Name: More Than a Pour: How Breweries Turn Events into a Revenue Engine
Uploaded: 2026-11-10T22:46:19.798Z
Duration: 57 min 10 s
Description: More Than a Pour: How Breweries Turn Events into a Revenue Engine

Transcript for "More Than a Pour: How Breweries Turn Events into a Revenue Engine": Thanks to everyone for joining us, and welcome to today's deep dive into how breweries turn events into a revenue engine. There's common misconception that craft beer is a packaged good business. And, while that's true about a certain percentage of many breweries revenue, hospitality and on-site sales have become a major economic driver for breweries as most move away from that kind of tour and sample and take home model of the nineties and two thousands. And to what they are now, community hubs, pubs, and third spaces where events are more important to the revenue mix than ever before. This deep dive is produced in partnership with Triple C, and I am gonna hand it over to Alexa in a minute to moderate this conversation and introduce you to all of the panelists. But before we do that, a few things about this platform. One of the beautiful things about the platform that we use and, this as opposed to some of the other formats that we have conversations in is that it is interactive and that you can use the chat function over there on the side as well as q and a. And if you are joining us from any of the other platforms that it's streaming to, you know, things like YouTube, if you throw some comments in there, they will pass through here. Alexa will make some time at the end of this conversation to address all of your questions. So So if something comes up as you go through, click on that little q and a, tab and throw your question up there. You... We... She may answer... You all may answer it, at some point right before you get to it. But if you don't, at least it is there to address at the end of it. I'm excited to see, you know, some of the strategies that everyone here employs in order to drive more revenue from events in their breweries. And, Alexa, I will let you take it from here and introduce everyone. Thanks for joining us. Yeah. Thank you so much, Jamie, and welcome, everyone. As Jamie said, my name is Alexa Shai, and I'm a regional account manager here at Triple Seat. And before I joined the team here several years ago, I was actually a triple seat user for nearly a decade in the hospitality industry, so I've been in your shoes. I know what it feels like when events start picking up, and you're trying to figure out how to grow without your team burning out in the process. Today, we have got three incredible panelists who are living this every single day, and I cannot wait for you to hear from them. So let's start with some introductions. And, guys, just tell us where you work and a little bit about your venue. And, Neli, how about you kick things off for us? Sure. My name is Neli Koo. I'm the venue manager at Community Beer Company, which is located down in Dallas, Texas. We are a family owned brewery going on fourteen years next year. Congratulations. Alright, Taylor. I'm Taylor Harriman. I'm the event sales manager here at Saint Arnold Brewing Company. We are Texas's oldest craft brewery still in production, so I think this is our thirty second year. Started in '94. So we've been at Warren Brown for a while. Definitely evolved throughout that time, but, yeah, that's a little bit about us. Awesome, Patrick. Yes. I'm Patrick McGuire from Narragansett Brewing Company. The brand Narragansett has been around for over a hundred and thirty five years, but we have a taproom here on the Providence, Rhode Island waterfront that has been open for six. So on the, taproom side of the business, it's been a little newer for us over the past few years. Wonderful. Alright, guys. So let's get into it. I think a lot of breweries start out treating private events as, like, a nice bonus, and then one day you look up and it's a real line item. So was there a specific moment or even like a season where you guys thought, okay. This is something we actually need to build around. And, Taylor, why don't you start us off? I think for us, we're kind of the shift started was actually after COVID. I think beforehand, a lot of it was more of just, you know, our taproom where we're doing tags, we're doing this. After COVID, it kinda gave us a chance to deep dive into it and look at it as, you know, let's let's take this time to rebuild everything and jump into it. So we were able to kind of, you know, refine our catering department and offer some nicer things within the events. So I think taking a a look at it retrospectively and seeing, like, what we could do to build up to having a more dedicated, like, event space and event venue versus a brewery that does events. Yeah. That makes total sense. COVID seemed to really shift things around for a lot of people. Patrick, what about you guys? Yeah. No. It was it was sort of a slower start for us. And one of the main things we found was... So we're right on the edge of campus of Brown University here in Providence, and it was really graduation season where a lot of the Brown alumni and and current people were looking to host events. And so it kinda just fell in our laps a little bit. And sort of as we got those inquiries and people wanting to, use the the space for their own private events, we started realizing we could kind of build a a revenue channel around this. And at the start of the taproom that we didn't have a full kitchen, so it was bringing food in. And it was a big step for us, to really build out the kitchen, create that catering ability, and just enhance the experience overall. Yeah. Absolutely. And, Taylor, I know that you guys have been expanding too. Right? Like, you've added on space to the brewery, and it's just a massive complex. now. Right? Yeah. It is a whole campus now, with the two private event spaces. The the beer hall, which used to be where everyone would come, is our community taproom, holds events up to 400 people, and then we have a smaller room for up to one twenty, and the beer garden, which is a beast of its own. So. definitely a lot going on on campus all the time. Yeah. Absolutely massive. And, folks, I know that... I think Neli might be having some technical difficulties right now, so we might just move on, and then we'll circle back to her, once she's able to come back online. So the mix... Let's talk about the mix right now, what's actually booking. I think it's really interesting to see, like, what's coming in. Like, are you guys seeing more corporate buyouts? Is it tap takeovers, birthdays, holiday parties? What's coming in most? And. that's a little bit of a loaded question because, obviously, we're halfway through November, so holiday parties are top of mind. But think of the other ten months out of the year. Like, what trends are you guys seeing for who's booking right now? Yeah. I can jump in. For us, it's a lot of wedding adjacent events. So not. full on weddings as we don't quite have the capabilities. We have a lot of people that want to get married, at the Narragansett Brewery because of the affinity for the brand, the loyalty, and somewhere in their relationship, Narragansett has been a part of it. We try to steer them away from that because they're expecting, you know, a 150 person wedding and ceremony. And we're an open air taproom. We don't have private event spaces. So, you know, you're in the mix with everyone else that's coming to the taproom that day. But, really, Yeah. our sweet spot has been wedding welcome parties, even rehearsal dinners, more of low key kind of network... Or, these type of dinners where it's