CBP Connects: Milwaukee, WI
June 19-21, 2023
CBP Connects presented by Arryved POS
Monday, June 19, 2023
Welcome Reception at MobCraft thanks to ABS Commercial
TUESDAY, JUNE 20, 2023
Gather + Breakfast + Trade Show
Welcome/Get to Know Your Fellow Craft Beer Professionals
Andrew Coplon (Founder, Craft Beer Professionals/Secret Hopper)
Chris Overlay (CEO, Get Hoptimized)You have a lot going on in the taproom, new beers coming out, pint nights, collaborations, and plenty of other great things to tell your audience about. The challenge is publicizing everything without blasting your audience away by turning your feed into a non-stop commercial. So, let’s talk about how to plan your marketing so that you get everything out and still communicate with your audience impactfully.
Bring the team, this session is not just for marketing people. One of the key lessons from this session is how and why it takes a team to plan, source, and publish relevant marketing messaging. Get excited to walk away with actionable strategies to maximize your marketing.
Learning Objectives:
A content planning process that connects the different sectors of your business and allows you to plan marketing actions a month in advance
Channel strategies that you can use to break your messaging into bite-size pieces and deliver the right message in the right format
- Tools to make planning and team communication easier
Chris Overlay is the founder and CEO of Get Hoptimized, a marketing agency laser-focused on the craft beverage industry. He has over 10 years of experience in the marketing industry, having managed millions of dollars in advertising spend and coordinated projects for companies across the United States & Canada. Chris is the host of the Get Hoptimized Podcast and frequent guest speaker for conferences across the United States. He’s also a big Golden Knights fan, and brews half-decent homebrew on occasion.
Moderator: Matt Albrecht (Founder/Owner, River Drive Cooperage), Panelists: Brian Perkey (Senior Key Account Manager, Lallemand), Doug Kolker (CPA, Wipfli), Ross Hunsinger (Director of Food and Beverage Innovation, Abstrax Tech), Ryan Bandy (Director of Experiences, Indeed Brewing), Sam Green (Head Brewer, Untitled Art)
Audience and attention – how will you keep it? Whether you’re looking to build a more diverse and engaged audience in your taproom, or looking to expand your offerings on retail shelves, this session will offer insight into expanding your beverage offerings. Beginning with a discussion on ingredients and processes, our panelists will begin with the initial test batch, discuss go to market strategies, and how to evaluate success of new products. They will cover criteria on how to determine which beverages may fit in best with your business model, the financial implications, and how to successfully build awareness. Our panelists will share strategies for success, examples of failure, and provide you with a primer on what to consider as you continue to innovate.
Learning Objectives:
- Attendees will gain an understanding of which alternative beverages are currently seeing success and the production methods needed.
- Attendees will understand the investment and support needed on the business side of the brewery to expand offerings.
- Attendees will be ready to conduct a SWOT analysis to determine which new beverages they should consider adding to their portfolio.
Matt Albrecht grew up in a family of woodworkers and craftsmen. Starting River Drive in 2008, he quickly focussed their woodworking skills towards wooden barrels; Seeking to improve and revitalize the nearly lost art of coopering. Since, Matt and his team have outgrown the 2 car garage they started in, and now run River Drive Cooperage and Millwork on an old 40 acre farm in scenic New England.
Brian Perkey was born in the Willamette Valley (OR) and raised in central British Columbia, Canada. He still resides in the Pacific Northwest in the small community of Parkdale, OR on the northern slopes of Mt Hood.
He joined Lallemand Brewing in May 2017 after entering the brewing industry back in 1992. He spent 19 years on deck in several brew-houses and cideries(Bridgeport, Full Sail, Gordon-Biersch, Thunder Island, Crispin, Hood Valley), with the rest of his time with an English malt company(Muntons) and a local liquid yeast manufacturer(Wyeast). After 4.5 years as Regional Sales Manager-N. America where he was responsible for the US, Mexican and Canadian Commercial Brewing and Home-Brew/Wine markets, he now holds the position of Senior Key Account Manager where he looks after some of our most important customers here at Lallemand.
He is a single dad with 2 kids (17 & 21 y/o son & daughter). He is an avid fisherman and snowboarder, and also an amateur sailor with a 26’ sailboat on the Columbia River.
