Standing out in a crowd

When Bauhaus Brew Labs opened in 2014 in the heart of Northeast Minneapolis, the taproom and brewery industry in Northeast Minneapolis was already getting crowded.

Company officials felt they knew how to brew great beer – but they also knew that alone was not going to ensure the public would stop by to enjoy it.

“Given that market reality, we knew the only way we were going to stand out was to do things differently,” says Matt Schwandt, founder of Bauhaus. “That was sort of our foundational principle — to be a little disruptive in the craft space here.”

The company has done that in a couple different ways. First, it’s predominantly a lager brewery, which is unusual because those beers take more time, money and brewing expertise to do right.

“From a cost and efficiency perspective, it’s not the first choice of most start-up craft breweries,” he says. “We also noticed that there was a glaring void in the craft shelf for locally produced lager beers.”

Bauhaus’ second differentiator, Schwandt says, is its visual branding.

The brewery partnered with Austin, Texas-based Helms Workshop, which has worked with craft brewers throughout the country, to create a design that stands out. Its bright colors, distinct logo and custom typeface stand out in liquor stores and the look is consistent in the tap room.

“The idea was to make a craft brand that did not seem like  something you would expect in the craft beer space, but that somehow fit,” he says. “They really nailed it. The visual appeal of our brand has gotten a lot of attention. Our products jump off the shelf.”

Finally, the company has gone out of its way to have an identifiable, consistent and uniform tone across all its social media outlets. Bauhaus has two co-directors of marketing and communications who handle the duties.

“They brought a lot of expertise,” he says.

Up until a few years ago, the Twin Cities brewing industry consisted largely of a few well known brands. Companies like Summit, Surly and Schell remain iconic and big sellers in the Twin Cities and beyond.

But since 2011, when the Legislature passed and Gov. Mark Dayton signed the “Surly bill” that allowed breweries to sell pints of their own beer, taprooms and brew pubs have been opening by the dozen.

So, while there is a lot of good beer being consumed across the Twin Cities and statewide, that means it’s also harder to get noticed. Several local beer maestros shared their strategies for standing out among the crowd.

Fresh messaging maintains the brand

612Brew was among the first of the new taprooms to enter the market. It’s been open for nearly five years and it started out with the benefit of being one of the first tap rooms in the Twin Cities.

“I feel like the grandfather in this business,” quips founder Robert Kasak.

But the Northeast Minneapolis stalwart didn’t take that early entry status for granted. Kasak thinks his taproom has been the model many others have followed and he’s proud of his beer. But he knows in a fast-crowding market how important it is to keep getting the message out.

Everything from the name – which Kasak says emblazons itself on the city of Minneapolis – to the Minneapolis skyline logo are aimed at making the beer synonymous with its Northeast Minneapolis roots.

“There are connotations to locality,” he says. “No one is quite as explicit as we are. We wear that as a badge of honor. … I think that resonates with people.”

But while the logo stays constant, 612Brew’s messaging changes regularly. Kasak says the company switches advertising agencies every eight to 10 months to keep the message fresh.

Kasak also has not been afraid to seek help from outside when necessary. He initially brewed his own beer in his garage, but when the company was going commercial, he enlisted the assistance of a professional brewer.

The same strategy has paid off with 612Brew’s social media marketing. The company is on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, but he outsources that to a firm with specialists.

“If we had someone in house who was a millennial, for example, we could probably run our accounts a little better, because they are like-minded,” he says. “I’m 38, I don’t think like a 22-year-old. You find the right partners that can bring your brand to the next level. And that allows me to do things like focus on the beer.”

Crowdsourcing and food truck

When Jamie Robinson was looking to start the Northbound Smokehouse & Brewpub in South Minneapolis, the bank wanted well more upfront investment than he and his partners had available. They had been talking with some larger investors, but they didn’t want to lose control of the business.

So, they started looking for people willing to invest between $1,000 and $5,000 and gave them a choice – they could take a small piece of equity or they could take free beer for life.

“These free beer programs are all over, but they tend to be limited,” Robinson says. “I just decided to run with that idea and pump it up on steroids so we could get more money.”

The local news media got wind of the idea and the strategy took off. Northbound raised $250,000 in less than three weeks, primarily from folks who are within walking distance of the South Minneapolis brew pub. That was enough to secure the company’s bank loan, he says.

“It sounds flashy and sexy and I think that’s the reason that it really caught on,” Robinson says.

The company has 78 free beer drinkers and gives away about 10 free beers a day. He notes that the cost of those beers is negligible, compared with the ongoing payoff that comes in many ways. The free beer members often order food and bring along friends, providing food sales and considerable word of mouth advertising.

“There was a huge amount of press and hype behind it,” he says of the strategy and of the brew pub’s opening, which occurred early in the industry’s heyday.

Now, a few years later, the Northbound Smokehouse & Brewpub takes advantage of its ability to sell food by parking food trucks outside taprooms that can’t. Cooks get questioned on the fare and they can educate anyone unfamiliar with the location.

“We give away free beer cards to people who are curious and have never been,” Robinson says. “It’s a weird symbiotic relationship.”

Duluth brewery immerses in community

The craft brewing craze might not be quite as crowded in Duluth as it is in the metro area, but that hasn’t stopped Bent Paddle Brewing Co. from working hard to stand out, both in its local community and throughout the region.

Bent Paddle has benefited from the tourist destination status of its hometown. But the company also has immersed itself in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Duluth, a previously underdeveloped but now growing part of the city, says co-founder Laura Mullen. The company has created ties with several local organizations that have sought partnerships and it spends a ton of time and resources educating people about the brand.

