Forecasting the True Cost of a Lease: Rent Escalation Modeling for Breweries
Rent that increases at a compounding rate can quietly add thousands of dollars to your total out-of-pocket cost over the course of a lease. That’s why it’s critical to forecast how your rent will grow when evaluating lease options.
Auditing Your Brewery’s Hidden Lease Costs
Triple-net expenses like taxes, insurance, and maintenance can easily equal 30% to 50% of your rent. Perhaps even more. Asking your landlord for an itemized breakdown (from the past couple of years or so) is a smart move. Take a few minutes to scan the details and look for anything that stands out - big year-over-year jumps or pass-through costs that don’t make sense.
Mastering Follow-Up Ship Dates: Lock in Your Sales Velocity
When you’re tracking sales velocity, it’s important to know when the product has been used up. If your communication and relationships with distributors and retailers are strong, you can often get that information directly. Otherwise, the best indicator might just be the follow-up ship date.
Slow Moving Beers Cost More Than You Think
Slow-moving beers don’t just hurt your cash flow—they block progress. Holding inventory is expensive, and it's often overlooked. It’s the equivalent of putting cash on a shelf and wondering why it’s not working for you. It ties up space, it clogs your tap lines, and it kills staff enthusiasm.
Pay Attention to Your Taproom Data, Not What You Read Online
Retail data that you find in trade magazines or industry reports is built on averages. And while averages can provide context, they don’t tell the full story of your brewery’s performance—especially your taproom. Those numbers can be skewed, and they certainly don’t reflect what’s happening in the trenches of your business.