The Microbrewery Handbook

Chapter 22Keys to Improving Day‐to‐Day Taproom Operations

WHILE I CAN speak to our experience, understand that these are guiding ideas and tools and can still be effective when modified. If you have a much smaller or much larger staff, it is understandable that the programming of meetings and the like may be less frequent. Still, try to instill some of these principles in your new or fledgling brewery operation.

• Weekly “family” meetings. Set a single, one‐hour, non‐negotiable, regular meeting each week with your leaders. I'm amazed how few breweries actually set time aside time to meet; when we do collaboration brews on Mondays and they see what our meeting is like they usually say “we should start doing this!”. In my view this is an absolute must. If you have a brewery and are not doing this, start doing this immediately.

  Note that just talking with everyone at the brewery intermittently doesn't count as a “meeting.” We're talking about dedicated time with a clear outcome. With no standard meeting time and each department in a silo, you will miss so many things: dropped balls on coordination, and – just as painful – missed opportunities to collaborate on ideas. If we are holding a big event in town and we want to have a beer to go with it, if our marketing/events person isn't talking with the brew side staff, we'll miss our chance to maximize the greatness of the event.

  At Perfect Plain we meet every Monday at noon and include all people who supervise any staff. We go around ...