It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.
Warren Buffett
The quote above says it all and your taproom team is a critical component to your brand and your success. One bad experience or interaction with one of your service staff team members – or really any employee of your brewery who’s not putting their best foot forward – can destroy all the work you’ve done to build it.
A few years ago, I presented at the North Carolina Craft Brewers Guild conference on the topic of taproom culture. It was exciting for me to speak to a room of 100 people – many of them owners of small brewery businesses that had just recently opened – about this topic, and to hear the challenges they were all facing. Many of those were challenges surrounding their people and service employees.
Below are some slides from the presentation that you’re welcome to download if interested.
My goal was…and still is….to get people to focus on each and every minor detail that surrounds the human resources needs of your brewery. Don’t just hire to hire. Develop your approach first. Focus on getting the right people in place that represent your company.
It will take some formal brainstorming sessions. You’ll need to set up meetings and discussions to review things like: your interview and hiring approach, your current team members performance/enthusiasm for the job, and your day-to-day taproom policies and procedures.
I can guarantee it will be worth the time investment, and help you uphold the reputation in the craft beer community that you need to stand out and be successful.
