Planning for long-term success in your craft brewery

Whether you’re hoping to grow your brewery or position the business for sale down the road, setting yourself up for success means looking ahead.

When you’re in the thick of running your brewery, it’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day operations without taking the time to step back and assess what you want the business’s future to look like.

Evolving often means just keeping up with customer’s needs and the changing economy, but more than ever it must also mean creating a roadmap for how you’ll grow, innovate, and thrive despite unpredictable circumstances.

When you think about the next six months, one year, or five years, what do you see for your business? These short and long-term approaches to strategic planning can help you stay ahead of the curve and lead the industry in readiness to adapt to whatever comes your way.

Three ways to plan with the future in mind

• Solid operating budget

• Especially during times of economic uncertainty, having a practical and effective operating budget will ensure you’re not missing potential savings or wasting time and resources. In addition to the traditional aspects of your budget, tracking your metrics by identifying Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and monitoring them regularly will help you continually evaluate things like production volumes and sales, with the freedom to make adjustments as needed.
• Planning for contingencies, as has been shown with the COVID-19 pandemic and difficult economic environment, can set you up to be prepared when something beyond your control crops up.

• Keep your vision in mind

• Regardless of how big or small your goals are – or how short- or long-term they might be – it’s helpful to have a fully defined vision that sets out what you want to achieve and what makes your craft brewery unique. Referring to this on a regular basis will help you stay on track.
• Setting clear goals that are measurable, achievable, and relevant is key. If you want to grow, you need to be sure that you can support the extra resources that will be needed to allow for that growth.

• Exit strategy

• The value of a well thought out exit strategy should not be discounted. Whether you’re considering selling or not, it’s good to have a plan in place and doing so will only maximize the value of the business. When you think of your future, what does leaving the business look like for you? What would you need to achieve to feel confident leaving or what do you need to have to be comfortable after a sale?
• These questions, and many others, are vital to the exit strategy process and will give you the peace of mind that you’re working towards a personal goal or, at the very least, that you have a flexible plan completed and won’t need to throw something together when the time comes.
• While these strategies only scratch the surface of the considerations to be made when planning for your brewery’s long-term success, they give an idea of how ongoing assessments of your needs and goals can be helpful to keep pushing you towards your vision.

With the help of MNP’s dedicated craft brewery team, you can better understand your operations and create a roadmap for the future, ensuring there’s room for adaptation and the unpredictability of business ownership.

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