CBP Connects: Norfolk, VA
SEPTEMBER 12-14, 2022
Monday, September 12, 2022
Welcome Reception at Elation Brewing thanks to White Labs
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2022
Welcome/Get to Know Your Fellow Craft Beer Professionals
Andrew Coplon (Founder, Craft Beer Professionals/Secret Hopper)
David Kushner (Co-Founder, Trace Brewing) and Tranice Watts (Co-Founder, Lifting Lucy/Patuxent Brewing )
Workforce/work ready development programs enable people to meet occupational employment trends and real-time labor needs within various industries. Additionally, these programs also level the playing field among underrepresented groups such as: people of color, new immigrants, individuals with disabilities, those living in rural and socio-economically segregated communities, and those involved with the criminal justice system. This workshop will discuss the importance of the beer industry supporting workforce development through thoughtfully planned vocational programs, paid apprenticeships, and other avenues of opportunities which encourages an increase in diverse applicants and talent; decreases occupational turnover rates; and fosters socio-economic equity and inclusion.
Learning Objectives:
Understanding statistics that indicate the importance of the brew industry and craft breweries supporting workforce development. Examples of different types of workforce development programs and activities utilized by craft breweries.
Current barriers for increasing the talent pool and diversifying the workforce of the craft brew industry. Comprehensive overview of the benefits and impact of craft breweries creating or participating in workforce development.
How to find funding to support your specific efforts? How can you build relationships for continued support and financial assistance to offset the costs associated with your workforce programs? How to understand your internal rate of return (IRR) for investing in workforce development and training.
David started his professional brewing career in 2012 and has worked on the brewing teams of John Harvard’s Brew House, Harpoon Brewery, and Lord Hobo Brewing Co. He is the Co-Founder of Solera Brewing Group which owns and operates Remnant Brewing (Somerville, MA), Trace Brewing (Pittsburgh, PA), and Our Town Brewery (Lancaster, PA).
Tranice L. Watts is a co-owner for Patuxent Brewing Company, in Waldorf, Maryland. Patuxent Brewing is the first craft brewery within Charles County, and one of the only 100% Black-owned breweries in the state of Maryland. She also is a founding member of Lifting Lucy, a non-profit dedicated to supporting Black, Indigenous, and other Women of Color in beer industry events and educational opportunities. Ms. Watts is also a member of the Greater Maryland Chapter of Pink Boots and the Brewers Association Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee. She currently co-chairs Charles County, Maryland’s Economic Development Business Outreach Committee.
Pulkit K. Agrawal (Founder & CEO, The 5th Ingredient)
Pulkit K. Agrawal (PK) 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, Agrawal 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, Agrawal 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 more than 250 breweries globally, helping to #BrewMoreBeer and #BrewBetterBeer across the nation. In his free time, Agrawal enjoys traveling, and speaking about entrepreneurship and using data to improve brewery efficiency and quality.
In this interactive workshop, Pulkit will lead the session on focusing on the three step process on setting up key metrics. (1) WHAT & WHY — The importance of setting metrics and measurable goals at your brewery in four key areas — Process & Quality, Operations, Marketing, and Sales. (2) HOW — How to set up these metrics at your brewery. (3) EVALUATE — Identify what success looks like and how to improve the results for the future. The session will be broken down into three 20-minute components. The first 20-minutes will be focused on education and diving into the definitions of KPI and the importance to a brewery with examples on the three step process. The second 20-minutes will be in groups where individuals will work in teams of 10-15 that are sitting around them to begin outlining the examples that they are using or interested in using at their brewery. The final 20-minutes will focus on the teams explaining what they’ve come up with, with Pulkit taking the notes in the presentation. At the end, we’ll be providing handouts on some examples of KPIs in the categories, and will provide the full list people have presented for future use and sharing with their team members at the brewery.
Learning Objectives:
- WHAT & WHY — The importance of setting metrics and measurable goals at your brewery in four key areas — (1) Process & Quality, (2) Operations, (3) Marketing, and (4) Sales.
- HOW — How to set up these metrics at your brewery.
- EVALUATE — Identify what success looks like and how to improve the results for the future.
Lunch Break/Mini Trade Show/Networking
Jacob Hoover (Sales Development Specialist, White Labs)
Jacob Hoover is the Sales Development Specialist at White Labs. He earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Biological Science from the University of Delaware, is a Certified Cicerone, and actively participates in the BJCP. In his time at White Labs, Jacob has held various roles in both the Education and Brewing Co. departments. He loves sensory and fermentation science, and believes the spread of information is vital for the advancement of the fermented beverage industry.
From production to service and sales, fermentation plays a key role in the products we create. Join Jacob for an exploration of yeast’s impact on beer flavor, alcohol, appearance, and shelf stability. We will discuss ways you can equip each role in your brewery to better understand how to promote the magic of fermentation both internally and to your customers!