Doug Kolker focuses on research and experimentation (R&E) tax projects, allowing him to use his experience to help clients maximize the R&E tax credit. He assists manufacturing, technology and software companies nationwide to successfully reduce their tax liabilities by uncovering research and development (R&D) credits. Doug is also responsible for the overall planning, organization, supervision and completion of client engagements. He has a broad background in tax planning, working with closely held businesses, corporations, partnerships and limited liability companies.
Doug began his career as an auditor for private and public companies. With his passion and desire to run his own business, he became president of a chain of retail stores in the St. Louis area, where he oversaw the doubling of the company’s size.
Ross Hunsinger is the Director of Food and Beverage Innovation at Abstrax Tech. A Siebel Institute alum,
former owner of Atlas Sodaworks, and terpene beverage specialist for the last 6 years. Ross has
overseen the development, implementation, and scaling of Abstrax’s growth in the brewing industry backed by world-beating technology and good vibes.
Ryan Bandy’s unconventional path to Director of Experience at Indeed Brewing began on the packaging line, snapping 6-pack holders for short fills and a foot in the door. From back of the house to front, then out the front door, Ryan tended bar and managed Indeed’s Minneapolis taproom before joining the sales team. He was Sales Director for four years until Spring 2022, when he launched into a brand new role overseeing all Sales, Marketing and Hospitality for Indeed Minneapolis and Milwaukee. Ryan is a jack-of-all-trades who brings a holistic view of the brewery in its entirety, and its place in the current industry landscape.
Sam Green started homebrewing at the age of 18, then got a job (voluntary) at a brewery at the ripe age of 19. He moved to Colorado and worked for Boulder Beer for 7 years before moving to Madison to brew for Octopi/Untitled Art. He has also backpacked every national park in America.
Trade Show + Lunch
Kyle Rheiner (Food & Beverage Practice Leader, CraftBrewingInsurance.com)
Brewery owners and managers wear a lot of hats, work extreme hours and are often in meetings, out of town and may be unreachable at times. There are many pieces of equipment and various areas within a brewery that can go haywire at any moment. When these situations arise, it’s extremely important that your staff has the key contact information, skills and training to diffuse any situation and know-how to keep things moving forward.
In this training, brewery owners will gain the tools to create a plan, inform their staff, and role play so that when these situations arise, it’s not the first time they’ve seen them. We will create a checklist, an emergency plan and prepare to run brewery meetings so everyone can be prepared for the unexpected.
Learning Objectives:
- Discuss areas of operation where a plan for the unknown is needed
- Analyze what may go unexpected and create strategies to be prepared
- Leave with a gameplan and strategies to handle unexpected challenges
Kyle C. Rheiner is a Certified Insurance Counselor and is the Food & Beverage Practice Leader at Arthur Hall Insurance in West Chester, PA. Kyle has over 20 years experience in the hospitality industry along with actually brewing and distilling craft beverages. He and his team handle the insurance for over 150 restaurants & craft beverage makers in the USA.
Kyle is also the Founder and Host of The Beer Mighty Things Podcast – a craft beverage business library with over 18,000 downloads (without promotion) including interviews with our industry’s top leaders worldwide. Kyle’s podcast is focused on those who are Daring Mighty Things in the industry and creating change for the better.
He’s hosted & led multiple conversations with Brienne Allan, Employment Practices Attorneys, the leaders of Safe Bars, Women of the Bevolution and would be honored to host his own presentation, moderate a panel of our industry’s thought leaders and/or conduct a sponsored seminar.
Trade Show + Beers
Russ Klisch (President, Lakefront Brewery)
Over his 35 years in operation, Russ has found different methods to continue having an innovative brewery and brew pub to stay relevant. His brewery is now considered one of the most innovative in the country. He will explain:
- What is innovation?
- The different systems/types of innovation
- How your management structure can hinder or help innovation
- Share stories of various innovations that have been done at Lakefront Brewery and how they fall into different categories
- Discuss with the audience the innovations that they have done and journey from concept to success.
Learning Objectives:
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Teach everyone how to look at innovation and that it is not just for products. But many other parts of your brewery can be innovative in different ways.
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Convince everyone that there are great ideas out there, and how to encourage innovation rather than undermine it.
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Teach everyone the different types of innovation and systems to put it in place.
