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I'm planning on opening a tap room/ brew pub. Your ideas please.

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  • I'm planning on opening a tap room/ brew pub. Your ideas please.

    What is a taproom? It's a pub where you market and sell only local kegged and bottled craft beer. Commercial beer is not normally available.

    I have a reasonably cordial relationship with several commercial craft brewers, as well as a fair collection of home brewers.

    I want an exit strategy from IT, and since I enjoy the brewing industry, as well as the pub industry, I'm thinking of opening a taproom and maybe even an on-site micro-brewery for strange beers not normally available.

    What do I need from you?

    Your needs, ideas, concepts, hates, loves and general opinions of the beer pub industry in ZA.

    I want to offer an experience that is obviously NOT the same as every other franchised chain pub or beer joint.

    Since all of you love the craft and the product, I was hoping you'd be a reasonable source and sounding board.

    Give me hell. Ask the hard questions as well.
    5
    I'm happy to fund at the startup phase.
    60.00%
    3
    I'm more cautious and will wait until brewery has been running for a year.
    40.00%
    2

  • #2
    Hardest part is the licence ..quickest u gonne get it is 9 month if theres no re zoning complications . Secondly i like the idea of difrent beers. Not everyone love ipa's but in the long run your catering for your district. Lastly Theres gonna be a lot of Haters ...figure out where ppl come from aspecially other brewers...so follow your gut ..and dont look back

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    • #3
      Originally posted by duff. View Post
      Hardest part is the licence ..quickest u gonne get it is 9 month if theres no re zoning complications . Secondly i like the idea of difrent beers. Not everyone love ipa's but in the long run your catering for your district. Lastly Theres gonna be a lot of Haters ...figure out where ppl come from aspecially other brewers...so follow your gut ..and dont look back
      yep 9-12 months in our province for brewing & distribution licence
      yep the idea is a variety, possibly 6-10 taps to start
      haters gotta hate

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      • #4
        Originally posted by duff. View Post
        Hardest part is the licence ..
        i would've thought the hardest part is good old fashioned money.

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        • #5
          Originally posted by that guy al View Post
          i would've thought the hardest part is good old fashioned money.
          one of them yes. capital is a sod for a startup.

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          • #6
            Originally posted by that guy al View Post
            i would've thought the hardest part is good old fashioned money.
            Well if ur planning a brewety ofcourse theres a budget , lots of DIY ,calling in favours reading up how u can do more things urself . U can build a decent 100L setup for under 200k that can do a 1000-1300L a month ... you are in controle of that budget however whatever u think the budget is add another 30% .

            The only way getting around big budget is buy in 5 beers and start brewing the 6th (ale ofc.) ...the more beers u brew yourself adds to that 30% real quick . (U need to carry that stock for 4 months )

            .... licence is out of your hands .

            . I bought my first machine for way to expecive ... altho i traded it in for a 300l for the same price i bought it for,it takes a big whop out of your budget that could be spent on more needed equipment.

            .I would also look at a spot with a bit more space then u think u need . This i cannot stress enough. Im 6 months down the line of running a brewery and are building again .

            lastly what are u planing on your Restuarant side ? High end ? ,soul food .. more snack related? Its gonna pay the salary in the beginning , every money the brewery makes goes back into the brewery.

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            • #7
              Do yourself a favour. Make a trip to Cape Town, and spend some time at the Taproom @ Devils Peak. THAT is the way to do a brewpub although at a bigger brewing scale.

              My dream is to do the same, somewhere on the West Coast of Cape Town.

              My original draft business plan needed about 5 bar
              Give a man a beer, waste an hour. Teach a man to brew, and waste a lifetime!

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              • #8
                Originally posted by SimonB View Post
                Do yourself a favour. Make a trip to Cape Town, and spend some time at the Taproom @ Devils Peak. THAT is the way to do a brewpub although at a bigger brewing scale.

                My dream is to do the same, somewhere on the West Coast of Cape Town.

                My original draft business plan needed about 5 bar



                Thanks for the tip. Will eyeball their setup.

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                • #9
                  Duff I doubt if I have the palate or the expertise to go large scale. I have a 250L mash tun that has been handed down from micro to micro, and that's about the largest batch (8 kegs) that I would ever do. I'd still need to source the boiler and the HLT and all the extras, so in the interim I'd just be a taproom for established brewers in my area. Luckily there are enough for me to have a nice selection.

