Craft Brewery Financial Training Podcast
Craft Brewery Financial Training Podcast
When to DIY and When to Ask for Help: The Small Brewery Dilemma
Sara Watson and her husband Brent turned their dream into reality with Vacancy Brewing in Austin, Texas, combining his brewing expertise with her hospitality marketing background to create a community-focused taproom experience.
• Building Vacancy Brewing after a six-month road trip across North America to find the perfect location
• Hiring a taproom manager to allow the founders to focus on business development instead of daily operations
• Implementing tighter beer loss and discount policies with transparent communication to improve margins
• Tracking weekly taproom net sales compared to both prior year and budget to stay proactive
• Creating the Vacancy Collective membership program to transform loyal customers into brand ambassadors
• Balancing innovation with consistency by maintaining core beer styles while rotating specific recipes
• Successfully navigating lease renewal challenges by gathering knowledge from multiple real estate professionals
• Finding the sweet spot between doing tasks yourself and knowing when to bring in outside expertise
Visit Vacancy Brewing in South Austin, find them online at vacancybrewing.com or on social media @VacancyBrewing to learn about their events including karaoke, trivia, music bingo, and more.
Today on the podcast, I speak with Sarah Watson from Vacancy Brewing in Austin, texas. This is our brewery spotlight on the business of beer real-world insights from breweries who are making it work. So each month, we shine a spotlight on one exceptional craft brewery to explore what makes their business thrive. And in my conversation with Sarah, we go beyond the beer and talk about best practices, smart financial strategies, creative sales tactics and real-world lessons. So this is your front row seat to learn from your peers who are building profitable, resilient breweries and raising the bar for the industry. So for now, please enjoy my conversation with Sarah Watson from Vacancy Brewing.
Kary Shumway:Welcome to the Craft Brewery Financial Training Podcast, where we combine beer and numbers to provide you with tips, tactics and strategies so that you can improve financial results in your brewery. I'm your host, kerry Shumway, a CPA, cfo for a brewery and a former CFO for a beer distributor. I've spent the last 20 years using finance to improve financial results in our beer business. Now I'm helping other craft breweries to do the same. Are you ready to take your brewery financial results to the next level? Okay, let's get started. Just a quick note. We'll be right back to the podcast.
Kary Shumway:I want to let you know about a new network for beer industry professionals. It's called the Beer Business Finance Association. It's an organization of financial pros just like you, looking to improve financial results, increase profitability, connect with your peers and share best practices. So I'd love to tell you a little bit more about this. If you are interested in learning more, please email me, kerry at beerbusinessfinancecom. That's K-A-R-Y at beerbusinessfinancecom. That's K-A-R-Y at beerbusinessfinancecom. Or you can visit bbfassociationorg. That's bbfassociationorg. To learn more. Hey, sarah, welcome to the Craft Brewery Financial Training Podcast.
Sara Watson:Thank you, kerry, excited to be here.
Kary Shumway:It is exciting to have you here. I'm looking forward to our discussion. So why don't you give people a little bit of background on you?
Sara Watson:Yeah, Well my name is Sarah Watson. I run a brewery alongside my husband here in Austin, texas. So we've been open about four and a half years now and we're called Vacancy Brewing. Four and a half years now and we're called Vacancy Brewing. So we actually met out in California and my husband has a brewing background. So he went to school for fermentation science and then ended up working at Trumer Pilsner in the Bay Area, worked his way up to being the head brewer there and then, you know, I've been in hospitality since I can remember I had my first restaurant job as soon as I could work and then ended up in a hospitality marketing career.
Sara Watson:So we met and Brent has his parents are entrepreneurs, so he always kind of had that itch and we knew we wanted to start something together. So and we knew we also wanted to leave California and find a different place to kind of make this reality come to reality. So we took a six month road trip across the US and Canada. A lot of it was for fun, stopping in to see friends and family and doing some of the national parks, but a big another big part of it was really just trying to find where we wanted to make this business come to life. So Austin had been on the top of our list and on that trip it just kind of confirmed that this is where we wanted to settle in. So we moved to Austin and hit the ground running from there. So we've been open about four and a half years now here in Texas.