not a sit down plated kind of event. It's more of a walk around, mingle, have, you know, buffet type style. So really... And and the wedding events have have really picked up for us over the past two years, and we have people reaching out about 2028 and the summer of twenty twenty eight trying to get wedding welcomes of, you know, 200 plus people. So I'd say that's been something that we didn't really expect coming into it, have leaned into it, and continue to get more and more of those types of bookings coming in. That's amazing. Neli, do you wanna jump in there with, like, what you're seeing booking that's kinda surprised you the other ten. months out of the year? Yeah. So sorry. Obviously, that question scared me so much. I had to get off the Internet. I apologize. My Internet is horrible here. No worries. We actually opened up a newer brewery. We moved locations in Dallas about four and a half years ago when we opened. We moved closer into an area that's more trade, and so a lot of construction groups. And so, you know, when people started seeing our location, people were looking for a space that wasn't going downtown. And so, we have two private rental spaces available that can hold up to a 150 to almost 250 guests in each space, including the main taproom itself. So we started seeing construction groups come in. October is when they like doing vendor appreciation events. And then, also, weirdly conveniently, we're also across from the Medical District, which is where, like, a lot of major hospitals are. So I wouldn't say we strategically figured out that we're in a great space, but I think people figured out that there's a location nearby that has everything that they want, and they can bring people over, and it's a great way to just get away. So, October porking's we first... Yeah. Right? for being where you guys. are at. Yeah. Right. So we opened in March of, like, four and a half years ago. And so, by October, it started picking up. And then we were like, well, this is great. We got, like, you know, maybe, like, 15, 20 events happening at a time a month. And then Christmas came around, you know, and it was like we we had. 45 private rentals, in that space, which was insane. So that was crazy. Yeah. Taylor, what about you guys? I think probably a mix of the both. You know, we see a lot of corporate and are blessed to have a lot of repeat clientele. So just getting those same events on the books for the next year. A lot of corporate, but weddings have taken off for us as well. Anything from full bone ceremony and reception, but rehearsal dinners almost every weekend. So really just kinda. leaning into that wedding industry. Yeah. Absolutely. It's a great one to tap into for sure. So here's one that I think every events team can relate to as bookings pick up. How do you keep that from just turning into more chaos for your team? Because more events is great until your coordinator is working weekends to keep up. So what are some strategies that you guys employ? And, Patrick, if you wanna... Or either way. Oh, Yep. it's No. Go ahead. there. We have, so mainly, it's just me at the brewery running private events. We also have a private events assistant now as well, which is great. I don't think anybody. expected private events to go, the way that they would at the brewery. But a lot of it is just tag teaming, honestly. You know? It's every single day we're figuring out the best way to schedule. You know, someone's on-site to do site visits while someone is just answering emails and, obviously, you know, being a teacher's pet. Utilizing automated discussions with triple seat is great, That's it. especially when people are looking for stuff. You know, they can really hone in on... We can get answers to them faster, which, of course, you can see, you know, you're booking more if you're obviously reacting faster to people. Of course. Yeah. Makes total sense, Patrick. Yeah. It's it's really a a kind of team strategy kind of where Neli was going where we've separated sort of the planning communication to be sort of a... Almost like an office role for an event coordinator to handle and then have really worked with our managers at the taproom to handle the execution. And so it's not just on one person. Not one person has to be there for the events that really wants there's almost a handoff that goes on from the coordinator to the staff themselves and just having the staff trained and ready and know what's coming. So a lot of it comes down to communication. And a part of that is having all the communications in Triple C where in the past, Yes. we had a person that was handling voice mails and they're doing Yeah. their own personal email. And so all of these details were kinda mixed around these events, and then people would show up to the actual events and, oh, well, I talked to so and so and they said this. And. the people, staff on duty, have no idea what's going on, and so that. creates confusion, chaos, everything else. So I think having a centralized source of communication, having everyone tapped into that, and having everyone really have assigned roles on what the expectation is. Yeah. And that clear communication just make sure that for the the event goers coming in, the hosts, you know, they are getting all their needs satisfied upfront. And then when they show up that day, their information is known, the staff knows, and they're taking care of them in the right manner. Absolutely. Taylor, what about you guys? I think... I mean, a lot of the points you'll hit on, obviously, communication is key. I think through triple c, one thing that helps us specifically is automated tasks. So, like, as soon as we move... Convert an event over, just, you know, it it timelines everything we need to be doing for that event, especially the further ones out to make sure you're in constant communication. You don't book it and forget it or whatever it might be. Just keeping up with those automated tasks, and then we take it in two week chunks internally. So we need... You know, while we're talking to them constantly, we have a fairly small team, but we have a weekly BEO meeting where we go over events for the next two weeks. So I think that talking about each event that's coming into your space multiple times leading up to the event, that way when you get there, they're like, you know, he said he said, she said, and then you go back and forth. That's just a way for us to kind of keep... Hold each other accountable, make sure everyone knows what's going on, and keep up with it. Yeah. You guys all touched on some great points. I wanna throw one other thing in there. I know for operating teams, they're on the fly. Right? Like, they're on the floor. They're with guests. They're out, you know, doing the the dirty work of the business sometimes. And so you can have Triple Seed as a, like, dedicated app, so to speak, on your home screen on your phone. So for any teams that don't have that in place can be critical, especially during the holiday season. So what is one thing, just one, that has genuinely made managing more events easier without adding more hours to anyone's day? You guys have touched on, like, some automations and things like that, but, anything else that you can think of that just made your life a little bit easier without adding more time? Well, I would say... And I know this is going the automation route, so I apologize. That's we. had actually kinda stayed away from triple c direct for a while because we weren't sure if our customer base would want to be booking on their own and do those things and were more so the direct communication and the back and forth was a part of the service