A 1981 graduate from the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire, Klisch started working as a mechanical engineer with Johnson Controls. Klisch and his brother Jim started homebrewing and after making award-winning home brews they decided to open a brewery with used dairy equipment in 1987.
After outgrowing their current location in 1998 they relocated to its current building located on the Milwaukee River.
Besides making award winning beers, Klisch is know to be an innovator by brewing the first organically certified brewery in the United States, brewing the first government approved gluten free beer in the United States, and brewing the first totally indigenous beer made in the US made with not only 100% Wisconsin grown malt, hops and yeast.
Klisch also started the Lakefront Brewery Beer Hall known for its award-winning Fish Fries, cheese curds and entertaining tours.
Reception at Lakefront Brewery thanks to Malteurop
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21, 2023
Trade Show + Breakfast
Brian Winkeler (Founder/Creative Director, Robot House) and Jennings Hammack (Creative Strategist, Robot House)
Your brewery isn’t just your business. It’s your dream. It’s your vision. You willed it into existence with your sweat and tears (and possibly blood). YOUR BREWERY IS YOU. So, how accurately does your brewery’s brand storytelling truly reflect your dream, your vision, your one-of-a-kind personality? Branding expert Brian Winkeler with Robot House in Oklahoma City will discuss brand storytelling for breweries and lead an interactive exercise to get you thinking about how successfully your brewery’s brand truly communicates your vision, including a detailed walk through Robot House’s collaboration with Skydance Brewing to build their “This Is Native” brand story. It’s at 8:00am so he won’t make you think TOO hard, but there’ll be plenty of coffee and bagels to help you and your table mates get the day off to a fun, fruitful start!
Learning Objectives:
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Attendees will be introduced to the idea of connecting their brewery brand deeply to their personal sense of self. It may be something they’ve consciously done already or it may be more of a subconscious effort, but it will hopefully inspire them to reflect on how they can shape their brand/brand storytelling to ensure it’s as unique and personal as possible.
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Attendees will see a demonstration of a brand development process that resulted in the creation of the “This is Native.” brand storytelling platform for Skydance Brewing Company and can consider how they might be able to experience a similar process to reveal a stronger, more substantial story for their brewery brand.
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Attendees will bond with their table mates during a discussion time in which they’ll answer a question (or questions) regarding their personal story and how that is connected to their brewery’s brand story.
Brian Winkeler founded Robot House in his living room in 2003 and now leads a team of six creatives in their studio in downtown Oklahoma City. Now in his 31st year of his creative career, Brian’s best days are ones filled with crafting emotion-driven brand stories for small business owners across the country. He will be joined by Robot House Creative Strategist Jennings Hammack who worked in the craft beer industry before joining Robot House in December 2022.
Robot House is a boutique branding creative shop located in Downtown Oklahoma City’s Automobile Alley District (within comfortable walking distance of five local craft breweries). Robot House focuses on strategic brand development for new businesses and businesses who could use a rebrand or a fresh brand messaging platform, with a specialty in branded packaging design for food & beverage clients. Founder Brian Winkeler has 30 years’ experience in branding and advertising and is the only 8-time winner of the prestigious Fontana Award for Advertising Humor. Robot House’s food & beverage industry clients include COOP Ale Works, SONIC Hard Seltzer, Bricktown Brewery, Bitter Sisters Brewing Company, the Oklahoma Beer Alliance, and Nestlé USA.
Pulkit K. Agrawal (Founder & CEO, Beer30 by The 5th Ingredient)
In this session, attendees will be broken out into 5 groups based on their role at the brewery:
- Owner
- Production
- Sales
- Taproom
- Marketing
If they belong to more than one group, they will pick the one that resonates the most. Then, in the groups, each attendee will brainstorm for 4-min each into the four quadrants of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) that are present for their brewery. We will then discuss solutions, and come up with a game plan for working through this list of topics. Once we go over these details, the homework for each attendee is to pick one item from each quadrant and work on it. Lean into strengths. Focus on weakness. Plan for the major opportunity. Mitigate the biggest threat – whether internal or external. We will also take photos of the other charts that people have from the other departments, in order to share them at their brewery.
Learning Objectives:
Each attendee will have gone through an exercise for identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) for the roles at their brewery of (1) owner, (2) production, (3) sales, (4) taproom, and (5) marketing, and have a list of items to revisit with their team.
