CBP Connects Charlotte
June 9-11, 2025
CBP Connects presented by Arryved POS
Workshop at The Barrel Room at Triple C Brewing
Monday, June 9, 2025
Welcome Reception at Triple C Brewing Company thanks to Malteurop
Tuesday, June 10, 2025
Gather + Coffee + Trade Show
Welcome/Get to Know Your Fellow Craft Beer Professionals
Andrew Coplon (Founder, Craft Beer Professionals/Secret Hopper)
Bryan Roth (Sightlines)
Sales wins increasingly come from thinking about the end consumer, stepping away from a long tradition of only “brewing what we like to drink.”
Sharing insights into the needs, preferences, and behaviors of today’s diverse beverage consumers, this seminar will help breweries unlock new sales opportunities. You’ll learn about the changes to who’s drinking alcohol and why, made concrete through case studies from one distribution-focused brewery and one concentrated on taproom sales.
Learning Objectives:
- Come away with actionable data about today’s cross-category drinkers and how to attract them to your taproom or product
- Understand a multistep framework for product development and taproom programming that works backwards from the drinker
- Identify levers—flavor, format, price, placement—that a brewery can pull to fit its products within consumer need states
Bryan Roth leads consumer and market analysis for Sightlines, an insights platform that provides weekly newsletters and one-on-one consulting with craft breweries of all sizes. He develops frameworks and ideas that allow for decision-makers to thrive in beer and other alcohol categories. He regularly presents across the country for businesses, associations, and guilds who are in a position to lead and develop opportunities for their categories. With over 10 years as a beverage-alcohol analyst, his work helps make ambiguous trends and emerging consumer behaviors more tangible, relevant, and actionable for business leaders.
Trade Show + Lunch
Moderator: Lisa Parker (NC Craft Brewers Guild)
Panelists: Alvaro Fernandez (Bank of America), Emily Ladd (Charlotte Hornets), Michael Krimmer (Bojangles)
“Creativity is the focused combination of unlikely things. Your mind locks onto a certain element and then searches widely for something unexpected that fits with it. What can scuba diving teach you about agriculture? What can trees teach you about public speaking? There is always some connective tissue between disciplines. If you wish to be more creative, look for the connections between two previously unconnected things.”
That quote, by James Clear from ‘Atomic Habits,’ nails it. If we continuously look to each other as our only source of inspiration, we risk becoming an echo chamber of sameness.
In this conversation, we will hear from guests who do not work in the beer industry. We will learn their stories, hear their challenges, discover similarities, gain outside-the-box ideas, and ask unique questions to inspire you to greater success.
Learning Objectives:
- Hear real-world stories and challenges from professionals outside the beer industry, providing practical examples of how overcoming obstacles and applying fresh perspectives can lead to success
- Recognize and apply innovative concepts from unrelated fields to the beverage industry.
- Break free from conventional thinking patterns by examining how unconventional practices and ideas from other sectors can inspire novel approaches in their work.
Alvaro Fernandez is a Commercial Banking Senior Relationship Manager for the Charlotte market at Bank of America. His responsibilities include leading a team of specialists focused on understanding each client’s unique needs to deliver strategic guidance and financial solutions. Alvaro’s mission is to help local companies thrive and achieve their business goals, no matter how simple or how complex. Bringing eleven years of experience, Alvaro began his banking career at Bank of America, where he has also served as a Small Business Banker. Throughout his banking career, Alvaro has served his business clients holistically to support their growth. Originally from Tampa, Florida, Alvaro graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from the University of South Florida. He resides in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Emily Ladd is the Senior Director of Game Presentation for the Charlotte Hornets. An Indiana native, she has spent her entire career with the Hornets and is currently in her 18th season. At the helm of Game Presentation, she is tasked with leveraging entertainment assets, production elements, and technology to create an engaging fan experience, help meet revenue goals, and maintain a home court advantage. Career highlights include helping bring the Hornets name back to Charlotte in 2014, and producing several All-Star Weekend events, most recently the 2025 All-Star Game in San Francisco.
A North Carolina native, Lisa Parker has worked with the NC Craft Brewers Guild since 2015. As the current Executive Director, she is a champion for North Carolina’s 410+ independent craft breweries, navigating legislative issues and fostering the state’s continued growth as a national craft beer leader. A graduate of the University of North Carolina, Lisa enjoys gardening, walking her dogs, traveling with her family, and of course sampling the State of Southern Beer.
Michael Krimmer is the Director of Culinary Innovation and Menu Strategy at Bojangles. He is a comfort food enthusiast who was raised in the North, but must have been a Southerner in a past life. He has worked every job in foodservice from dishwasher to fine dining chef, but has made a career out of the obscure by applying culinary methods and flavors to large fast food chains, like Wendy’s and Bojangles. He has a passion for making food the best it can be and delivering it to as many people as possible.
