How to Start a Nanobrewery

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Starting a Nanobrewery

Most people who enjoy brewing beer at home dream of starting a nanobrewery at some point in their lives.

This is because they can generate income from the sale of beer without indulging themselves in the complexities that come with the management of a large brewery.

However, starting a nanobrewery is not as easy as they think. This is because it is a business just like any other and it will go through challenges just like any other business. 

Starting a Nanobrewery
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Before starting, you need to understand exactly what you want since there are different models in the small-scale brewery business. For instance, you should understand the difference between a nanobrewery and a microbrewery. 

While a microbrewery makes at most 15,000 beer barrels each year and sells more than seventy-five percent of it off-site, a nanobrewery produces fewer beer barrels and sells at least twenty-five percent of its beer on-site.

Starting a Nanobrewery

Write a Business Plan

Starting a successful nanobrewery will require you to first write a good business plan.

A business plan for a brewery should include things such as product description, organization information, market analysis, funding information, marketing strategies, and financial projections among others.

With a good business plan, you will easily understand and show the goals that you want to achieve. You can also get loans from financial institutions easily to help you start without any financial problems.

When writing your business plan, you should be comprehensive, honest, and acknowledge any problems or flaws that could be associated with the business.

You should also try to address the problems and show how you can reduce the chances of your business stalling due to them.

Check Local Regulations

It is crucial to check the local regulations governing the brewery business and see any special ones that apply to nanobreweries.

Some people assume that they know a certain location well enough to start this business without even checking the regulations governing it.

However, they do not know that even though some breweries might look like nanobreweries, they can be larger breweries that have a lot of fermentation tanks and other equipment in the back.

In addition, different locations might have different regulations and the success of your brewery business will also depend on these regulations.

Understand How Businesses are Run

Even though you do not need a master’s degree to run a nanobrewery, the success of your nanobrewery business will be highly dependent on your business management skills.

If you do not have any, you can consider studying on your own, attending classes online, or even enrolling in regular classes.

When learning, ensure that you also take some time to learn about brewery licenses, zoning laws, and accounting to help you manage your business finances.

Time management is also essential since you will not only be brewing but also running a complete business. Those with prior experience do not have to go through this process. 

Improve Your Brewing Techniques

Most people starting a nanobrewery have taught themselves how to brew at home. However, there is always room for improvement and you need to make sure that you can brew good beer that everyone will enjoy.

Some people might follow online tutorials and assume that they are brewing quality beer. However, the truth of the matter is that the chances of you brewing quality beer in your first attempts are low.

You, therefore, need to make sure that you are learning all the time and improving your beer to improve sales.

Amount of Beer to Produce

You need to decide the amount of beer that you are going to produce at a given time. It is advisable to start with small amounts of beer at a time. This does not mean that brewing large amounts is more difficult than small amounts. 

However, brewing large amounts of beer means that you are likely going to spend a lot of time in one part of your business at the expense of the others.

Since you are running the business on your own, you need to allocate enough time for other tasks such as marketing and paperwork.

Customer Skills

In conclusion, you need to remember that you are the face of your business. Most of your customers will visit your business in a bid to enjoy great beers and engage in conversations. You, therefore, need to make sure that they can get exactly what they are looking for. 

Developing great customer skills is vital in growing your customer base. If you want to start this business, following the tips discussed above will be important for its success.