The advantages to building an own-premise model start with attracting the people who are going to love you. This is especially crucial in a market with lots of beer like our hometown of Portland, Maine. It allows you to draw lines in the sand regarding your products, taproom environment, and overall vibe, thereby fostering regulars and repeat customers that already love you and are telling all their friends about you. Kevin Kelly’s “1000 True Fans" essay opened my eyes, and it resonates now more than ever before.

Own premise allows you to not water yourself down for the masses. Indeed, now is the time to lean more than ever in the opposite direction, and make less concessions as to what kind of beers you’re brewing and what kind of world you’re creating. These things should be coming from inside you, from someplace authentic, that will attract like-minded people. At this stage of saturation, you’re selling to a very specific group of people within your market who love what you’re doing: the flavors of the beer, the execution of the styles you offer, the personalities of the people making and selling the beer, the brand, the culture that is exuded. All of these things matter immensely in a world of plenty, and the taproom allows you to build your world, to find your people.

The second crucial advantage to own premise, and perhaps ultimately the most important, is the control and insight it gives you over your entire cash flow, demand, and place in the market. There is simply no substitute for having this information so within reach. As we watch the declining sales and buyouts/closures of regional craft breweries who have suddenly become the most vulnerable sub-designation, one can’t help but realize the benefit of eschewing complicated distribution networks—in which your product, now far from home, will languish on the shelf, competing with dozens of other brands in the exact same position—in favor of a lemonade-stand-style business model where you can make choices regarding expansion, product development, and other sales questions with much of the guesswork eliminated.

In 2017, Bissell Brothers received just under 90% of our revenue from our taproom, showing a predictable Pareto distribution (a power law that demonstrates 80% or more effects coming from 20% or fewer causes, also known as the “80/20 rule”). If we were located in a more rural setting, or not located so close to so many amazing bars and restaurants where we’re proud to be on tap, I’d be willing to bet the skew would be even greater.

Applied, these numbers mean several things. One, obviously, is greater economic health. When you don’t need to have salaried salespeople fighting for shelf space in some distant locale, that revenue can go right back into the company—and the numbers can be eye-popping. Also, the data that will help you decide how to grow is clear and present and right in front of you via your taproom’s POS analytics. With own premise, there are no third-party consulting firms, no expensive cost-analysis plans, no diluting your brand’s value by begging accounts or distributors to sell more of it.

A third benefit to own premise is actually a bunch of benefits: the soft, intangible advantages. There’s the peace of mind of having all your beer relatively close by. There’s not having to worry about date codes and acceptable shelf life as your product collects dust in some distant bottle shop where your brand carries little-to-no value. There’s sleeping well at night knowing your beer is being consumed fresh, and the vast majority of it is being sold in an environment where you control everything and can give the customer the exact experience you desire. There’s enjoying the family environment of a staff brought together by the mutual feeling that they’re creating something special, something worth traveling for. The list goes on and on.