we are providing. Yeah. But it was also creating, a lot of time and effort put into smaller events that really weren't reaping a benefit for us from an overall, you know, ROI standpoint, where our event coordinator is spending so much time going back and forth on menu changes for a 20 person party that's Yeah. spending $500 at the end of the day. And so it was something that when we did sort of push towards... I mean, and we just did this back in March of this year where we we put it, online, and that's just created so much more free time from now back and forth on the smaller events that we can put the time into some of the larger events, and we can put time into outreach. So we can be pushing for not just all the inbound events that are coming in and we're reacting to them, but actually spend some time on outreach to bring some business in. Yeah. Patrick, when people ask me about direct book, that's the exact scenario that I give them. That 10 to 15 person birthday party, like, winds up tying up so much more of your time than it should. Neli, what about you guys? I would say, honestly, the calendar settings on Triple C are great. Preach. You know, we set up the parameters, of course, for, like, you know, when it's a when it's a definite event, when it's a tentative, when it's a prospect. And so, you know, there's very little issues with overlapping events where we're like, oh my god. We double booked someone, because we do add that... It allows us to add those buffers before and after so that we're not... We also have time to break down and change over. We also use triple seat, though, for most of our activations that require spaces in our building. So, you know, that, it it allows us to also see just what additional events we're having. Maybe they're not being booked through triple seat right now, but, you know, they... It just helps us so much because before we got triple seat, it was a lot of us running to another team and being like, oh my god. You programmed a band to play at the same day that this person's getting married, and you gotta. stop doing that. Like, we. don't need a kiss tribute band to be playing during this person's wedding ceremony. I just... We gotta do that. And so I would say, you know, Yeah. before Triple c, of course, we use... You know, it was Google Calendar and spreadsheets. And that stuff can get so messy if people aren't keeping stuff up to date. And so that's why triple seed is so great for us, honestly. Yeah. Calendar settings are your best friend for sure. Taylor, what about you? I think it took a little bit of work on the back end. So, you know, it'll take some upfront work, but I think discussion email templates have, like, saved our lives. Like, it saves me so much back and forth. Everyone has basically the same question. So just having. those go to, like, where you can just edit them on the fly instead of, like, having to fully type out every single thing. Being able just to click and edit it, the few little things that change event to event have been, like, such a game changer for us, instead of having to type endlessly. I think that that's been, like, our biggest help. Yeah. And those merge fields too. Right? Like, it looks really customized. It's automatically pulling in that information from the event details page. You're not retyping all of it. Game changer for sure. Okay. Let's talk about something that everyone on this call knows well, the slow months. So every venue has them. How are you planning ahead to make sure that the quiet stretch doesn't catch you off guard? Patrick, you wanna jump in first? Yeah. No. I think that what we try to do especially... I mean, we are very seasonal being up here in New England, so you see after the holidays a big drop off in everyday walk in business. So for us, it... It's kinda twofold. One is for a lot of rebooking type events, if they were a summer outing or something like that. We try to reach out, especially a lot of the corporate places of, a, having a holiday event after the holidays if they didn't do one already and try to fill some of those spaces in January. But also to do, you know, some other more public facing events to draw people in, whether it's... We've looked at bringing in sort of an outdoor, mobile sauna company to come in in February and March and do sort of like a weekly kind of thing where they're coming in. And what. we found is any of these third party type events where they're actively promoting, they're pushing to their own people, That's something that helps draw a crowd, brings people in, and then brings in new people to kinda introduce them to the brewer. We can give them experience and make them wanna come back. So we find trying to focus a lot of those experiential kind of things in those winter months is is great for us because there's just not as many private events to try to book around for those things. But also it's a great opportunity of giving unique experience for people to experience the taproom then and wanna come back in some of the busier months. Yeah. That is so creative. I love that. Taylor, what about you? I think, kind of the same thing. So we kinda offered a... Not a holiday booking special, but on either end, November and January booking special because, I mean, December is pretty much full for us, from six months ago on. So I think just finding those times to fill in, like, kind of the gaps in November or January, whenever it might be, same time in summertime. And then as we near end, being a little bit more flexible with our clients to, like, fit ahead and then get ahead of those slower seasons. So knowing that, you know, I can fill a hole now that, you know, would be there in six months anyways. I think that's probably, like, the easiest way for us to fill those in. Yeah. Absolutely. Neli, what about you? Yeah. We definitely... What we saw last year was a lot of people in terms of, like, economics were unable to really afford holiday season parties. So, you know, encouraging people to host a post holiday group event, and adding incentives, you know, where, like, you know, we dynamically price for the holidays. So, you know, in January, it's gonna be a lot less. We have a full site... We have a full kitchen on-site, and we make nonalcoholic beer as well. So, you know, in January, it's always dry January. It's, you know, reset in the month. So we do a lot of, we do a lot of taproom activations where, we host a puppy yoga with our partner. It's a local rescue group. So they bring rescue puppies, and people pretend to do yoga and play with puppies for an hour. You know, Dolly Parton's birthday is that month, so we host a Dolly brunch. And it's like, what kind of gimmicks can we. get people through the door and come hang. out with us? When most people wanna stay in, maybe they spent too much money in, you know, in December. So, you know, how do we build, we build, like, fun little incentives and fun little weekend things for people to just come in. Even if they're only buying a beer while they're on-site, they're still coming here and, you. know, enjoying themselves. We are family friendly and dog friendly as well. So it is, it it is... Sometimes turns into like a day care, but, you know, if people are coming to enjoy the time out from their house, we'll we'll take it. And, of course, Absolutely. vendor markets. We love hosting vendor markets at the space too. So, you know, people wanna go shopping, and they still wanna shop local, so that's always fun. Oh, I love that. And this is kind of piggybacking off of the same question, but has there been anything to drive business during those slow periods that surprised you? That you're like, there's no way