“We try to get involved with every charity that asks and be as supportive as possible,” she says. “In a small community like Duluth, that really translates.”

Bent Paddle has grown into a popular regional brand and Mullen attributes its success thus far to its Outfitter Program. The company’s outfitters are trained to be extra knowledgeable about every aspect of the company when they head off to tastings at liquor stores or charitable events. Bent Paddle, on a busy weekend, might participate in six such events in any given night.

That’s a lot of work for its 50 outfitters, but it pays off.

“That’s a lot of hours of one-on-one discussions of our beer,” Mullen says.

Marketing local partnerships

Minneapolis-based Able Seedhouse + Brewery has stood out not just through its beer, but through partnering with farmers in the region to provide grain for its beer that might otherwise come from outside Minnesota.

“We’ve built a small-scale malting operation in our production area,” says Matt Johnson, co-founding partner.

And the company has been cultivating relationships with farmers 100 miles away

“We have control over that process,” Johnson says. “We think that’s a very important part of that process. We’re focused on how we can influence the market and how we can apply our malting process so our brand doesn’t just represent our brewery.”

The company wants to collaborate with others and take requests for specific malts as part of its growth strategy. Johnson says there are two categories of breweries opening in the state: those that are lifestyle brands for the founders and those who aspire to be larger.

“We’re in the latter category,” he says.

So, the company does a lot of work educating staff on its beer and doubled its sales staff to increase its distribution. But one of its main messages goes back to marketing its locally grown malting process.

“We hope that it’s an identification with our message and our focus on malts” he says. “Our ability to grow and grow organically will help some of our aspirations in malts and our ability to do some of the things we want to do.”

“And we have lots of parking,” Johnson quips.

Difficult market to stand out and grow

Ryan Schildkraut, a partner with investment bank Freeland Briese, has advised brewery owners as a lawyer and as an investment banker. He says the craft beer industry is still just getting started in Minnesota, but adds that it’s not an easy business in which to make a living.

It’s important for the owner – and the owner’s investors – to know up-front if the brewer’s aspirations are becoming a regional player looking for growth and a shot at bigger returns or if the plans call for more of a lifestyle brand where making a decent living is the goal.

“Not everyone can be a Bent Paddle,” Schildkraut says, adding that many breweries are opening with financial assistance from friends and family with the attitude “if I get nothing more than free beer for 20 years, I’m happy.”

Many local breweries, he says, are well known, differentiated, crowded, doing everything right, winning awards … and barely profitable.

“That’s not to say they are doing a bad job,” he says. “It’s a difficult business, one where those entering need to know they are unlikely to make millions.”

Build-out costs, equipment, taps and a finite amount of beer one company can typically brew right away create a challenging landscape, especially as the market fills up. Growth can create economies of scale, but “for a start-up, at a few thousand barrels of production, it’s difficult to achieve meaningful profitability.”

Message matters

Jeremy Zoss, owner of Zoss Media, has done some public relations, copywriting and strategic marketing for some of the local breweries. He says that while there haven’t been many brew pubs or taprooms that have failed to this point, some have achieved greater success than others.

While brewing the best beer is ultimately going to be the greatest point of differentiation, taprooms and brew pubs give themselves a leg up in the competition by mastering the business side of the industry and by knowing their distinguishing message, he says.

Having a message means more than being the first taproom in a city, too. That might draw in some locals, but it isn’t going to draw people from elsewhere. The advantage also disappears, Zoss says, when the next one opens .

A story or message must be more distinguishing, Zoss says. It could be marketing that the company features a specific niche of beer. It could be a specific characteristic about the brewery, such as the unique taproom-only strategy utilized by Dangerous Man Brewing Co., which means you won’t find that beer anywhere else. Or it could involve eye-popping design. A strong social media presence also has tended to resonate in this industry.

“If they have designs on being a larger brand, they need to work on the messaging that is beyond ‘we’re local,’” he says. “There is going to be a lot of hard work, shoe leather work, for these new breweries.”

That work doesn’t end once a consumer has agreed to give your brand a chance, either. Nothing works harder for a brand than a satisfied customer, he adds.

“Once you have them in the door, you have to turn them into evangelists for your brand,” Zoss says. “Whether that’s offering them incentives to sign up for the Facebook page or offering them exclusive discounts on a pint of beer, you’ve got to take that customer base and get them talking to their friends.”

 

Matt Johnson is a co-founding partner with

 

 

Able Seedhouse + Brewery: 612.405.4642;
in**@******er.com; www.ablebeer.com.

 

Robert Kasak founded 612Brew: 612.930.4606; in**@*****ew.com; www.612brew.com.

 

Laura Mullen is co-founder of
Bent Paddle Brewing Co.: 218.279.2722;
in**@***************ng.com;
www.bentpaddlebrewing.com.

 

Jamie Robinson is owner of
Northbound Smokehouse & Brew Pub: 612.208.1450;
ja***@***************ub.com;
www.northboundbrewpub.com.

 

Ryan Schildkraut is a director with
Freeland Briese: 612.399.9688;
rs**********@************se.com;
www.freelandbriese.com.

 

Matt Schwandt is co-owner of Bauhaus Brew Labs: 612.387.1407; ma**@*************bs.com; www.bauhausbrewlabs.com.

 

Jeremy Zoss is owner of Zoss Media: 612.208.9677; je****@*******ia.com;
www.zossmedia.com.