Learning Objectives:
- The importance of product handling and understanding fermentation for all roles, not just cellar-persons. From quality to cost of goods each role handles some aspect or byproduct of yeast and fermentation whether as a raw ingredient or finished product.
- From shelf stability to COG’s we’ll dive into how yeast and fermentation touch each role in the brewery.
- Arm yourself with ways to educate staff on the importance of fermentation.
Glenn Clark (Founder and Creative Director, Crafting a Brand)
Glenn Clark is a brand strategist, a designer, and the founder of Crafting A Brand, a branding and creative services consultancy in Rochester, New York. Crafting A Brand helps beverage producers create long-lasting strategies to differentiate their brands, while also producing creative communications tactics (labels, packaging, logos, video, and more) that attract and engage consumers. Glenn has worked at ad agencies in Boston, Syracuse and Rochester, and in 2001 he played an integral role in launching the Vine Design design studio to service Constellation Brands at the Partners + Napier agency in Rochester. Glenn started his own marketing firm in 2003, and in March 2018 he rebranded the firm as Crafting A Brand to serve clients exclusively within the beverage industry.
It’s a great time to be a craft beer drinker: bottle shops, supermarkets and convenience store shelves are bursting with beer, and consumers have a staggering variety of choices to consider before they decide which beer to spend their hard-earned money on. But are you creating beer labels that help them favor your brand over all the others? It’s more important now than ever to have a system in place to make labels that represent what you’re all about (as well as what’s inside the package), while also differentiating your brand from all the others surrounding it.
Glenn Clark of Crafting A Brand will use real case studies to help you understand the components of an effective beer label, he’ll describe the unique categories of label designs across the craft beer industry, and he’ll show you how to create an efficient and easy-to-implement design system for your beer brand.
Learning Objectives:
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Learn about the different visual categories of beer label design, and see examples of effective labels from across the industry.
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Learn what your brewery peers in our workshop session are doing with their label designs, and the lessons they’ve learned along the way.
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Learn how beer brands across the nation create label design strategies that break through the clutter and increase sales—and how you can, too.
Snack Break/Mini Trade Show/Networking
Scott Roth (President and Founder, Three Notch’d Brewing Company)
Scott currently oversees production and retail operations as well as chain distribution sales. Scott got his start in the food and beverage world 27 years ago (cooking sausage sandwiches and making lemonade at a small stand in a smaller town in PA) and fell in love with craft beer while managing an Irish pub at his alma mater, Lehigh University (Industrial Engineering), back in the early 2000’s. He now has 15 years of entrepreneurial experience in food and beverage under his belt and remains the 3NB lead when opening any new location. As passionate about soccer as he is craft beer, Scott spends his nights and weekends coaching his two oldest sons Evan (10) and Tyler (8) and enjoys family time with his wife Kristin and their youngest son Logan (3) whenever possible.
In this session you will learn how Three Notch’d Brewing Company, an 8 year old company, has built a dominant Virginia brand by executing on three different pillars of the business. By opening multiple outlets throughout the state of Virginia (currently 5 locations in Charlottesville, Harrisonburg, Roanoke, Richmond and Virginia Beach with a 6th property under contract) and chasing those localities with distribution handled by a sister distribution company and now graduating into other beverage offerings the company has created reliable cash flow and stable top and bottom line numbers.
Learning Objectives:
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Opening Multiple Retail Outlets
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Why spend the time and money on multiple locations?
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Why add food?
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How 3NB has structured its management team to oversee operations
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How 3NB manages reporting and back office functions
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Marketing power related to brick and mortar locations
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“Self” Distribution
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What is happening in the distribution world and why self distribute
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How to navigate the Three Tier System
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Benefits and Negatives to running a distributorship
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“Flipping” the brand and the reality of that sale and its pros/cons
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Diversified Beverages and Offerings
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What other lines can you consider adding to your portfolio?
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3NB entering the Non-Alc and Whiskey Distilling space (and how 3NB is raising capital without diluting the current members of 3NB ownership)
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Reception at Three Notch’d Brewing Company thanks to ABS Commercial
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2022
Brian Winkeler (Founder/Creative Director, Robot House)
What do bagels and brand storytelling have in common? Are the bagels plain? Cinnamon raisin? Toasted? Is there cream cheese? Peanut butter? Some thin slices of banana, maybe? Who’s hungry for a bagel now?
If you’re gonna have a bagel, it should be the bagel that’s exactly right for you, just like your craft beer business’ brand should have a truly unique story that’s completely authentic to the soul of your enterprise.
