The first six months of selling beer flew past. It is actually still a bit hard to believe that we are running our own small brewery.
As with all new businesses the start can be tricky. In this short period we’ve already learnt quite a number of good lessons. Juggling a brewery - albeit VERY small - with day jobs, family life and other commitments is no easy task, but it is actually quite fun and a good challenge.
So you might ask: “What did you learn so far?”
Well, for starters: Do not piss off the tax man. The South African Revenue Service is not renowned for their sense of humour. Cross your T’s and dot your I’s.
You cannot please everyone and you cannot make beer to suit every palate out there. Just accept it. As long as you remain committed to good quality beer there should be at least a few people who share your taste.
It is not easy to make money. People who work for salaries all their lives will never understand this.
Having a good distributor on your side is worth it! It makes life a lot easier, especially when time is one of your scarcest resources.
Reliable suppliers are not that easy to find. Forging good relationships with the good ones will pay off in spades.
We have to upgrade our brewhouse much earlier than anticipated. You can never do too much research on your planned equipment configuration.