Kary Shumway:That's fantastic, that's so cool. The road trip right. So how like? So, if Austin was number one, what were other cities?
Sara Watson:So we loved North Carolina, love North Carolina. It's a beautiful state. And then I mean San Diego was another favorite of ours. I think we were trying to find something more affordable, though. So we're trying to leave California, so that's kind of what. What put Austin on our radar, and I have a ton of family here, so it just kind of it all kind of aligned to work out this way.
Kary Shumway:That's very cool, and so you guys combined forces. You know you were in hospitality and marketing and your husband on the brewing side and, as you kind of like, looked at what, maybe what's the origin story for creating. I understand that you know Brent was a brewer and marketing, but what was like? Because you could probably do any number of things what did you choose?
Sara Watson:Well, I think Brent had the passion for beer and he's very focused and very dedicated and it's something I really admire about him. But he is always just trying to improve his craft, so I think that passion really played a huge part of it. And then, as a marketing professional, I think my passion is really just creating experiences for people in a space. So before this I was working in hotels, so that would you know, everyone loves to travel, so it was really fun helping create those experiences for people on trips. And now it's just all about creating those experiences in a tap room. So for me it wasn't necessarily about the beer but creating the community and the atmosphere and the space. So it's kind of bringing those two passions together. The brewery just kind of worked out perfectly for that.
Kary Shumway:Nice, yeah, that's so important to do that, to really stand apart, and that's what people are looking for. They want these experiences. Sure, they want beer, but they want to definitely everything too.
Sara Watson:So that was a big lesson that we've learned in the first few years is a lot of I mean people are coming to our space. Obviously, we have great beer and that's kind of the baseline of what you need to start a brewery, I think. But it's really about the community and the connections that have been built within our tap room that keeps the people coming back. So we definitely learned over the years that we should definitely lean into that and embrace it.
Kary Shumway:So running a small business, a brewery, can be pretty challenging and there's lots of obstacles. Maybe let's start with something positive and maybe, as you look back over the last you know, six to 12 months or so like what's been the biggest win.
Sara Watson:So I'd say our biggest win over the past 12 months has really been hiring a top room manager, which seems like it might be obvious, but you know, we've been open for four and a half years now and we are very much a small do it yourself team. We've stayed really lean in these last four and a half years in terms of our staff. So and I'm a do-it-yourselfer I wanted to have my hands in everything. I wanted to be able to do all of the things that it takes to run the business. But I think one of the biggest things we really learned was knowing when to take to ask for help.
Sara Watson:And I think bringing on the top room manager position has really helped us kind of take a step back, my partner and I, brent, and focus on the bigger picture part of the business. So we've really been able to think about how to drive the business forward, refocus on business development and give someone else ownership of the day-to-day operation. So that's been a huge win for us. I know a lot of people are like why didn't you open with a manager? But we were a little stubborn in that aspect. But I'd say it's really helped us kind of grow this year and help us reach some of our goals that we've set out.
Kary Shumway:It's such a tough decision too, because I think that's pretty typical. You know, we want to do it ourselves, and I think that's very admirable in the beginning, because you want to learn, like, what's going on, what are the things that I need to be aware of. But yeah, I applaud you guys for doing that, because a lot of folks aren't quite knowing when to take that step. It's like, oh geez, I can't afford it, I can just do it myself.
Sara Watson:Right, and I think one thing too is our top room manager is still behind the bar for part of the week. So I think one of the things that helped us take that step is to think creatively about how to structure the position. So you know, we were under the impression that we needed to make this position salary and we were not ready to afford that. But we really kind of pieced it out to where it was manageable for us and really thought about ways to make it good for them and then good for us as well.
Kary Shumway:Yeah, no, that makes sense, and I think that's the this. Relying on other people or building systems and teams is such a critical thing to do, and if you ever want to kind of get out of working in the business and you want to work on it right Cause I think that's your one of your goals as well as, like I know how to do these things, but it's time to you know, bring in other team members to help take the business to the next level.
Sara Watson:Definitely.
Kary Shumway:So let's talk about the operation side of the business. I know you're more, you know, marketing focused, but maybe what is like one operational practice you guys have implemented that maybe improved efficiency or helped improve profits for you?
