brd benchmarking and best practices survey results

12013-2014 Brewers’ resource Directory • BrewersAssociAtion.org

BREWERS’ RESOURCE DIRECTORYBRD2013-2014

BENCHMARKING AND BESTPRACTICES

SURVEY RESULTS• BREWERS ASSOCIATION MEMBERS-ONLY EXCLUSIVE CONTENT • BREWERS ASSOCIATION MEMBERS-ONLY EXCLUSIVE CONTENT • BREWERS ASSOCIATION MEMBERS-ONLY EXCLUSIVE CONTENT • BREWERS ASSOCIATION MEMBERS-ONLY EXCLUSIVE CONTENT

BREWERSASSOCIATION.ORG 107

Benchmarking and Best Practices Survey Results

BENCHMARKING AND BESTPRACTICES SURVEY RESULTS

The Brewers Association (BA) conducted a comprehensive survey of America’s craft brewers to establish and share industry benchmarks and best

practices. This survey was developed in response to BA member requests for hard data that they could use to measure their businesses and in turn make

them more efficient and successful.

2012 survey questions were revised slightly from the 2010 edition; importantly, the 2012 survey now includes the BA salary survey as well. Results were

compiled and aggregated by BA staff. The results provide a valuable set of tools specific to America’s small and independent craft brewers.

This section contains the highlights of the 2012 survey and newly a sampling of the BA salary survey results. Remaining data and more detailed in-depth

salary information will be available in the Members-Only section of BrewersAssociation.org.

Thank you to all who participated and may you find value in these results to help you grow with the industry. This is, indeed, an exciting time to be part of

the craft beer community!

Sincerely,

Paul Gatza

Brewers Association

Kristi Switzer

Brewers Publications

Chris Swersey

Technical Brewing Projects Coordinator




108 2013-2014 BREWERS’ RESOURCE DIRECTORY

Key

Anonymity The Brewers Association places great value on the anonymity of survey respondents. Many survey questions were of

a highly sensitive nature. Not all respondents chose to answer all questions. The answers to questions with very low

participation rates are shown with less detail (for example, not broken down by region, or not organized by company

size), or may be shown on a per barrel basis (based on 2011 reported production) in order to protect the identity of

the companies that answered these questions. The answer u/r (“unreported”), indicates an answer that is not provided

in order to protect the anonymity of survey respondents.

Bonus For purposes of this survey, “Bonus” includes all non-wage compensation such as bonus, profit sharing, commissions,

tips, etc.

Brewery Production For purposes of this survey, these are Brewmaster/Head Brewers, Shift Brewers, Cellarmen, QA/QC/Sensory, Lab and

Employees R&D employees.

Brewpub The Brewers Association defines a brewpub as follows: A restaurant-brewery that sells 25% or more of its company-

owned production onsite. The beer is brewed primarily for sale in the restaurant and bar. The beer is often dispensed

directly from the brewery’s storage tanks. Where allowed by law, brewpubs often sell beer “to go” and/or distribute to

off site accounts.

Brewpub Sizes Brewpubs were grouped based on their reported 2011 production figures in US Barrels. Groups were chosen in order

to even out the number of responses within each size group. Many answers to survey questions are published on a

per barrel basis, making identification of individual respondents impossible. Brewpubs with more than one location

were given the option of answering questions in aggregate form, or based on average value per store values. Unless

otherwise noted, survey answers are reported on a per store basis.

Full-Time Employee For purposes of this survey, full-time employees are those working >30 hours per week or salaried. Full-time employee

compensation reported as hourly wages was converted to a yearly figure by multiplying the reported hourly wage by

1,560 (52*30).

Max The largest value among all responses

Mean The “average” value of survey responses to a given question. The total of all responses given, divided by the number

of responses

Median The “middle” response. An equal number of larger and smaller values were given as responses

Min The smallest value among all responses

Mode The most common answer to a question

Non-Production, Sales For purposes of this survey, these are Owners/Proprietors, Professional Services (Accounting, Legal, Engineering,

and Marketing Employees other), Administrative, Sustainability, HR, PR, other, Marketing/Advertising/Sales Managers or Staff, Material

Ordering/Order Fulfillment/Warehouse/Logistics/Maintenance/All Others

Part-Time Employee For purposes of this survey, full-time employees are those working <30 hours per week or salaried. Part-time employee

compensation reported as hourly wages was converted to a yearly figure by multiplying the reported hourly wage by

780 (52*15).

Production Brewery A production brewery, contract brewing company or alternating proprietorship that is not a brewpub.

