Craft Brewery Financial Training Podcast

Today on the podcast Chris Overlay from Get Hoptimized delivers a master class in brewery marketing. You'll learn how to build your brewery sales forecast and super charge results with a best-in-class marketing plan. Key PointsSales forecasting best practicesBrewery revenue drivers and key metrics to simplify planningTools and models to build a comprehensive marketing planTactics to align sales and marketing to achieve revenue goals ResourcesConnect with Chris to super charge your brewery marketing plan, chris@gethoptimized.comLearn more about the financial education network of brewery owners and managers

In today's episode you'll hear the audio version of our 2025 Brewery Budgeting Workshop. We cover questions ranging from how to build your payroll plan to what key metrics to track to the best way to forecast beer margins.  Key Points3 steps to supercharge your 2025 financial planBest practices for building your financial key metrics dashboard6 questions to ask before building your budget to ensure successResourcesJoin the network of brewery owners and managers focused on driving financial resultsGet the free brewery financial training newsletter delivered weekly to your email inbox

Today on the podcast we hear from Jake Lohse from Presidential Brewing in Portage, Michigan.Jake has written a new book which serves as a road map for folks looking to open up a new brewery:In Shifting Gears: The Ultimate Roadmap To Crafting Your Legendary Brewery Or Restaurant, I will show you step by step how to pull it all together. Leveraging experience from having built a legendary brewery myself, I will share practical next steps, lessons learned along the way, and tips and tricks to help fast forward the amount of time it takes you to go from zero to 100 miles per hour.Key PointsThe characteristics that set legendary breweries apart from the othersAdvice for new brewers who want to stand out in today's marketHow and when to scale your breweryResourcesCheck out Jake's new book: The Ultimate Roadmap to Crafting Your Legendary Brewery or RestaurantLearn more about the Beer Business Finance Association

In today's podcast I share the 5-step process that I use to assess our financial position, create our goals, and build a road map to success. This process is designed to help you create timely, accurate, and complete financial statements so that you can make data-driven decisions in your beer business. Key TopicsHow to create a process for predictable financial resultsHow to build a plan that allows you to work ON your business not IN itOne book you must read to build a better business plan, and one book you must read to build a better businessResourcesFree mini-course: 5-Step Process Brewing Financial ExcellenceFree Craft Brewery Financial Newsletter

Key metrics measure the most important things in the brewery. Things like sales growth, margins, profits, and cash flow. When identifying key metrics, the first step is to measure what matters. Start with one problem you need to solve or one opportunity to take advantage of. The next step is to build a dashboard of key metrics. Identify one company goal, one KPI that is critical to watch, like cash flow. Then build up the KPIs for each department that support the company goal.  Key TopicsHow to use lagging indicators, leading indicators, process goals, and outcome goalsBest practices in choosing key metricsExample scorecards, templates, and dashboardsHow to align compensation and KPIsResourcesLearn more about the Beer Business Finance Association

The average health insurance premium for families and individuals has increased more than 24% in the last five years, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. And there's no sign of this slowing down.For breweries who want to provide good, affordable healthcare for employees these cost increases are a real problem.One option to lower costs and provide better benefits comes in the form of self-funded health insurance.Speaking from my own experience, self-funded health plans saved our company millions of dollars.Yes. Millions.What exactly is self-funded insurance? How does it work? How do I know if this will be right for my business?You've got a lot of questions, and Erin Butler from BevCap management has answers.  Listen to the podcast and check out the resources below to learn more.Key Points65% of covered workers in the U.S. have self-funded health insuranceSelf-funded insurance has been available in the U.S. since 1974, with the passage of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)Bottom line, self-funded insurance is not new nor limited to just a handful of large companiesResourcesWatch the video of my interview with Erin and download the self-funded health insurance presentation deckConnect with Erin to learn more about how you can lower costs and provide superior health benefits, ebutler@bevcapmanagement.com

In today's podcast we break down the key steps to build (and implement) a successful brewery financial plan.The financial plan is the road map. Where are you now? Where do you want to go? What does financial success look like?  Listen to the podcast. Download the resources. Build your best plan EVER today! Key TakeawaysUse the 6 building blocks to organize the planning processThe X Factor to financial planning success How to crowd source the best ways to grow sales and cut costsSimple and complex financial models to build your best planResourcesJoin our network of brewery owners and managers working together to build the best brewery financial plan EVER!Get the Brewery Financial Training Program included with your membership to the brewery network

Tom DeMayo is a partner with PKF O'Connor Davies, specializes in cybersecurity, and is a self-described 'ethical hacker'.Cybercrime is a $10 trillion problem globally, and breweries are target.In today's podcast, Tom shares how these crimes occur, how to find out if your brewery is vulnerable, and what steps you can take right now to prevent a ransomware attack. Key PointsTerms defined: Dark web, deep web, surface web, ransomwareHow hackers break in to your systems and what you can do to prevent thisBasics of compliance testing and risk assessmentTips for creating and managing those pesky login credentials The case for a cybersecurity committee ResourcesConnect with Tom and learn how to protect your beer business from cybercrimes, TDemayo@pkfod.com

Today we welcome back Tim Near from Agrowgate, a company that works to save you money on cost of goods sold. Think cans, cardboard, malt, freight and so much more. Key PointsState of the industry: Trends in costs and commodity pricingBrewery purchasing 101: Best practices How to properly source key ingredients Keys to benchmark your costs against industry averagesResourcesConnect with Tim Near and learn more about how to save money Listen to the Brewery Supply Chain Management podcastJoin the brewery financial network - connect with other brewery owners to learn best practices to improve profits and cash flow

In today's podcast we hear the audio version of a recent Brewery Financial Round Table meeting where we tackle brewery cost management and expense reduction.Summary of key points:​Use this 1-2-3-4 step process to put a laser focus on cost cutting and reductionShare the Brewery Financial Training Program with your managers and staff – train them in the ways of identifying and reducing (or eliminating) bloated costsKey challenges we discussed: Controlling costs related to production and materials, freight and shipping, finding efficiencies, avoiding cost surprises, improving culture and communication78 Ideas to cut costs and improve financial results – Double Your Profits in 6 Months, by Bob FiferDan Klasen from the Beverage Federation shared details on the group purchasing organization (GPO) to help you save a ‘craft load’ of money​Join the membership today and get instant access to the brewery financial round table replay, presentation deck, and brewery cost cutting resources.