this is gonna work. Like, the puppy yoga, for example, like, would not think, you know, that that would drive a ton of crowds, but clearly it did. Is there anything else you guys that maybe surprised you? We actually have been now for upcoming the third year doing a hot. sauce expo in the middle of January at the taproom, Okay. which there's a great local group, called the Niebriar that puts on sort of different kind of off the wall kind of events, and and they actually come to us a few years ago about trying to do something. And basically, like, a vendor market, but specific to hot sauce. And, a, I didn't realize there was that many, local boutique hot sauce companies in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, but, they would fill out 20 vendor spaces and have people on waiting lists to try to get in. Wow. And it was some of our... We would open at noon, run from twelve to five. And the business we'd see from that twelve to two standpoint, usually, we're not a huge lunch crowd group, but it was some of our best hourlies we've seen on a Saturday, not just in the winter months, but in the summer months. So that was one that was... You know, the first year kinda took a little bit to get going, and now it's become this annual event that Pudenos and hot sauce was was that so intriguing to to draw a crowd like that. Go figure. Right? Okay. Nelly, Taylor, anything that comes to mind for you guys? We also... I mentioned the Dolly Parton brunch and stuff too, but, we started doing, like, you know, just fun... We do brunch on Sundays. And so, the first one we did was we're like, oh, she turned... You know, it's her birthday. Why not? And we had, you know, karaoke, and everything was pink and shiny and cowboy. And we only expected, like, maybe some people to show up, but it was packed. Like, people came dressed up. We had a doggy part and costume contest for dogs. You know, it's it's silly and, you know, we rename... You know, when you're renaming beers and drinks and food for the day and making it thematic, it just gives someone something to do. And, I saw on the chat someone talked about a clothes swap, but we also had hosted last year a sneaker trade show. And so I wear shoes, but I didn't realize that shoes are that tradable. And it was really cool to see actually, you know, lots of people coming in and having a spot for people to come and, you know, they also brought vendors in, but also, you know, everyone's got these really high end sneakers that they're trading and stuff. And it's. really cool to see. I don't understand it, but, you know, we love that people... What... What's better than buying shoes and drinking? So 100%. Can't get behind that. Taylor, what about you? I think it's a little bit different for me. Since we operate as such a big campus, like I mentioned earlier, that's definitely more of our, like, beer garden side and everything. Laura in the chat is actually one of our employees over at the beer garden. The one pot showdown she mentioned is a big annual cook off that we have. So having like that, it's a... It's cold. It has been freezing when they're out there cooking, but it draws in such a nice crowd. That's a really fun one. I think the most notable that our team over there has done that's taken off in recent years, it's for Day of the Dead. So we bring back beers that haven't made it in the market, and they do a smaller batch of them. And it brings in lines like you would never see this time of year. So it's really, really neat to bring back some of those community favorites that we no longer make, and turn that into a big a big event. Yeah. Because people get sad when you take their favorite beer off the menu. So that's that's, a great. idea. Love that. Thank you for that, Taylor. I I just wrote that down, so thank. you. That's an. amazing tip. I can't take credit for that one. on this call is taking notes about that one for sure. So if part of surviving the slow months is planning ahead, the other part is really about getting people in the door to begin with, which brings me to our next topic, marketing. It looks so different from venue to venue. What are you actually doing to get the word out about your event space? Is it email, social, your website, word-of-mouth, all of the above? I've had the privilege of touring both community and Saint Arnold, so I kind of know. I feel like I know what Taylor's gonna say. But I'm curious. Patrick, maybe you kick us off. Yeah. So I think, you know, we piggyback a lot off of just the Narragansett brand, our Narragansett logger in general. So not only from social media side, which we have, you know, 95,000 following on Instagram, which isn't huge, but it's a good size especially for this area. We started branching off to do our own Taproom social accounts so we could be a little more hyperlocal and focused. And so we've kinda create... We've piggybacked sort of our larger audience and have created more of a hyperlocal one with our own taproom socials and focus. more on the beer releases and foods and also the events, and making sure that no matter what we have going on from the beer releases, food specials, whatever, that we're consistently kind of chiming back in about the private events space because it is something. that it may not be as glamorous or exciting as some of those things, but it helps that every time we kinda ping that back back, every now and then, you see more of an influx of leads and things coming in. So, we do the same thing within our email side of over a 150,000 people that, again, not as hyperlocal, but it's kind of remembering to chime in and talk about the event space and what we can do from time to time just to give those general reminders. And then it goes to, you know, utilizing our Salesforce and other people out in the market. We get a lot of events from customers of ours, whether it's bars and restaurants, other restaurant groups, hotels. Those are groups we're already doing business with on a larger scale that we can then give them, sort of their own unique private event and experience at the tap room. And so we start using sort of both kind of... We use the sort of larger brand to kind of find the people we can talk to, and then we. use our tap room and event space as just another way of promoting the brand and giving those customers a new experience. So they go sort of hand in hand in that regard. Yeah. Patrick, that makes total sense. And, like, I came from the fine dining world where we would do pairing dinners. Right? And so you. get these massive names like the Rombowers and the Dows and those sort of things. So that's fantastic that you guys are doing that. Taylor, what about you guys? I think the thing that we've found that really has brought people in is we'll go exhibit at a convention, whether it's bridal extravaganza or an oil and gas convention or whatever it might be, and then handing out invitations to an open house. So we'll have a corporate focused open house or bridal focused open house where we invite vendors in and show them our spaces. Because at those conventions, they see a million people, and some of them are really aggressive, which is not our style. But, like, they're getting a million things shoved out of them. So we're like, hey. You know, when things calm down, if you're interested in, we just focus on, like, genuine connections and showing our space, dolled up for an event with all of our vendors here. So that way, they can see kind of what it would look like just instead of getting a piece of paper and a website and a QR code, kinda showing what it would actually feel like for an event for them. Yeah. Love the showcase idea. Those are game