Moderator: Ron Nelson (Arryved)
Panelists: Brandon Stirewalt (Town Brewing Co.), Kiel Arrington (Vaulted Oak Brewing)
Hear from a panel of experienced taproom managers and brewery owners as they share real-world insights into running smoother, more profitable taprooms. These industry pros will discuss how to streamline operations with smart technology, track key performance metrics to boost efficiency, empower staff with effective tools, and keep inventory and production in sync. This engaging conversation is packed with actionable tips for anyone looking to elevate their taproom experience.
Learning Objectives:
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Learn how to streamline service to reduce wait times and create a smoother guest experience.
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Discover ways to track and analyze performance metrics that help optimize taproom operations and profitability.
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Explore techniques to empower your staff and ensure every shift runs efficiently and effectively.
Brandon Stirewalt is the Director of Operations at Town Brewing Co., bringing extensive experience from various breweries across the Carolinas. A proud North Carolina native, he has deep ties to the state and has lived in Charlotte since attending UNC Charlotte. Brandon’s passion for craft beer goes beyond the beverage itself; he values the community and culture it fosters. Outside of work, he enjoys live music, often with great company. His love for craft beer and the arts reflects his commitment to celebrating the unique experiences and vibrant local culture of North Carolina.
Ron Nelson is the VP of Sales at Arryved, helping provide innovative solutions for the craft beverage industry. With a background in scaling software companies, Ron brings a deep passion for helping craft makers thrive. Drawn to the creativity and connection that define the craft community, he is committed to supporting breweries, taprooms, and beyond with tools that fuel their success. Under his leadership, Arryved continues to champion the unique needs of craft businesses, ensuring they have the technology to serve guests seamlessly and grow sustainably.
Reception at NoDa Brewing Company thanks for Berlin Packaging
Wednesday, June 11, 2025
Trade Show + Coffee
Kelly Meyer (How NOT To Start A Damn Brewery)
For the past two decades, the craft beer industry has often celebrated growth for growth’s sake, leading to a landscape where many breweries struggle to achieve profitability. Hype alone doesn’t pay the bills, and mimicking another brewery’s success is rarely a sustainable strategy.
A healthier craft beer industry requires a new approach—one that acknowledges and addresses the factors leading to failure to avoid them on a larger scale. This includes fewer breweries, strategic partnerships, open distribution, and other systemic shifts.
The discussion will begin with a state-of-the-industry analysis using key performance indicators (KPIs). With 70% of breweries producing less than 1,000 BBLs annually, the current model often fails to deliver profitability. Scale, it seems, is the most reliable path to success in beer.
We’ll explore where the numbers need to be, why most breweries lack the capacity to reach them, and actionable steps for those facing these challenges. Additionally, we’ll review the peak of supply and demand equilibrium around 2015 and how those insights can inform future planning. In some cases, acquiring one or even two breweries may present the best opportunities for growth and sustainability.
Learning Objectives:
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Understand the Industry’s Headwinds and Financial Impacts: Analyze the challenges breweries face, distinguishing between pivots that increase revenue and those that lead to debt, using KPIs from the past 15 years to predict industry trends.
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Master Market Ownership and Defend Against New Entrants: Learn strategies for dominating your market through expertise, community engagement, product mix, location advantages, and retail partnerships to create barriers for new competitors.
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Shift the Conversation Around Brewery Growth and Sustainability: Explore how to have honest, productive conversations about industry saturation, encouraging a healthier future for craft beer while keeping the community strong and vibrant.
Kelly Meyer opened his first business at 19 years old. His second at 27 and his third, a small family brewery, at 35. In 2012, the headlines, the chatter and the buzz was all about how the next decade of craft beer was going to be the best ever. But that didn’t seem to happen.
After 7 years of struggling with the brewery, he sat down and made a list of everything he and his wife has done wrong in their business and set about making a plan to fix them. That list became a 55,000 word book titled How NOT to Start A Damn Brewery.
A year later, Kelly started a podcast interviewing other failed operators around the world to draw lines between each their experiences. Now over 80 interviews and 4 years, he’s sharing what he’d learned about why breweries fail.
And what you can do to prevent yours from failing.
Alicia Hill (Allen Stahl + Kilbourne)
The future of any brewery is dependent on many factors, but securing a location with favorable lease terms is paramount. The session will provide an overview of commercial leases for greater understanding about what to look for in a lease, negotiating with a prospective Landlord for lease terms favorable for the long-term success of the brewery.
