obviously depends where you live but $15 an hour sounds really high regardless (for a starting position). Minimum wage here is 7.25 so a starting wage of 9-10/hour is not unreasonable.
Remember you are in training and you have no experience.
What do you all think will happen to the fledgling brew industry if minimum wage goes to $15/hr? I’d be very concerned that small breweries would suffer greatly based on the wages I see here.
Minimum wage is being raised on a state and regional basis. An answer to your question would need to be answered by someone in NY, CA or DC.
I know Baltimore is considering it as well.
If wages go up then beer prices will also go up. Of all the things that could screw this up, I’d be least concerned about an increase in the minimum wage.
In the case of brewing, I think lower wages are mostly due to the fact that so many people want to do it (too much supply). Case in point – I met a pro brewer making really good beer who was an auto mechanic 2 years ago. The demand for auto mechanics isn’t going down, but he took a pay cut to become a brewer because he likes the work and felt like it was a better opportunity.
I think wages will be rectified in the next big correction, but supply has to outpace demand first. Sure, the pressure from a higher minimum wage will hurt profitability for some breweries. However, it could also weed out some breweries that are making mediocre beer and getting away with it in this hot market. A little “drag” could actually prevent a high growth market from turning into an unsustainable bubble.
The push for a Federal minimum wage my take this to another level. I’m sure that the effect on larger operations would be minimal and there would be some weeding out of poor operations, but startups may very well be reduced as well. If the cost of that startup is greatly increased (doubling of labor costs) then they very well maybe much less willing to make that jump. Quotes from Arthur Blank and Bernard Marcus seem to indicate that Home Depot could never have been started in today’s environment let alone a time when even small town America has to endure a $15 pay rate for even the most mundane working position. The rules of supply and demand would be broken. No matter how much someone was willing to take a position for less pay, the business would be unable to provide that or violate Federal law. Just make me wonder where this would go.
I call bs. Labor is between 1 and 3% according to studies I’ve seen. Closer to 1 at retail and closer to 3 at wholesale. Sure it will suck at first, but they will adjust. When the minimum wage does go up (I say when because it is inevitable), it will not go up in one go.
Fledgling? The amount of money poured into breweries is huge right now. If anything there are too many breweries who don’t know how to make good beer.
Totally agree to an unfortunate reality. I still find it so ridiculous that so many new brewpubs/breweries are opening up that simply aren’t serving good beers. Get your s**t together before even thinking about opening one please!
Also, if Home Depot had never been started, we’d all be better off.