changers. Neli, what about you guys? Awesome. We, you know, we kinda do all of it, but, we do see a lot of our events coming through word-of-mouth. So someone attended a construction event, then they work at a construction space. Or, we hosted a medical program event for one of BG Southwestern departments, and then someone from there told their wife's friend that we also host birthday parties. Weirdly... I mean, not weirdly enough, but it's awesome. But, you know, people who meet each other at the brewery, we had a couple that their first date was at an anniversary party at the old location. They had their engagement party at the brewery, and then they had their baby shower at the brewery. And so... And straight... Surprisingly enough, a lot of people have baby showers at breweries and first birthday parties. But, you know, it's, it's always so fun to hear these stories because, you know, in triple c, of course, when they do their, you know, referral details, it's I was there. I went to something. I. saw something there or a friend told me about it. And it feels... You know, it really warms, like, my dead little heart about, you know, shilling for events that, you know, at the end of the day, you know, the things that we do at our spaces, we we love being where we are, but it's really fun that people wanna come back time after time because, a, brand loyalty, but also they had a great time and they wanna share it with someone else. Yeah. Yeah. And that speaks to the experience that you guys are giving your guests too. And that... To piggyback off of that a little bit, so has anything surprised you guys about, like, what has worked with the marketing effort that you didn't expect to move the needle, but it did. Well, I I think kind of piggybacking off that word-of-mouth, commentary from from Neli, it it is like you you almost get this sense of, like, you're within the life cycle of people and the events they have coming up to what she was saying. We've had people that have done a graduation party here, and then two years later, they have their engagement party. And, you know, when you think of, like, rebooking opportunities, right, when you... You're looking at corporate outings, you're looking at holiday parties, it's, oh, I'm gonna reach back out to those people. When you see an engagement, when you see a wedding, you don't... Well, that... That's a one and done. They're not coming back. But those are actually opportunities to reach back out to those people, remind them of the time they had, and wherever they are in their life and what's going on, they make... They will think of you as a, oh, actually, I have a, you know, a thirtieth birthday coming up. I think I'm gonna come back for that. And and I've... We've seen it time and time again of people of, 20 birthday party that turns into a 20, you know, party and and whatever it might be. So I do think when you you think of word-of-mouth, when you think of the... What you can do of trying to get rebookings and the types of events, there's opportunities within any event to kind of reach back out and and see if you can get people to come back. Yeah. I get those automated discussions going. You don't have to. remember that. Who's gonna remember that? We host too many events. There's no way. Taylor, what about you guys? don't know. I think for us, honestly, I'm... I don't even know. That's a good one. I think that, like, word-of-mouth has just definitely been, like, the biggest way for us to do it. Just those repeat clients, whether it's them or someone through them. Like, that's just our biggest thing. I can say it a million times over in this panel. I probably will. But, like, that's that's our bread and butter. It's just. the people that know us. They love hosting with us. You know, we've had different departments come from their... This department came and host with y'all last year, and they had the blast. So I think just... That's our biggest thing is just continuing to provide a good experience, and then they're gonna come back naturally. We've had a few of the same things as well where they celebrate milestones with us. I've done their wedding and then their farewell party when they moved states. So just the kinda... Or the ten year anniversary or whatever it is. So just maintaining the, like, standards throughout and getting to celebrate with them for big milestones, whatever they might be. And I'll say this for you too, Taylor. Like, you guys... I don't know who your... Like, in your marketing team is in charge of this, but they have fantastic pop up banners throughout the venue that have the QR code to the lead form. Like, that is huge. Right? And, like, when you're going to these trade shows, have it go to your lead form, track that ROI. It's so easy to do with those. And a little pop quiz. I'm gonna put you guys on the spot here a little bit. Do any of you have your triple seat lead form on your social channels, like on your Instagram or even LinkedIn or anything like that? No. We just have it on the website. Okay. Same way on the website. Yeah. Opportunity for breweries, any venue out there that might be on this call, like, plaster it. Put it everywhere. There's no cap for the number of triple seat lead forms you can have, so have them be specific for each thing. Good little pro tip there. So once someone actually books... You guys have touched on this a little bit, but let's dive deeper. What does a great guest experience look like at your venue? What makes them come back and pick up the phone and get that great word-of-mouth business? Like, what does that guest experience look like? And, Ellie, if you wanna kick us off. I just Patrick and Taylor both said it before, but communication. You know, it's all about communicating. I I can't even stress, like, how many times, I've helped friends plan events, and. the event coordinator just doesn't respond. You know, like, seventy two hours, great. That's fine. But, like, it's, like, weeks on end, and then they're like, hey. Did you still wanna book something? And it's like, I know you're desperate, and I don't wanna be rude about that. Yeah. But, like, you finally saw that this is a stale stale ass. And it's communication. You know? Even if it's not responding within twenty four hours, which, you know, can be hard when there's a lot of stuff. coming. in, you know, and there's always something going on. But, you know, just saying, like, hey. We got your event, and we're gonna... You know, we'll respond to you, or do you wanna come by and take a look? I think that is the biggest thing is just making them feel like even if it is, you know, with triple c direct, like, a small 15 person event, you. know, when they feel like they're the center of attention, they're gonna come back, and they will tell their friends about it. So I think that that is, like, the biggest thing is once they book to continue to communicate. That's just honestly it. Yeah. And, Taylor, what about you guys? What does that great guest experience look like at Saint Arnold? I am a big harp on unreachable hospitality. So I always tell my team, like, anticipate their needs before they even know they need them. Like, I, you know, I think it's... We all probably do the same thing, but you walk into a room whether you're at your own facility or somewhere else, and you can immediately tell what's off, the lighting or whatever it might be. So I think that anticipating what they're gonna need before they even realize something is... You know, you can't put your finger on it, but just something... Knowing what they're gonna do. We do this day in and day out. A lot of these people host one event a year. So I think that, like, knowing