                  I want to start smallish and scale. It's no use making provision for 200+ backsides and I never fill the seats. 10 tables/benches to start, 40-60 patrons.

                  Menu will be a very much pub oriented, short order grill menu with most stuff pre-prepped. I see some pubs going too far into the restaurant level cuisine which is just stupid. Large menus mean lots of stock on hand and a huge kitchen staff, not to mention equipment.

                  Tapas, baskets, sliders, etc.

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                  • #10
                    Some kid friendly area (even if just small and outside). People with smallish kids also drink at pubs
                    Cheers

                    Jacques

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                    • #11
                      IMO fine dining and breweries don't belong together so you're on the right approach.

                      Good old fashioned pub grub and a few pints, a reasonable view and a play area for the kids.

                      The other one I like is saggy stone. A basic, but refined menu but still staying true to the pub theme.
                      Give a man a beer, waste an hour. Teach a man to brew, and waste a lifetime!

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                      • #12
                        I also agree on the pub grub. Who wants to over eat or over concentrate on the food while drinking a fine brew?
                        Cheers

                        Jacques

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                        • #13
                          The view will be a challenge as we don't have any mountain but I'll do my best.

                          Following will be in the business plan then:
                          kiddie area
                          secure parking
                          night time lighting and car guard

                          DP is classic. I'm also doing a theme, I'll steal some ideas there

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                          • #14
                            I've been to DP once and it is one of the main reasons why I "hate" (read envy) capetonians
                            Primary: APA
                            Bottled: Quad, tripel, K@K red ale
                            Keg 1: Weiss. 2: Weiss. Keg 3: Air. Keg 4: Air
                            Next up: world domination

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                            • #15
                              For whatever my opinion is worth: I have limited experience with drinking at noncommercial beer pubs and I only know the Pretoria ones well and I visitied Sabie Brewery once earlier this year.

                              Location: Please please please do it in the Pretoria region! We only have a couple of decent watering holes and another one would be very welcome.

                              Selection
                              : Capital Craft has like a million brews on tap and it makes choice difficult and myself and friends usually settle for the old favorites every time. A maximum of 5-6 taps means you can run through the entire selection in one evening and be satisfied in the fact that you at least tried everything. Too much choice means we do not know were we have to start.

                              Food: eating good food at a pub is very important to me. I'm not talking about that R300 fillet with a cherry & Camembert sauce. But a seriously good burger with some seriously good chips and seriously good onion rings goes a million miles to to help me reconsider the place a second time. Although I hate the word, "gourmet pub food" explains it very well. Sabie Brewery, Capital Craft and Baracas have menus that stood out for me. I agree with the notion of a limited selection on the menu. Maybe have a few menus on weekly rotation to keep things interesting.

                              Pricing: (I'm not sure how feasible this idea is though) Many folks (such as myself) like to explore different beers while we have a good time. So this usually means tasters are out because they usually cost more per liter of beer than the big draughts. Capital Craft has an interesting but really cool scheme where the cost per beer scales linearly. So I can buy 3 X 350ml draughts or one 1 liter draught of the same beer and it would cost about the same. It makes me more keen on ordering many small drinks and thus get to experience as many tastes as I can.

                              Noise: I like places that are more partial to being not so noisy as some Pretoria places can be. I am at the age where I like to actually talk to my friends when we are at a pub, because that is usually the only opportunity I have to catch up with their lives.

                              Brewing on location: I've also toyed a bit with the idea of opening a brew pub with an on-location brewery. I think it is best to first focus on the pub aspect and then on the brewery. First establish the pub, get a good reputation and have decent cash flow with decent daily foot traffic and then consider getting the correct paperwork and making/selling your own beer on location. Hedging your bets on your own produce is a bit risky an could cause the doom of a virtually unknown pub. Think what would happen if your favorite watering hole all of a sudden starting making and selling their own beer alongside the usual repertoire. It's not going to affect you as a patron in any way. You will try the beer, if you like it, win win! And if you don't like it, whatevs, they still stock your usual favorites so you will keep on coming back!
                              For things I'm selling:
                              - I can be contacted at homebrewer at dline dot co dot za
                              - I am located in Pretoria East
                              - I am always open to reasonable offers, especially if you are picking up more than one thing I'm selling.

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