And it’s at 8:00am, so there will be bagels. And coffee. And other breakfast-y necessities to start our second day of sessions. After two nights of local brewery bonding, the last thing we’ll need is heavy thinking first thing in the morning, so Brian Winkeler, founder of strategic brand creative firm Robot House, will be crafting an entertaining, low impact mental exercise over bagels and coffee to get you thinking about your brand’s story, personality, and voice that you’ll have fun sharing with your tablemates and fellow craft beer professionals.
Will the secrets to brand storytelling be revealed before 9:00am? Not at all. But “Bagels & Brand Storytelling” will help get your brain warmed up for a second day of industry education and inspire you to reflect on the state of your brand’s story, and if you’re making the most of your messaging to fully engage with your audience, both passionate and potential.
Learning Objectives:
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Attendees will analogize their business to different personality types and cultural signifiers to help them reflect on how they articulate their unique brand voice through their marketing.
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Attendees will discuss their selections to build the rationale behind the “why” of their business.
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Attendees will think about how their brand storytelling isn’t just about them and it’s not just about their audience. It must be authentic to both to truly build the strongest connection.
Brian Winkeler is founder and lead brand storyteller at Robot House, a boutique creative firm specializing in brand development and packaging design. Currently in his 30th year in the advertising industry, Brian is the first nine-time recipient of the Fontana Award for Advertising Humor. His favorite beer is a Mango Alpha Hive Double IPA he had at the COOP Ale Works taproom a while back.
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.
John Kelley (Head of Ecommerce, Arryved POS)
It is projected that online sales of alcohol are expected to reach 7% of total sales by 2024, creating a $12 billion opportunity for regulated beverage companies in the US. This represents both a massive opportunity for breweries, and a departure from a traditional brink-and-mortar-only structure.
This session will explore how great craft brands are positioning themselves to win in this new environment and the technology and techniques they are using to connect with more of their customers online. We will further illustrate how those brands are leveraging their taproom experiences to support all of their sales channels while creating differentiation and building brand loyalty in the process.
At the conclusion of this session, our audience will be able to identify the key elements required to create a thriving online/offline ecosystem.
Learning Objectives:
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Leveraging e-commerce to build the Omnichannel experience your customers are looking for
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What is an “omnichannel”?
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Why are the best retail brands having success with it?
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What does this look like for regulated beverage companies?
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The benefits of closing the loop — “The Golden Lasso”
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What is customer lifetime value (CLV) and why is it so important?
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Why is customer retention the key to increasing CLV?
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How does the taproom support online channels and vice versa?
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The benefits of closing the loop — “The Golden Lasso”
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Learn how to create great experiences that extend online
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Recognize and reward your most passionate supporters and grow the base!
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Drive more revenue, higher margins, and build loyalty
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How to calculate your return on Marketing Spend
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Craftpeak is a provider of best-in-class online solutions for the craft beverage industry. More than 200 breweries rely on Craftpeak’s technology to connect with more customers online and to drive sales and loyalty through their membership programs, DTC shipping, high-demand beer releases, product finders, subscription programs and websites.
Blake Edmunds (Owner/Brewer, Studly Brewing)
Blake Edmunds is a fifteen year veteran of the sports industry with stops at Wake Forest University, the Winston-Salem Dash and, most recently, the University of South Carolina. After accomplishing many of his career goals, including National Collegiate Mascot of the Year as an undergrad and the National Collegiate Sports Marketing Team of the Year, Blake decided to pursue his other passion, brewing, and open up a brewpub in his hometown of Chesapeake, VA. Studly Brewing Company is a 7 BBL brewpub serving Neapolitan inspired pizza and salads with plans to open its doors Summer of 2022.
After fifteen years of experience in the collegiate athletics industry, Blake Edmunds begins a new career opening up a brewery and has learned there is much from his background that brewery owners can apply to their businesses. Join us as an outside perspective sheds light on proven sports industry marketing tactics and how they can be used for your brewery.
Learning Objectives:
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Identify similarities between the sports industry and craft brewing industry and how CBP members can apply those similarities.
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How the game day experience/atmosphere applies to your brewery.
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Identify marketing tools and objectives used in the sports industry that can apply to marketing your brewery.
Kary Shumway (Founder, Craft Brewery Financial Training.com)
Kary Shumway is the founder of Craft Brewery Financial Training.com, an online resource for beer industry professionals. He has worked in the beer industry for more than 20 years as a certified public accountant and a chief financial officer for a beer distributor. He currently serves as CFO for Wormtown Brewery in Worcester, Massachusetts. Craft Brewery Financial Training publishes a weekly beer industry finance newsletter, offers online training courses on topics such as cash flow planning, financial forecasting, and brewery metrics. For more information visit www.CraftBreweryFinancialTraining.com.