what they're gonna need, getting it done before they even get to it is kind of... We try to tell them, like, hey. It's a turnkey operation here. So you walk in the room, we're gonna have it going for you. Everything is already set on our end. So you're welcome to interact with your clients or your guests or whatever it might be. Let us handle the event. It's just kind of what we're here for. I mean, they're paying for the experience, so I think that having a team that has been with us for years, like, be able to just put it on for them and they can come and join it. And then it's over, and they had a great time without even having to kinda do anything on that end. Yeah. That speaks to my hospitality heart. Patrick, what about you guys? Yeah. This may sound a little counterintuitive, but it it... It's setting the expectations. Right? And if people may ask for a bunch of different things, it's okay to say no and set the expectations. for what the event is. We've had a lot of people that have said, oh, we want... You know, we're gonna do a corporate outing. We're gonna do a big presentation. We're gonna have speeches. And we've said yes to something like that in the past, and they have a bad experience because, again, it's an open air taproom with 200 other people gathered around you. Yeah. Okay. The person in the back can't hear you, and our everyday guests are mad because someone's speaking about some biotech, you know, conference going on, that they don't really care about. So it's really setting the expectations from the outset of this is what we can do, this is what we can't do. And I think people appreciate that. And then when they're going into the actual event, there's no questions with the staff of, oh, well, we wanted to do this or can we do this. It's... This is what it is. This is what we're doing. And typically, when they have that sort of smooth sailing type event, those are the people that end up having a good time because they're not worried about a million moving parts. They're not worried about speeches coming up. They're not as stressed. They're literally there to have a beer, have some food, and enjoy the people around them. And those. are typically the people we see come back, and all that starts with efficient and... Efficient communication and and sort of setting those expectations right from the get go. Yeah. Manage... Excuse me. Managing expectations is so huge, and I think all of us are in hospitality. Right? We all wanna be able to say yes as often as we can. But when you have a unique venue, sometimes there are just things you physically can't do. Like, I know once I had a request from a guest, ask for, like, aerial acrobatics, and that was something that we could not accommodate with our 20 foot ceilings. It wasn't gonna happen. So that's that's a great point and something I'm glad that you mentioned there, Patrick. So we are getting somewhat close on time, so I wanna make sure that we end strong. Looking back at this year, guys, what's the biggest thing that private events have done for your brewery? And feel free to, you know, elaborate, but, like, how has this, you know, kinda transformed your business? I mean, Taylor... I would... Oh, sorry. Go ahead, Oh, Patrick. sorry. I was just gonna jump in. I think when we look at the overall business success month to month of sort of where we are versus last year, where we are historically versus years previous, it's always our biggest event months that are most successful throughout the twelve months of the year. And so whether it might be something where the everyday customer is maybe seeing all these events going on, you... You're, you know, we're constantly kind of towing a line between having too many events, and so everyday customers can enjoy the space versus. overloading events because it's the guaranteed revenue. It is sort of this balance we try to keep, but those of... Those months where where we have sort of our most lucrative and best private events are always our best months of the year. I know many times it can be something like a Tuesday or Wednesday weekday event where we don't have a lot of foot traffic going on if we're able to put events into those spaces. It just ends up being one of our better days of the month, better days of the year. So I think that's where from really kind of focusing in on treating the private events as its own business, treating it as a big time revenue stream for us, brings in that guaranteed money, brings in maybe, business during slower times. But when we do it the right way, that's when we have our most successful months. Yeah. Neli, what about you guys? Honestly, I'm just gonna repeat almost all of what Patrick said. It's true. I mean, you know, we... At the... We used to be located in a very smaller space. It was just a big warehouse space, and we were able to expand just because we had to. And when that happened, we actually had dedicated event spaces. And, you know, it's so true that people can be so... You know, can get really turned off by the fact that there's so many events happening that they're like, well, what's the point of going here when there's always just something else going on and it's gonna encroach on us just having a good time? Sure. But, you know, when we were finally able to start hosting events, you know, that's pure revenue at a certain point. You know, you're building an operational costs, but, you know, that's a whole other line item that is going towards helping the brewery sustain itself, especially in this kind of era where you have to pivot so much of not just selling beer, but selling an experience. And, you know, the the... It's interesting because, you know, we are located in an area where there's a lot of warehouse event spaces. And there's spaces where you... It's empty and you just have to fill it with lighting and fill it with bands and, you know, you pay bucketed prices for everything and it's always, at the end of the day, like, way more expensive than you think it's gonna be. But then they come to the brewery and they see something that's totally different. It's not a hotel. It's not a, you know, it's not an event space. It is a brewery that has an event area that can throw events. And I think that right now, people are looking for more fun places that are so uniquely different that breweries are really well poised to, like, continue to grow. And that's something that we've seen in the last four and a half years since we've opened that space, which is really awesome. Yeah. Taylor, what about you guys? I mean, I think we break down our business basically into three parts, and they all kinda intermingle, but distribution and brewing, and then we have the beer garden, which is our public taproom, and and then the private events. Private events isn't always the busiest. There's times we are, but I think they're all kind of cohesive. So people are gonna come to private events and try the beer that they might not have ever had before, or they're gonna, you know, come to a private event and then go to the beer garden after or whatever. They all kinda work together. So being able to have whatever it might be where we're kinda intermingling. Neli, one thing I did wanna touch on with you, which I'm seeing a lot as well, is the people that want those unique experiences, and they're going to a dark place or a mini golf place. Yes. I think something that we've found beneficial that I think can help other people as well is having in house activities that you have to offer. So not just cornhole, not just Jenga. We've recently got in a karaoke machine and bingo and just having things on-site that you can add as, like, an add on to their event. We have a whole list of things in house that we can offer. So I think having those value ads where they're looking for not just to come, you know, well, I would love to just sit and have a drink and eat. Have those activities available on-site, to where it can just be an easy thing where they're not having to get an external vendor to come in. Having some of those things in your back pocket has kind of really helped us a lot too. