In the craft beer world, many owners proudly refer to their staff as a family. The intention is good: you want everyone to feel included, supported, and valued. But here’s the problem: your brewery isn’t a family. It’s a team. And using the wrong word can create more problems than you realize.

Families and Teams Aren’t the Same

Families are unconditional. No matter how much conflict arises, members remain tied together. Work isn’t like that. In a brewery, people choose to join and they can also choose to leave. High turnover in hospitality (often 70–80%) shows that calling your staff a family doesn’t prevent disengagement. In fact, it can make accountability harder.

The Risks of the “Family” Label

When leaders frame their team as a family, they often lean too far into support while avoiding challenge. This creates environments where expectations aren’t clear, performance issues go unaddressed, and gossip or burnout quietly grow. Eventually, frustration builds until someone quits, and ultimately the entire culture suffers.

It’s also important to remember that not everyone experiences “family” positively. For some, the word carries baggage. You might mean “we care about each other,” but employees might hear “you’ll be expected to give everything, no matter the cost.”

Why “Team” Works Better

Teams balance support and challenge. A healthy team sets clear goals, plays defined roles, and pushes one another to improve. If one brewer struggles with communication, the rest of the team can step in to help, but they also expect growth and accountability in return.

A “team” mindset also makes it easier to solve real problems breweries face:

• Communication breakdowns are reduced when roles and responsibilities are clear.
• Burnout and turnover improve when team members share the load and leaders address issues early.
• Weak culture is strengthened when employees know their contribution matters to the group’s mission.

A Better Way Forward

This doesn’t mean removing care and connection from your brewery; it means naming them accurately. When you call your people a team, you emphasize trust, clarity, and accountability. You remind everyone that you’re united by a shared mission, not bound by an unhealthy obligation.

Craft breweries thrive when they build strong teams, not false families. By making that shift in language and leadership, you set your people—and your business—up for lasting success.

And if you’re part of Craft Beer Professionals, you already know: strong teams are what make this industry sustainable. So let’s stop calling our staff a family, and start building better teams.

—

About the Author

Ryan Mayfield is a leadership coach who helps brewery professionals build healthy leaders, strong teams, and thriving cultures. Through Craft Leadership, he equips clients with practical tools to lead with confidence, improve communication, and reduce daily frustrations. Craft has supported top breweries like Other Half, Rhinegeist, and Creature Comforts in navigating leadership and team challenges. Based in Tulsa, Ryan lives with his wife, teenage son, and opinionated beagle, Rooster.