Each attendee will have gone through discussions with the full session about what changes they want to do for their brewery, and discussing the actual action items needed to work on a key area for their brewery.
Pulkit K. Agrawal (PKA) is the Founder and CEO of The 5th Ingredient®, a leading brewery operations management software company dedicated to helping breweries improve beer quality and consistency. After graduating from Harvard College, PKA began working in the beer industry as a Process Engineer for Ballast Point Brewing, where he focused on packaging lines and nitrogen beer. He soon discovered a need in the market for software that expanded beyond standard inventory management systems, where there would be an emphasis on the brewing process and quality, not just inventory tracking. In January 2018, PKA launched Beer30®, a brewery data management system that offers grain-to-glass process data tracking. Beer30 focuses on real-time brewing data input, raw material inventory, cost of goods analysis, quality and sensory tracking, sales and distribution and accounting integration. Beer30 is currently in over 450 breweries globally, helping to #BrewMoreBeer and #BrewBetterBeer across the nation. In December 2022, PKA was selected into the Forbes 30 Under 30, Class of 2023, in the Food and Drink category. In his free time, he enjoys traveling, and speaking about entrepreneurship and using data to improve brewery efficiency and quality.
In an industry that continues to grow across the country, more breweries means more opportunity to collaborate with you peers for mutual benefit as well as increasing the challenges of managing market shares. Our experience as a multi-faceted craft beer company with branches in the homebrew, commercial equipment and production brewing spaces has allowed us to see how these challenges are being met locally and across the country. In this session we will explore ways of differentiating your company in a crowded landscape while forming and maintaining positive relationships with other companies in the area. This includes other breweries, as well as alternative beverage companies, distilleries/wineries/cideries, coffee roasters etc. With a focus on how we can leverage the larger customer base of multiple companies for the benefit of all, we grow our buisnesses and educate the public to advance future growth. Some topics we will explore are:
- Homebrew shops within or around the brewery and how that synthesizes with taproom and retail sales.
- The dynamics of brewery competiton in metropolitan, suburban and rural areas.
- The importance of consumer education and a focus on local, quality products that benefit local economies as a whole.
- How competition can help or harm, and ways to rise above.
- Facilitating new breweries in your area and how to make it a two way street.
Learning Objectives:
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Identify strategies for collaborations within and outside of the craft beer industry
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Explore ways to leverage competition in a positive way
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Find unique collaborative strategies and leverage the positive pressures of competion to benefit customers, communities and your bottom line
Alex has been in the craft beer industry since 2009 in roles ranging from retail, production, commercial sales, support and consulting. He is passionate about driving the industry forward by sharing his experience and responding to the evolving challenges in this dynamic industry. As a technical sales professional for ABS Commercial, he is responsible for consulting, designing and delivering custom equipment and solutions to make customers sucessful. When not on the road comissioning new brewhouses for customers across the county, he lives in North Carolina with his wife, two sons and two dogs.
Maria Pearman (Advisory Principal, GHJ Advisors)
Taproom pricing is much more than numbers – it’s about understanding your customer’s psychology. In the craft beer industry, taproom pricing can make or break a business. It’s not just about getting customers to come in—it’s also about getting them to stay. What are some key performance indicators (KPIs) you should be looking at? How do you know if you’re making enough money? What are some strategies for making smart decisions? And how will this affect your financials? We’ve got answers!
Learning Objectives:
- Optimizing taproom revenue. We will dive into metrics and strategies to get the most out of your taproom.
- Gain 3 Key KPIs for setting performance standards
- Thinking about a new location? When does it make sense to expand.
Maria Pearman, CPA, CGMA, has more than 15 years of public accounting experience providing accounting and advisory services to clients. She is an expert in the beverage and alcohol industry and specializes in internal accounting processes, financial reviews, budgeting, cash flow forecasting, financial strategy and succession planning.
Prior to joining GHJ in 2021, Maria was based in Portland, OR. She built a national practice focused on beverage alcohol clients. Maria helped clients to improve financial results and maximize efficiency of operations and guided them through ownership transitions.
Maria sits on the Finance Committee for the Brewers Association, the nation’s largest industry organization for craft brewers.
Published by the Brewers Association in 2019, Maria wrote a top-rated book, Small Brewery Finance, to help small businesses run more successful breweries.