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely the. turnkey sound for sure. Yeah. 100%. And last one, if you had one piece of advice for a brewery that is just starting to take events seriously, what would it be? I'll go. Oh, go ahead. So I think my biggest thing is not every client is your client, which feels crazy. to say. But at the end of the day, you wanna be profitable. And if you start off in events by giving away the farm, that's the standard you're setting. And they're gonna expect that two years down the road and three years down the... Well, I got it for this price. I think, like, there is a time and a place for everyone, and it might be just an attack room and not as a private event or whatever it might be. So just knowing where your clients fall into and not, like, not necessarily every client is your client. I think that there is a space for everyone, and that's actually our motto here, a space for everyone. But it might not be in a private space. It might be in the taproom or it might be, you know, coming out and having a few tables on a Saturday. It might be wherever it might. But I think just knowing where... Like, holding true to making sure that you're being profitable within an event, is probably the best advice I can give anyone. It takes a while to turn it around, if not. Yeah. I feel like, Patrick, you're probably gonna echo that. I'll let Neli go because we'll... I may be a broken record on it. I I think it's all the same actually for everybody, but it is. setting expectations. When we started doing private events at this location, which is our only location, it was building that road map. You know? It's it's having the baseline for everything, and it may seem like a lot of money. It may seem unattainable. But once you set the expectations and the parameters that we can actually do, no. We cannot have a llama inside the building. That is insane, and that has actually been asked of us before. Yeah. It's, it it lets people know that you are serious and that you are, you know, you're not just looking to make revenue. You're you're wanting to be a location that people come to time after time. Yep. Patrick, Yeah. you mean, wanna rep? yeah, I agree with all of it, but I'm gonna take a little bit of a different turn. It's... You know, whether it's your back of house staff, front of house staff, making sure they realize the importance of the events. Because I think a lot of times, the operating team can look at it as a bit of a nuisance or they may be stressed or whatever it may be. So getting them bought in to what you're trying to do and how you're trying to do it, keeping the communication, like, we've been talking about with those staff members of of what the expectations are and what's going on is very important because once they see the benefit... Again, I mentioned, you know, a Tuesday night where it's completely dead and all of a sudden we have a 80 person event, the staff perks up a little bit. They know it's gonna be a good night. They're gonna be busy. And so kind of. getting them on board, showing them the the importance in what those events can bring, is is really a good step at the beginning. Because once you have, you know, everyone kind of in lock step on that, then you're gonna create that great event experience for your guests. And then those guests are gonna come back again for their next event and everything we've been talking about. So I think that's a a key building block into the whole process. Yeah. Patrick, that is fantastic advice. Like, the buy in from your operators is crucial. Right? Like, they get pulled in a million different directions. I know that when I was in the industry, I used to take my front of house manager with me to networking events. Right? She gets excited. She's meeting those planners with me, and now she's getting the staff excited. It's a whole trickle down effect. Right? They're they're crucial to the business, so spot on with that advice. So couple things that stood out to me today before we kind of get into some q and a and some final closing remarks. It sounds like you guys are really using the tools that are in your toolbox to the best of your ability, Triple c being a key component of that. There's just a million different things inside of the software that can, that can really help breweries as far as private events and group events business go. So it sounds like you guys are really using... Utilizing them to their fullest. So major kudos to everybody on the call and all the breweries out there that are, you know, in the thick of holiday season. I know it's a crazy time right now, but just great job to everyone involved. So what I really think today, reinforced, is that private events aren't just a nice extra for breweries. They're a real revenue engine. Like, it's what makes the difference between a team that's thriving and one that's drowning. It's the right systems in place to manage the whole process from the first inquiry all the way through to the final payment. But that's exactly what triple c was built to do, and specifically for venues like you guys'. Whether it's capturing the leads directly from the website or keeping your team organized across multiple events, managing contracts and payments all in one place, which is so convenient, or just giving you the reporting to actually see what your events business is worth. Right? Triple seed helps brewery teams turn what could be chaos into actual scalable parts of the business. So if you're not already using Triple Seed and today's conversation got you thinking, we'd love to connect. And to our panelists, Neli, Taylor, Patrick, you guys are just wonderful. Thank you for being so open and generous with your time and your experiences today. You all are great. We appreciate you. And a huge thank you to Jamie and the entire Craft Beer and Brewing team for having us. This was such a great partnership. And, of course, thank you to everyone who joined us today. We hope you're leaving with at least one thing that you can take back and put to work. I know we had some q and a guys, so let's see if we can get to some of these before we hit our time here. So Frank asked... And this is kind of just for all of our panelists here. If the event balance is required because events create experiences, what are thoughts on smaller events that don't interfere with normal traffic? That kinda seems up up your alley, Patrick, a little bit, given you guys' space. Yeah. No. I I think that's where the triple c direct has really helped us where, you know, it... It's less time spent on a specific event and what goes on. It becomes more of a general reservation. And so utilizing that as a reservation tool is super helpful. But at the end of the day, again, we talk about staff and the experience not treating those types of events as an afterthought. Still giving it the same attention and service for staff that day to give them that experience is important, because that 15 or 20 person event could turn in something bigger down the line. Yep. Absolutely. This is another one from Joshua. He asked, do you require set spending minimums? Are there any upcharges for additional features like audio video add in? So anyone feel free to chime