For a brewpub?
I have never seen any actual numbers but the descriptions I’ve heard are not much to very little.
Paul
You won’t get rich in dollars, but you will have a life rich in experiences.
I’ve been offered $15.00/hr as a 1099 contracting employee.
The experienced guys around here get in the $40K range, maybe creeping up near $50k for some.
That mean no benefits, no health insurance, no vacation and no unemployment if you loose job.
Just saying.
Minimum wage.
I was offered $30K and 6% of beer sales at a brewpub. Minimum wage basically, and management was very limiting in what could be brewed. They left no room for the slightest bit of creativity.
Leaving no room for “creativity” is probably smart business on their part ??? since a lot of these places actually do employ homebrewers (mainly because they can get them cheap). In a high overhead situation, there’s a fine line between being ‘creative’ and catering to the clientele.
Though there are definitely some exceptions, many times homebrewers in such a situation view the gig as a sandbox to play in rather than a business (I’ve seen it firsthand). As a result they wind up making barrels of beers that ignore the public taste. The vast majority of pub/restaurant operations are going to be much more concerned with the bottom line and the most profitable use of the brewing setup (and in this economy, I could hardly blame them).
Besides, there is no shame in offering a better, house-brewed version of the type of beer that the vast majority of people drink… and any brewer worth his salt should be able to do that. A brewpub/restaurant that does that is, ironically, very probably more poised for success than one mainly bent on educating philistine palates. ;D
The best solution would have been 3 or 4 house brews and a couple of one-offs. But they were strictly staying with the original brewer’s recipes. He brewed good beer, but his stout was a 4.5 ABV Guinnness clone, and everything else he brewed was similar. He was a good friend, taught me lots about brewing(as did the brewers after him) but management got frozen in a menu where everything was basic and bland-wheat, pale ale, stout and amber. The brewers that I knew there loved coming to my house to drink whatever adventurous brew I had on tap, and I always heard their lamentations about not being allowed to brew outside the box.
Would take this in a minute, if I could keep my current job…
Damn college loans
That’s right. However, the guy’s a friend, and his son just moved out of town. So, I’ll be helping him on the weekends for a couple months. No illusions of giving up my day job.
Not sure how they can justify calling you a 1099 employee, but that’s another thread.
True, I should have said “contractor”
Just thought I’d point out that that’s about double minimum wage (and a helluva starting salary for a brewer, to boot).
Yeah, $30k is only minimum wage if you work 4137 hours per year, or average ~ 80 hours a week, every week. Even so, I would take that job if the opportunity arose, 80 hours a week and all.
So far I have no wage, but then I’m not brewing, but plumbing, electrical and construction. Some day I will brew. Will I get paid? I hope so but I have complete creative control.
Well, I let my wife do the math for me and she wasn’t willing to take that kind of pay cut :
Was the 6% on beer sales off the gross, or net? Either way, that could potentially be a lot of money if it’s a busy brewpub.
It might be obvious to everyone but me, but get any profit-sharing deal like that hammered out explicitly in a contract. I went into business with people I trusted (family) because they offered a profit-sharing deal and minority ownership stake in exchange for working 80-100 hours a week for less than minimum wage. Now, a year later they’ve decided they don’t really feel like honoring their end of the deal, and since I trusted them, I never made them sign anything on paper.
I’d say that in brewing it’s the customers who pretty much have creative control. You can try something creative, but if they don’t buy it, they’ll dictate what you create.