Sara Watson:Yeah. So one thing we've really focused on this year is tightening up our approach to beer loss and discounts. So that has helped a ton. When we really dug into the numbers, I'm sure a lot of breweries find this. You know we're giving away a lot more beer than we needed to and you know that's everywhere, everything from overpouring to loose updating our policies around comps and discounts to create more clear boundaries for our team. So you know we still want to make sure we're generous when needed and then not defaulting to giving free beer all the time, but finding other ways to make that experience special for the customer versus just defaulting to giving a discount.
Sara Watson:So it's one of those changes that I think takes time. It's kind of a shift in the culture and the mentality of our team. So it's little changes here and there that kind of lead up to a bigger outcome. So we did see this effect kind of take over a few months, but after a few months of starting to make these small changes we really did see a big outcome. And then one of the things that really helped with us too is being transparent with our team, so sharing the numbers of how many dollars it is adding up to the things that we are discounting. I think it's a lot for us to see, but then to share that with the team and to know how that's really affecting the business. I think the transparency really makes a big difference in you know, getting a buy-in from the team and they're they're all wanting to do their part in working toward that goal.
Kary Shumway:That's great. Yeah, to underscore a couple of things you said, I think I see that a lot with the breweries that I work with is the discounts tend to get out of control. Maybe they're not tightly managed, maybe we really don't even know what they are.
Kary Shumway:So you guys dug in. You're like, whoa, we got to think about this. And then the transparency is important, because sometimes discounts or these things can maybe feel like entitlement sometimes. Well, that's just, it's always been that way. So, to be open and honest and transparent in your communications about what your goals are and what you're trying to do with your team, you know, I imagine you'd still have some people that are like bummed out about it, but at the same time, it's like you. Your obligation is is to the, to the business, to the organization, in order to, you know, make it financially viable and sustainable. And there's still ways to, you know, give these perks, but within a framework of what makes sense, right.
Sara Watson:And I think it all goes back to training and setting those expectations too from the very beginning, which is something we, you know, didn't do from the start. So it did take some time to kind, of course, correct and reset those expectations with our team and reset the expectations with the customers too, because if they were used to coming in and getting a free beer all the time, you know, we kind of had to reset that expectation for them as well.
Kary Shumway:So let's talk about financial performance in terms of key metrics. It's one of my favorite things to talk about and I know you have a lot of numbers that you track. So if you're thinking about financial performance, what are the metrics that you and your team look at regularly?
Sara Watson:So regularly. We meet as a team weekly and the things that we're looking at in real time is our taproom net sales, and we look at that every week and we compare that to the same time last year and then we also compare to our budgeted goal so we can kind of have a real time idea of if we're on track to meet that goal for the month. So this gives us some good intel. It tells us if we need to kind of get creative, think of some ideas on ways to push and really get closer to that goal, if we're behind or if we're doing well, keep doing what we're doing. But it's a really good pulse check for us to see how we're trending towards our goals. So that's something we look at on a weekly basis. Of course we look at a lot more numbers monthly, but I like to, you know, instead of looking at things retroactively, it's a nice way to look ahead and make sure we're on track whatnot are always like what's already happened, but the meetings that you guys are having are really more looking forward.
Sara Watson:Like where are we?
Kary Shumway:where do we need to be? What are we going to do to improve? I think that fundamental shift is super important to kind of get where you want to go.
Sara Watson:Yeah, we like to. You know, of course we look at that net sale number, but then we also look at it broken down by category so we can kind of know like, okay, if it is low, where is it low? Is it low in beer to go? Is it low in draft beer, which you kind of tell us like was the taproom slow? Are we not upselling beer to go? Were our frozens down that week? Did we need, you know? Was there a day that the frozen machine wasn't on? Do we need to look into that? So that kind of helps give us more real-time data and figure out what things we need to address and if we need to be pushing certain items and things like that.
Kary Shumway:Say a little bit more about the Froze. What's your experience with that? What kind of yeah?
Sara Watson:So we lease a machine that we've kind of experimented with over the years. Right now we have on a frosé and we actually use our housemates seltzer as the base. We actually used to use a sake based spirit because we're a brew pub so we can't have liquor, so we use a sake based spirit. But we just started recently, within the last year, making that in house. So that's another thing that has helped us improve our margins there is bringing that production in house and we kind of just experiment with different recipes.