in there. So we do offer AV, in our spaces. We do set parameters though on this... The type of rental that you're doing. So, it's included in a full rental of that room. We do rent portions of those rooms out, and we can partition them out. So, because we don't want someone bothering another group that's nearby, AV is not included for those smaller groups. So it is a great incentive, honestly, if you have AV available and it's able to be utilized properly. People always look for that stuff, especially when people are looking for conference spaces or meeting spaces that aren't... That are that are different from other spots. And in terms of minimums, the rental space is separate from any food and beverage. So people can just rent a space and have people purchase their own food and bed while they're there, but the only minimums that we require is any kind of catering because it does require a little more lift from our kitchen. Yeah. And then Frank also asked, asked, so many breweries don't have big event places or halls. That's that's fairly common. It makes it a balance between losing regulars if we close to the public for a private event. That's the case for a lot of unique restaurants and venues. Right? Like, you might not have a dedicated private space, and that's okay. That's where we get creative. Right? Anything that you guys wanna add to that as far as, like, the balance between losing regulars and closing for a private event? Yeah, man. We set certain parameters around buyouts where during sort of from May till really October, kind of our busier season, we won't do any buyouts Thursday through Sunday. We'll do it on a Monday through Wednesday on less busier days, but we're not gonna do a buyout. And then in the winter months, we may do a buyout during, you know, Thursday or Friday, but we're still not doing one on the weekend to make sure there's. room for the regulars that are are consistently coming in. So we just try to set parameters to kinda keep ourselves disciplined around that to make sure we're not... So you... You're not seeing a post from us every two weeks of, sorry. We're we're closed this Friday for a private event, We've all seen those minutes. because... Yeah. We're... It... It's. it's... For the people that we're trying to set people's expectations of when they can come. and when they can enjoy beer. And if we keep changing those parameters on the the everyday customer, they're gonna give up at some point. They're gonna go down the street. So I think. that's important. It's just having that discipline. Yeah. Absolutely. From Stephanie, she asked, for private party bookings, how do you approach declining parties? Group or subject matter doesn't reflect your brewery's values? That's an excellent question. Similarly, do you have... Do you offer nonprofit special rates or have circumstances in which you elect to comp the booking, not food, just mean, can jump on that. one. space? Yeah. Go ahead. It's Okay. I have... a think for us... So we offer nonprofit pricing on. certain days. So on Sundays and. Mondays, I do offer nonprofit pricing. It is slower days for us in the private event spaces. And then with that, we have a nonprofit catering menu. We do in house catering almost exclusively. So I think working with them on those dates is kind of the way that we do it with, like, a little bit more of a affordable price menu for those things. And then I think taking a case by case for those events is kind of the best way to look at whether you're gonna comp the space for them or not. I think that that's when we love to get back to the community. So I think it kinda just varies on a on a case by case basis for that one for us. Yeah. That's a great strategy. We have another question. Oh, and I'm sorry. Did, anyone wanna chime in on how you approach declining parties that maybe don't reflect your brewery's values? That's a very interesting question. Delicately, I would imagine. Gracefully. I I think, honestly, like, you be as transparent as possible with them. Like, Yeah. hey. Unfortunately, this doesn't really support the way we operate or, Sure. you know, it's not something that aligns with our values. Yeah. I think being transparent, I've... We've done it, you know, time and time again. And at the end of the day, most people are gracious with it. They kinda know if it's an ask that might not fit you. So I think just telling them, like, hey. This doesn't, you know, work with our current setup or whatever it might be. It's not comfortable for any parties, and sometimes you outgrow things like that, and. it just is what it is. But I think you're just transparent with them and kind of, you know, in the nice way possible, but just be be straight up. Yeah. Yeah. I. think people. will change that. to to piggyback that, it... It's... If they're looking to have their own gathering and not be promoting a cause or promoting something to the... You know, more than welcome to come, have food, have drinks, converse amongst yourself as long as you're. not then trying to promote or talk to other guests about certain things. Yeah. And... Absolutely. Because we've we've had that happen in the past where groups have maybe gone a little too far and and used it as a platform, and we learned from that. And so it it it... To exactly what Taylor's saying, it's it's being transparent and and setting that and say, hey. If if you're just coming to enjoy yourselves, by all means, please, We we would love to host you and and do what we can. But if you're trying to use this as a platform to talk to a larger audience, it's it's not something we can accommodate. Yep. And I know. I've definitely had to tell folks in the past, like, hey. We can't do signage. Like, we can't have. any signs. around. Outside, signage. Yeah. not doing. that here. Yeah. We we draw a big line on signage for table reservations. versus private events because it's. like, Yeah. like, dude, put that pop up banner away. That's that's. not working for us. at all. And then last question, guys. We have one from Ryan. He asked, how do you find regularly recurring events, factor into booking schedules? Are they worth the effort and the cost, or is time better spent pursuing individual bookings? That's an excellent question. You know, you're gonna you're gonna get more flies with the. recurring event... With the recurring honey, if that was a horrible example. But, you know, when you do regular booked events, that's guaranteed revenue. You know, you're... You know, and that just depends, like, what you're looking at, and that's also, like, we host quarterly events for groups. And, honestly, it it note... Our staff is aware. They're excited for it because they know they're gonna make good money that day. And then what that does is the people that they bring in, they're gonna tell other people. And, you know, now if you're getting recurring events every single day, maybe that's not a great thing. But, but, you know, take the low hanging fruit when you can, honestly. It's. worth it in this... Instead, you're building brand loyalty at this point, and you want those people to come back. Yeah. 100%. 100%. I think we are coming up pretty close to time here, guys. So amazing questions, amazing job from the panelists. Thank you guys, for joining and offering your time. Jamie, I'll pass it back over to you if there's anything, closing that we wanna do. No? Perfect. Okay. Well, thank you guys so much for joining us all here today. We really appreciate your time. Any other questions, you know, feel free to reach out to us at Triple Seat, of course. If there's anyone who's not currently using Triple Seat, we'd love to have you join the party.