Learning Objectives:
- What to expect from a commercial lease. The lease terms will provide for what a brewery can and can’t do with the property and understanding what to expect the lease to cover and the terms most often at issue for long-term success.
- How to negotiate with the Landlord to give your brewery the best lease possible with the greatest likelihood of success. Understand the most important lease terms to negotiate and what “industry standard” lease terms to avoid.
- Understand the difference between commercial and retail spaces for rent, the zoning, licensing, and permitting requirements of a prospective lease, and other considerations regarding tenant improvements and Landlord improvements.
ASK Law works with manufacturers and retailers of all types and sizes across North Carolina and throughout the United States and abroad, including craft breweries, wineries, cideries, distillers, mead makers, saki makers, and more.
Alicia E. Hill is an attorney at ASK Law handling legal issues for start-ups and established businesses of all sorts. Prior to attending law school (and currently), Alicia owned and operated restaurants and bars in Asheville, NC. Her background as a small business owner brings a unique perspective to the issues facing ASK Law clients.
Trade Show + Lunch presented by BMI
“Do You Have Miller?” Strategies to Reach New Audiences
Michael Varda (Craft Beer Advisory Services)
In today’s competitive marketplace, reaching new consumers has become more critical than ever. With an overwhelming number of options available, potential customers are constantly faced with choices on where to spend their discretionary income. This makes standing out from the competition a crucial challenge for any brand, let alone craft breweries.
In this data-driven, action-packed session, we will explore effective strategies for expanding your consumer base beyond your typical crowd. The insights shared will be drawn from our direct-to-consumer research reports and our proprietary dataset of 30,000+ taproom experiences. This session provides actionable strategies to bring in the non-craft drinker and other non-traditional audiences.
Juggle Master: Managing Multiple Roles, Perspectives, and Goals (Simultaneously)
Colleen Quinn (Atomic Clock Brewing Company)
As owners and managers, we’re almost always wearing many hats – that’s the job. But how often do we really talk about what that really looks like and how to do that most effectively? Or how to give ourselves some grace when inevitably a ball gets dropped? Assessing, analyzing, and managing the business from different perspectives – departments, time horizons, upside opportunity vs downside risk, and more – isn’t easy and often isn’t understood or appreciated.
In this talk Colleen will:
- Be brutally honest about what the master juggler job really looks like
- Review the different perspectives and angles we’re juggling
- Share strategies for juggling the most (or more) effectively
- Get real about what it feels like to drop the balls and pick them back up
Riding the Wave: How Craft Beer’s Past Shaped Its Future
Aaron Gore (VP of Sales & Marketing, Beer30 by The 5th Ingredient)
“A rising tide raises all boats.”
It’s a phrase that has been echoed time and time again as craft beer rose from a handful of scrappy, free-thinking mavericks into an industry filled with passionate converts seeking to make their own way within it. And it is a phrase that has so often been true, as collaboration and community brought IPAs and Saisons out of the bottle shop and into the mainstream. Powerful tides, however, also create waves.
As craft beer’s growth has slowed, even declined, in recent years it is easy to feel as though the industry as a whole is in danger of being crashed upon the rocks and destroyed completely. However, waves move fast, and can create opportunity as much as they can create destruction.
Long-time industry advocate Aaron MJ Gore will explore the reasons behind the current state of craft beer, explaining some of the forces at play and using learnings from other industries to give a hint at what may be coming next. More importantly, he will explore how brewery owners can help to navigate these changes, riding the wave instead of being crushed beneath it, and moving forward toward future success not only for their own companies, but for the industry at large.
CBP Connects attendees continually list the ability to connect and learn from others as a highlight from our workshops. We are excited to host a session dedicated to learning from your peers. In this session, we will field questions from you and then develop the best solutions together. Plan to walk away with strategies to problems many of us are facing and best practices to improve brewery operations. Together, we can grow stronger.
Learning Objectives:
- Collaborate with your peers to solve problems faced by other Craft Beer Professionals
- Discover new strategies and solutions to help you see greater success at your brewery
- Build new relationships that you can reach out to with future questions
Closing Reception at Resident Culture Brewing Company (South End) thanks to White Labs
Trade Show featuring:
Arryved | ATP Group | Beer Law Center | Beer30 by The 5th Ingredient
Berlin Packaging | Boelter | Deutsche Beverage & Process
Harvest Hosts | Hopsteiner | InTouch Labels | Malteurop
Mini-Merch | Ollie | Tap Hopper | TapWyse | Two Track Malting | White Labs
Lunch + Music thanks to:
BMI + Stephanie Quayle
Event Signage thanks to Strike
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