Despite its reputation as a lifestyle industry, craft beverage production is serious business. Breweries, wineries, and distilleries need to have a strong legal foundation across a variety of domains – regulatory compliance, IP, sales contracts, and more.

In this conversation, SBDC Craft Beverage Assistance Manager Chris Van Orden asks John Szymankiewicz of the Beer Law Center about the many ways in which legal support can help craft beverage producers operate above board and avoid costly mistakes down the road.

In times of industry stress, craft beverage producers with a good handle on operations stand the best chance of coming out ahead. But how can company leadership ensure that the right systems, talents, and resources are in place?

In this session, Craft Beverage Assistance Manager Chris Van Orden speaks with Mike McGarvey of Minded, LLC about the vital role that the COO plays in the craft beverage space and how even the smallest producers can adopt best practices established by much bigger firms.

Every craft beverage producer appreciates that the same drop of liquid can make more or less money depending on the channel in which it’s sold. But what’s harder to grasp is how to capture true margins and balance your sales mix.

In this webinar, Craft Beverage Assistance Manager Chris Van Orden asks Matthew Brown, Virginia Wine Coalition Coordinator and founder of MWJ Brown Consulting, about how producers can get a deeper understanding of COGS and set healthy margins for various DTC channels such as wine club, tasting room sales, shipping, and distribution.

Craft beverage producers usually think they know what appeals to their tasting room guests – after all, it’s an audience that’s not shy about voicing their opinions. But how can you get past the noise and arrive at what really matters, both to the visitors and the company’s bottom line?

In this webinar, Craft Beverage Assistance Manager Chris Van Orden asked Michael Varda, Founder and Principal of Crafted Insights, how data can inform market analysis, brand tracking, and ultimately stronger tasting room performance.

Whether distribution is a major revenue driver or simply rounds out a strategy heavy on direct-to-consumer sales, it’s important to have skilled representatives advocating for your brand in the market. But too many producers make do with untrained, part-time sales team and wind up losing ground.

In this webinar, Craft Beverage Assistance Manager Chris Van Orden asks Julie Rhodes of Not Your Hobby Marketing the people side of outside sales.

With ever-increasing numbers of technology solutions on the market, there have never been more data points available to the craft beverage producer. But in a sea of information, it can be hard to block out the noise and focus on what really makes a difference for a craft producer’s profitability.

In this session, Virginia SBDC Craft Beverage Assistance Manager Chris Van Orden asks Chris Farmand, Founder and Principal of Small Batch Standard, about five fundamental benchmarks that get to the heart of a business’s financial health.

In-house sales have never been more important for Virginia’s craft beverage sector, making front-of-house staff vital to the long-term viability of craft beverage businesses.

In this edition of the Craft Beverage Conversation webinar series, Virginia SBDC Craft Beverage Assistance Manager Chris Van Orden asks Andrew Coplon, Founder of Secret Hopper and Craft Beer Professionals, how producers can train, incentivize, and retain customer-facing staff members.

In most instances, Virginia companies that produce alcohol aren’t just manufacturers – they welcome customers into their facilities as hospitality and tourism businesses. As such, there’s a world of tourism support available to those who know how and who to ask.

In this webinar, Craft Beverage Assistance Manager Chris Van Orden asked Laura Messer, Destination Development Manager at Virginia Tourism Corporation about the bevvy of resources that producers can leverage to improve the volume and experience of visitors coming to their taprooms and tasting rooms.

Unlike many of their manufacturing peers, craft beverage producers need physical plants that not only meet their technical needs – e.g., utilities, loading docks, zoning – but also serve as inviting venues for public visitation. It can be hard to get this balance right, especially at a reasonable price.

In this webinar, Craft Beverage Assistance Manager Chris Van Orden asks Tom Hudock of Craft Buildings about how craft beverage producers can create compelling, functional spaces from which to run their business.

There are dozens of hurdles that wineries have to clear to maintain strong and profitable operations, from pests and fungus — to weather-related damage — to key personnel departure and beyond. Thankfully, there are a myriad of insurance tools to minimize these risks and dampen the impact of adverse events.

In this webinar, Craft Beverage Assistance Manager Chris Van Orden asks Kristen Stahl of HUB International about how wineries can insure against threats – new and old.