Sara Watson:Right now it's a frosé. We've done things from a frozen Baja Blast, a frozen boozy s'mores drink before. So they're kind of fun novelty drinks. But it's nice to keep our eye on it because if certain recipes aren't selling, we know we need to switch that up. We attempted a boozy coffee earlier this year and didn't quite work out as we expected. So we're like why are these numbers down? And we kind of hit us that, oh, I think it's the recipe. We need to tweak that a little bit. People aren't buying it as much as they were with the frosé or other recipes.
Sara Watson:So it was a nice way to kind of see in real time and be able to to address it as it was happening.
Kary Shumway:Nice, I like that and you guys are obviously in a pretty warm weather.
Sara Watson:Yes, it's hot Help, definitely.
Kary Shumway:So that's great. So one of the other big challenges you know facing tap rooms, breweries is, you know, getting people in Right, so driving traffic and then, once they are in, like boosting those online sales. So what are some ways that you guys have tried to bring more people into your tap room?
Sara Watson:people into your taproom, yeah, so I mean, like I said, we've been open four and a half years and brand awareness has is a constant battle. You know we're still working. We're in a bigger city, so we're definitely still working to get our name out and increase that brand awareness. So I think that's just going to be something that we're always working towards. So this year, we've kind of had four categories of focusing on things to get people into the taproom and staying longer, and this was something you know in our yearly planning that we actually set out and we said these are the things we're going to focus on in terms of increasing our brand awareness, and really that first one is all about keeping the people that are already there in longer, like you mentioned. So one of the big things we've been working on is improving the taproom experience, so once people are in the door, we want them to be comfortable, stay longer, and a couple of things we've implemented for that is we have a new food truck partner, good Vibrations Pizza Company, so we don't do any food in-house. So if people are sitting having drinks, of course food goes hand in hand with. That makes people stay longer instead of grabbing one and then going to a restaurant somewhere else. We want them to say have some pizza, have some beer, hang out, have drinks after they're done eating. So that's been a real game changer for us.
Sara Watson:And then, in addition to that, we have made some other improvements. We added an outdoor patio area that with some nice shade again, it's very hot in Texas so people don't want to be melting in the sun We've added comfortable bar stools. So little simple changes that have really helped. Once people are in the door, stay a little bit longer.
Sara Watson:And then another thing we've focused on this year is collaborations, which we've done over the years. But just to refocus on that, partnering with breweries and brands whose audiences align with our audiences has been really important. So being selective about who we're partnering with, making sure that there is a goal in mind when we're doing these things and it is fun too, but we want to make sure that there's a goal behind it and a lot of the times it's nice for us to be able to kind of cross-pollinate, introduce our brand to their audience and vice versa. So that's been a huge help. Working with breweries that have been a little bit more established or been around a little bit longer than us Kind of helps get our name out there and bring new people into our taproom.
Kary Shumway:Oh, that's great, yeah, those are great ideas and I think, like the collaboration thing, it seems so like these ideas need to be implemented and executed and it takes some time and energy and effort, and I think so for folks who are listening like, oh, ok, a collaboration, but you really just embrace that and done the hard work to make them work that and done the hard work to make them work.
Sara Watson:Yeah, and I think one of the things we have learned over the years with the collaborations is, like you said, really you know making sure you're getting the most out of it. So of course, we can make the beer thread on our menu. Our customers are going to love it, their customers are going to love it, but how do you really make the most of it? So we've done things like social media giveaways or one that we have coming up right now with another brewery. We're doing a punch card where if you go to both breweries and try the beer, you're entered into a raffle. So instead of just throwing the beer on the menu, try to think about how you're really going to get to get more brand exposure from it. So the social media giveaway really helps because then you're tapping into that other collaboration partners audience as well, introducing them to their brand your brand, if you don't if they didn't know it already and so that's been really helpful.
Kary Shumway:That's great. So let's talk a little bit about staff training. This is in the top three to five challenges for breweries as well. It's, like you know, finding the right people, retaining them, training them. What's worked well for you guys when it comes to staff training, or even expanding it into your team culture.