Maria is also a featured speaker and author on topics in the beverage space, specifically related to craft breweries. She has taught courses at the Business of Craft Beer program at the University of Vermont as well as the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States Academy.
Maria graduated from the College of Charleston where she received a Bachelor of Arts in Arts Management and minor in French. She received her Post Baccalaureate in Accounting from Linfield College. Maria has been a licensed CPA since 2010.
Trade Show + Lunch
Kyle Stephens (President, Craft Beverage Warehouse LLC)
Kyle Stephens, co-founder and President of Craft Beverage Warehouse, explores ways for small-to-midsize breweries to navigate out-of-stocks, rising prices, and transportation in the packaging materials supply chain.
Learning Objectives:
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Avoid out-of-stocks for you and your vendors by adequately forecasting production and keeping some materials on hand in case of last-second adjustments to the schedule. Learn from others in attendance on how they manage this potential issue.
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Understand different methods to combat rising prices, such as: bulk ordering, buying local, shipping to a centralized location, and working with distributors.
Chad Melis (Founder, Turn It Up Media), Jeanette Hurt (Award-Winning Writer and Author), Ryan Bandy (Director of Experiences, Indeed Brewing)
Moderated by experienced brewery brand builder Chad Melis, who spent over a decade elevating the Oskar Blues Brewery brand and now runs the marketing collective Turn It Up Media, this panel discussion will provide a unique 360-degree view of the media relations process, tips for building meaningful relationships with the press, and proven tactics to gain share of mind with your target audiences through media relations. Indeed Brewing Company, a media darling and long-time client of Turn It Up, joins the panel with award-winning freelance writer and author Jeanette Hurt. Join this experienced team for an engaging discussion with input from the brewery, media relations professional, and writer perspectives.
Learning Objectives:
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Strategic understanding and insight on the entire media relations environment, how it can benefit your brewery, and how to appropriately engage and win with the media relations process.
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How breweries leverage media relations to: align with ABP, earn distributor and retailer share of mind, drive brand awareness,position and convey brand identity effectively and maximize the overall impact of press coverage on business objectives.
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Insight into the needs of a writer and how to pitch a story effectively, including the top tips to gain media coverage and the top pet peeves of writers and media specialists.
Chad Melis is the founder of Turn It Up Media, a collective of leading brand marketers from the craft beverage, outdoor sports, and lifestyle industries. With over a decade of experience successfully elevating the Oskar Blues Brewery brand, Chad uses his PR savvy and an uncanny knack for brand strategy as a trusted partner for brands looking to position themselves and go to market effectively.
Ryan Bandy’s unconventional path to Director of Experience at Indeed Brewing began on the packaging line, snapping 6-pack holders for short fills and a foot in the door. From back of the house to front, then out the front door, Ryan tended bar and managed Indeed’s Minneapolis taproom before joining the sales team. He was Sales Director for four years until Spring 2022, when he launched into a brand new role overseeing all Sales, Marketing and Hospitality for Indeed Minneapolis and Milwaukee. Ryan is a jack-of-all-trades who brings a holistic view of the brewery in its entirety, and its place in the current industry landscape.
Jeanette Hurt, award-winning writer and the author of more than a dozen books, including the best-selling Wisconsin Cocktails, as well as Drink Like a Woman, and The Joy of Cider. She’s also a top-tier journalist who explores culture through the lens of drink, food, and travel at dozens of national and local publications, including Forbes, Alcohol Professor, theKitchn, and more.
Trade Show + Beers
To really experience old world charm and Gemütlichkeit at its finest, join us for a Pabst history tour at Best Place at the Historic Pabst Brewery. The roots of the Pabst Brewing Co. run deep in Milwaukee’s proud brewing history. Relive this colorful history as you learn how the Best and Pabst families grew the brewery to become America’s largest by 1874. After battling for decades to keep this title, Pabst began a slide and loss of market share in the late 1970’s that led to the brewery’s closing in 1996.
Closing Reception at Good City Brewing thanks to WIpfli
Trade Show featuring:
ABS Commercial | Abstrax Hops | Baer Insurance | Beer30 by The 5th Ingredient
Beer Law HQ | Boelter | Craft Beverage Warehouse | Full Pour Media
Harvest Hosts | Hoptown Handles | Kegshoe | Kickfin
Lallemand | Malteurop | MarketMyBrewery | River Drive Cooperage
Robot House | Wipfli
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