In this session, you’ll learn how to build a financial game plan for your taproom. We’ll take a hands-on approach as we work together to build your sales forecast, margins, and operating expense plan. You’ll work with proven and practical financial models to make the process quick and easy. At the end of our session, you’ll have a financial plan ready to implement for your taproom business.
Learning Objectives:
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Identify the key building blocks of your taproom finances.
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Calculate your sales, margins and operating expenses for your business.
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Assemble a ready-to-use financial game plan for your taproom.
Lunch Break/Mini Trade Show/Networking
AJ Head and Kailie Smith (Safe Bars)
Safe Bars helps bars, restaurants, breweries, and other alcohol-serving spaces create safe and welcoming cultures for patrons, and safe and respectful workplaces for staff. Such cultures encourage customer satisfaction and loyalty, and better-performing teams with lower turnover. Safe Bars does that by offering three programs: active bystander skills, empowerment and assertiveness, and de-escalation for hospitality professionals.
We also train people all over the country — and the world — to start local Safe Bars programs where they live.
Program manager AJ Head has a background in hospitality, marketing, events management, training, nonprofits, and empowerment self-defense. He’s been teaching self-defense in the DC area for more than 20 years, mostly to women, young people, and the LGBTQ community. AJ is thrilled to continue teaching and empowering people by showing them their inherent power.
Kailie Smith is the founder of Safe Bars RVA and is the Director of Outreach, Education, and Community Engagement at Safe Harbor in Henrico, VA. Safe Harbor is a non-profit organization which helps survivors of sexual and domestic violence as well as human trafficking to overcome their crises and transform their lives.
The #MeToo movement has opened our eyes to harassment and other violence in many realms, including craft brewing. Like many other arenas, the brewing industry has been susceptible to toxic work environments because of its macho bro culture, the commodification of women, and the underrepresentation of diverse genders and races. Safe Bars, founded in 2013, works to shift these pernicious realities through education, training, and culture change.
Learning Objectives:
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Understand the full spectrum of harassment, what it looks like in breweries and taprooms, and have the skills to identify it early
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Expand their skills and options to interrupt sexual (and other) harassment, whether it’s directed at a team member or a customer
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Gain understanding and strategies that they can take back to their workplaces and apply on the individual and company level.
After attending the session, participants will have greater understanding of options and strategies for preventing and interrupting harassment, bringing new skills back to their workplaces for ongoing conversations on culture change, and more.
Matt Albrecht (Founder/Owner, River Drive Cooperage)
Matt grew up in a family of woodworkers and craftsmen. Starting River Drive in 2008, he quickly focussed his 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.
Join Matt to understanding the keys to consistency, efficiency, and marketing of your aging program. In this workshop session, you will learn how to keep the floors dry and the CFO happy. Better barrels, better yields!
Learning Objectives:
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Quality – Sourcing and ensuring quality wood.
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Consistency – Achieving consistent flavors and characteristics.
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Control – Leveraging data and products to put you in control of your aging program.
Snack Break/Mini Trade Show/Networking
Panelists: Ashlie Randolph (Lifting Lucy), Chris Straus (Incendiary Brewing Company), Christopher Glenn (Bottleshare)
Moderator: Mike Student (Senior Growth Specialist, Arryved POS)
The love of community is at the heart of craft brewing. Engaging with your surrounding community is a top priority, but running a bustling business makes it difficult to always come up with creative ways on how to do so.
That’s why Arryved teamed up with a panel of taproom experts to help get the creative juices flowing and conversations.. brewing! Join us IN-PERSON as we chat about:
Best practices for partnering with local businesses
Easy ways to incorporate giving back in your taproom
How your POS can support your efforts
Panelists’ favorite community-building initiatives
Learning Objectives:
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Best practices for partnering with local businesses
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Easy ways to incorporate giving back in your taproom
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How your POS can support your efforts
Las Vegan Ashlie Niquel Randolph is a founding member of Lifting Lucy, a non-profit dedicated to supporting Black, Indigenous, and other Women of Color in beer industry events and educational opportunities. She also co-founded Mo’ Betta Brews, a minority focused beer centric social club created to provide an inclusive space for craft beer enthusiasts of color rooted in brews and beats full of flavor, soul, and craft. Seeing beer as anthropology in a glass, Ashlie is passionate about exploring craft beers throughout the world and incorporating global culinary legacies in her own brews. Ashlie is the founder of brewery-in-planning, Brawta Brewing. She is also a Duvel USA Brand Ambassador, Pink Boots Society Board Member, Pink Boots DEIJ Committee Member, and NAACP Branch #1111 Executive Committee Member/Community Partner Diversity and Inclusion Committee Chair.
Closing Reception at Maker’s Craft Brewery thanks to River Drive Cooperage
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