Sara Watson:Yeah. So that's actually been a huge focus for us this year. So good timing on that question. We really kind of refocused, starting from our interview and hiring process, and have to give a big employee. So starting with that interview process, making sure our questions are aligned with the job description, making sure that the expectations are very clear even from that first conversation. So we've put a lot of energy into revamping how we bring on people as part of our team and I think that's really helped us identify the culture fits from the very beginning. If it's not a culture fit, we know it right away, instead of waiting until you know someone's on board and already trained and then you're like, oh no, I'm not sure if this is actually going to work out. So that's been a huge help. So just really starting from the interview process and then revamping our training process as well. So Steven has helped us with that no-transcript. A huge, a huge game changer for us is revamping that entire process and then by the time people are up and trained, ready to go, we're not worried if they're a culture fit or not.
Sara Watson:Another thing that we've had a lot of success with is just trying to keep the team involved creatively. So you know, once they're on board and hired and trained, keeping them involved in a lot of the decisions. So things like naming beers or weighing in on merch ideas. I think that really kind of helps bring people into that process and you can take ownership of. If you name the beer, I mean that's a really cool thing. You named a beer that's up on the board. Or we have a one of our bartenders is a tattoo artist, so he actually designed a really cool shirt based on some of his tattoo art that we have printed at our taproom right now. We have printed in our taproom right now. So kind of bringing people into that creative process has really helped really establish that culture and community within the crew.
Kary Shumway:I love that. That's so cool. Yeah, I think people really want to make a difference. They want to be involved, and to give them that platform to do it is it's a great idea.
Sara Watson:Yeah, it's been really awesome.
Kary Shumway:So, as a marketing person, let's talk about maybe one marketing initiative or campaign that's made an impact, and this could be something recent or something that you've done. You know that worked particularly well at any given point in your journey here.
Sara Watson:Yeah. So one thing that I think has worked really well for us and full transparency still has a lot of room for development is our what we call the vacancy collective, which is our group of members. So that's something that we have worked on over the last year. This is our very first year implementing it. It's something we launched on small business saturday last year, so we released just a limited number of spots available as part of our inaugural membership, and that exclusivity kind of made it.
Sara Watson:People were kind of rushing into the tap room to make sure they got their spots, which was really cool. Of course, with the membership we give perks and things like that. But one thing that we've really learned is these are the people that have bought into our brand from day one. They're people that want to be there, want to be part of that community. So we've kind of viewed this group as a small group of brand ambassadors. So we're giving them perks at the brewery they get early access to beers, they get a bigger pour with each pour, but they're also part of our community and there are brand ambassadors that are talking about our brand with their friends, their family, bringing new people in.
Sara Watson:So that's been a big win for us this year is just kind of thinking about how we can use our customers almost as a marketing tool. We want them talking about their experience when they come to vacancy and telling their friends so that their friends all want to come try out the new spot and then hopefully become a regular. So, like I said, this is our first year so you know we've learned a lot. There's lots of room for growth next year. So I think you know, now that we've established this, we can really refine the program and figure out how to make it a revenue driver for us moving forward. But I think just really kind of setting the groundwork for that has been a big win.
Kary Shumway:I love that. So let's shift and talk about, like, how you balance innovation, you know, coming up with new beers and new beverages, new products, with the consistency of your core products. Like, how do you think about? That Is just, is it? Is it a discussion or is it?
Sara Watson:yeah well, I'll tell you that's that's definitely been a balance over the years is, okay, do we want to stick with these core beers that you know people like, but we also know people like the novelty of a beer release. So that is, I mean, that's a balance. We're still learning. Um, we, you know, we opened our tap room four and a half years ago with three beers on the menu and one of those beers has been a staple since we opened. So we found here in Texas, like I said, it's hot, People love their lagers and luckily that's what we're good at. So we have two. We have a Pilsner and an American lager on our menu that are always there. Those have become our flagship beers. American lager on our menu that are always there. Those have become our flagship beers.
Sara Watson:And then last year we kind of did focus on having a couple more core beers that are always on their menu. But one thing we're playing around with this year is sticking to the styles that we know we always want to have and just re and updating those recipes to make it a little bit different each time. So that's been. We're still experimenting with it and seeing how that works for us. But instead of having the same hazy IPA on the menu every time people come in. We're sticking with a similar profile but changing up some of those ingredients to make it slightly different and new for the customers.
Sara Watson:So that's something we're playing around with this year. So the three styles that we you know, we know we always want to have on our menu we always have a hoppy lager, we always have a West coast IPA and we always have a hazy um. Instead of having those be the same beer each time, like we were doing last year, we're kind of just messing around with um rotating those, but it gives some sort of consistency and reliability for our customers. They know we're always going to have a hoppy lager on the menu, but they get to try something new every time they come in. So that's been something we're working with right now and I think it's been going well. Of course we'll evaluate and see and iterate from there, but so far that's been going well.
Kary Shumway:Yeah, I like that and that's pretty consistent with some of our past brewery spotlights that we've had with you know, I'm thinking in particular of Brian from Validation Ale, and they'll do it a little different in that they're constantly, I think there's maybe some no touch on the menus, but by and large it's customer driven, like they sell what sells and they'll have like here's our beer lineup but here's this challenger beer. So if you like this particular beer and you want it to stay on the menu, you better order it, because this interesting and it can knock off oh, I love that yeah, which is kind of cool.
Kary Shumway:And then um, jake, from presidential brewing, um, who we're gonna chat with, um, coming up here in a few weeks. They do a lot like what you described. It's like you know, if there's I don't remember their exact lineup but say they have 10 beers, they're like these five have to be on because they're just people love them, they sell. We're going to, you know, get torched if we take some of these off.
Sara Watson:Yeah, the other ones.
Kary Shumway:we do want to have kind of new stuff and I just I bet that Czech Pilsner or whatever is my go-to. I'll be really bummed if that's not on the menu. So I think that's that's nice to be kind of thoughtful about what your customer wants.
Sara Watson:Right, definitely. And, like I said, brent, he has a background in lager brewing, so when we opened has a background in lager brewing, so when we opened we were very focused on lagers. He had never made a hazy IPA before, he had never made a sour beer before, but we kept getting those requests. So we definitely listened to the customer and he's learned to brew different styles and pushed himself out of his boundaries, which has been kind of fun to see. And now some of those are some of our top room favorite beers, so it's kind of fun to see. But and now some of those are some of our top room favorite beers, so it's kind of fun to see how the customers push him a little bit outside of his comfort zone.
Kary Shumway:So, as a business owner, I'm sure you have faced a million challenges. Oh, yes, kind of think of a particular challenge that you faced and how you overcame it, because people want to hear this right, it's like that. You know, business is hard. Sometimes it feels like you're alone, and the fact is that you're not. We're all kind of struggling with the same set of problems. So what's maybe a challenge that you'd want to share, that you've recently, or even in, the past had to overcome.
Sara Watson:Yeah well, I think you're right. Every day in the small business world is a new challenge. But one of the big things that we faced recently I know we talked about this in our work together is our lease renewal. So that's been a big thing for us over the last year. One thing, you know five years flies by. We had an initial five-year lease and when you're signing and when you're a new business, it sounds like such a long time. But you know, looking back, maybe a longer lease would have been more, given us some more stability over the years. So that's something that we've definitely learned as a new business is a lot about that lease negotiation process and how time flies.
Sara Watson:But that was a big challenge for us because at the same time we really wanted to, like I said, reinvest in our taproom experience. So without that stability we didn't want to pour money into making these improvements in our taproom if we didn't know how our lease would shake out. So kind of balancing those two things over the last year has been a big challenge. We really want to move forward with the patio, we want to get new furniture, we want to make this a more comfortable experience for our customers, but without knowing what our future is in this space. That made it really hard. So we worked really hard to negotiate with our landlord, make sure that we had some stability over the next several years, knowing that we can feel comfortable making those improvements.
Sara Watson:So one thing I did learn throughout that whole process was ask as many questions and talk to as many people as you can. One thing in the negotiation process we talked to so many different brokers and real estate agents and even if you don't end up working together, I ended up taking little pieces of knowledge from each conversation that I had and it ended up being something I could end up using in our renegotiation. So that was a big thing I learned is just ask a lot of questions, have the conversations. It takes time, but you're really going to learn from it. So we did eventually reach a conclusion and get that lease signed and you know we were able to move forward with some of our taproom improvements. We still have some that we have on the books. But that was a huge challenge because you know it's almost like you want to go full force forward but you're not really sure if it's the right time. So figuring that out was a big thing for us over the last year.
Kary Shumway:Yeah, yeah, that's a great, great topic for sure. I mean, everybody kind of deals with that unless you own the building. And you're right, you're trying to balance like that stability of I want to be here for a while with that. What if things don't work out? I need a parachute to kind of get out of this thing, and how do I?
Sara Watson:write.
Kary Shumway:What are my options, and so that was a really smart approach is talking to a lot of different people and getting different perspectives and ideas, so you could come out with a you know, an outcome that works for you out with a, you know, an outcome that works for you.
Sara Watson:Right, and, I think, always knowing that you're your own advocate, not relying on other people. I mean, of course, you're working with a broker and you're working with the lawyer, you know but knowing that you're the one that really, you know, has your interests at heart. So, knowing that don't don't don't always rely on other people to do the work for you. Make sure you're thinking of ways, being creative, asking the questions. That was a learning experience for me.
Kary Shumway:So now it's advice time. So if you were to give could be one piece of advice, could be multiple. Some advice to another brewery owner or manager that's out there listening to this that wants to have a financially sustainable company. What advice would you give them?
Sara Watson:Well, I think the biggest thing I've learned over the last two years is finding that balance between doing it yourself and asking for help, so knowing how to play to your team's strengths and then being honest about where those gaps are.
Sara Watson:So, like I said, we're a very lean team. So my background is hospitality. We have my husband's background in production, we have our operation manager and our taproom manager, but one great example is the business development side. So none of us have specific experience in that background. So, knowing when to bring on a consultant and ask for help, I think that's been a really big thing for us this year and you know learning experience for us all the time but really just knowing what you're good at and what you're not good at. It's always good to try to do things yourself and get that learning experience but just really knowing when to ask for help and then when it's worth investing your time versus investing your money, and I think that's been a huge learning experience for us. So the advice I would give is just being honest with yourself and your team about what your strengths are and then knowing what your strengths aren't and being able to kind of supplement that with people who really know what they're doing in their, in their specific fields.
Kary Shumway:Yeah, I think that's a great great piece of advice for sure and there is lots of them out there, you know, depending on what area of expertise you're trying to trying to fill. But I think that's that's part of an evolving and maturing business too is to understand where you're going to need some assistance, and that that is definitely like the that growth how do you go from where you are to where you want to be? And it's it's got to be in building those skills and building the teams and the systems to kind of kind of get you that next level definitely, and and we're still finding that balance, but I think we've done a good job at working towards that.
Kary Shumway:So this has been great. So I really appreciate your time, your experience and your expertise and let's talk maybe, as we kind of wrap up, tell us what you've got coming up at the brewery and specifically how people can find you. So somebody is listening and maybe they're going to plan a trip. Yeah, definitely, what's going on?
Sara Watson:Yeah, we're in South Austin. You can find us on the internet. We have a website, vacancybrewingcom. We are on social media at Vacancy Brewing. We actually just started a TikTok, so we are exploring with that new app, so find us there if you're on TikTok. But yeah, we have events all the time at our tap room. It's one of the things that we do Love having events and hosting new things. So we have karaoke every month, we have trivia every week, we do music, bingo, so there's always something fun happening at our tap room. So look online on our website. We have an events calendar. There's always something new and exciting coming up. So, or, if you just want to come by for a beer, come by anytime.
Kary Shumway:That's awesome. Sarah, thanks so much again for the time and folks listening go visit Vacancy Brewing in Austin Texas.
Sara Watson:Thank you, Keri.
Kary Shumway:Thank you for listening to the Craft Brewery Financial Training Podcast, where we combine beer and numbers so that you can improve financial results in your brewery. For more resources, tools, guides and online courses, visit craftbreweryfinancialtrainingcom. And don't forget to sign up for the world-famous Craft Brewery Financial Training Newsletter. Until next time, get out there and improve financial results in your brewery today.