Production Brewery Sizes Production breweries were grouped based on their reported 2011 total production figures in US Barrels. Group

volume breaks were chosen in order to roughly even out the number of responses within each size group. The largest

category of production breweries (with 2011 production >50,000 US Barrels) contained the smallest number of

responses. In order to maintain the confidentiality of individual respondents, answers within this group are often

published as an entire group, with less detail than other groups. Many answers to survey questions are published on

a per barrel basis, making identification of individual respondents impossible. All production brewery respondents

entered their information in aggregate form.

Respondents The survey included US craft brewers as defined by the Brewers Association. Datasets that did not include 2011

production data were removed. 288 total datasets were included in the analysis.


32013-2014 Brewers’ resource Directory • BrewersAssociAtion.orgBREWERSASSOCIATION.ORG 109


Midwest Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin

Mountain West Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming

Northeast Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Wash-ington DC, West Virginia

Paci�c California, Hawaii

Paci�c NW Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington

South Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas

Regions For the purposes of this survey, states were assigned to generally accepted definitions of regions, with a few exceptions that allowed

for more even numbers of responses among the regions. Regions are usually tabulated alphabetically.

Midwest Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin

Mountain West Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming

Northeast Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island,

Vermont, Virginia, Washington DC, West Virginia

Pacific California, Hawaii

Pacific NW Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington

South Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas

Restaurant Employees For purposes of these survey, these are grouped as Chefs/Kitchen Managers (back-of-house), Wait Staff and Bar Managers

(front-of-house), Cooks, Dishwashers, other (back-of-house), Wait Staff, Bar Staff, Bussers, Host-Greeters, other (front-of-

house).

Salary/Hourly Wages For purposes of this survey, salary/hourly wages consists of base compensation paid to employees, not including bonus, profit

sharing, comissions, tips, etc.



Quality assurance Data

1. Proportion of companies using labs and sensory Panels

Brewpub companies, 2011 Production

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

1-500 bbl 501-1000 bbl >1000 bbl All Brewpub Companies

5%0%

8%8%

47%

53%58%

15%

24%

35%

15%

23% 21%

42%

12%8%

In-House Lab Outside Lab ServiceIn-House Sensory Panel Outside Sensory Service

Production Breweries, 2011 Production

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Multiple Brewing Shifts Multiple Packaging Shifts

27%

63%

82%

100%

46%

100%

17%

69%

5%10%

1-1000 bbl 1001-7500 bbl 7501-50000 bbl >50000 bbl All Production Breweries

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%


8%

22%

7%4%

7%

77%

100%

81%

67%

76%

64%

100%

83%

64%

12%

65%

100%

84%

52%

40%

In-House Lab Outside Lab ServiceIn-House Sensory Panel Outside Sensory Service



2. in-House lab Frequency of Operations

Brewpub companies,

2011 Production # respondents Daily 2-3 Days Per Week Weekly twice Monthly Monthly

1-500 bbl 13 0.0% 0.0% 7.7% 0.0% 0.0%

501-1000 bbl 26 3.8% 0.0% 3.8% 0.0% 3.8%

>1000 bbl 19 5.3% 15.8% 21.1% 0.0% 0.0%

All Brewpub

Companies58 3.4% 0.0% 10.3% 0.0% 1.7%

Production Breweries,

2011 Production # respondents Daily 2-3 Days Per Week Weekly twice Monthly Monthly

1-1000 bbl 20 5.0% 5.0% 20.0% 5.0% 5.0%

1001-7500 bbl 29 17.2% 13.8% 13.8% 0.0% 3.4%

7501-50,000 bbl 31 58.1% 9.7% 3.2% 3.2% 0.0%

>50,000 bbl 9 100.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%

All Production

Breweries89 37.1% 0.0% 10.1% 2.2% 2.2%

3. Outside lab service Frequency of Operations

Brewpub companies,

2011 Production # respondents Weekly twice Monthly Monthly Quarterly semi-annually annuallyless

Frequently

1-500 bbl 13 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 7.7% 7.7% 0.0% 0.0%

501-1000 bbl 26 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 3.8% 3.8% 7.7% 0.0%

>1000 bbl 20 0.0% 5.0% 0.0% 0.0% 10.0% 15.0% 5.0%

All Brewpub

Companies59 0.0% 1.7% 0.0% 3.4% 6.8% 8.5% 1.7%


2011 Production # respondents Weekly twice Monthly Monthly Quarterly semi-annually annuallyless

Frequently

1-1000 bbl 17 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 11.8%

1001-7500 bbl 28 7.1% 3.6% 3.6% 7.1% 28.6% 3.6% 3.6%

7501-50,000

bbl30 10.0% 3.3% 16.7% 20.0% 13.3% 6.7% 0.0%

>50,000 bbl 9 11.1% 11.1% 55.6% 22.2% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%

All Production

Breweries84 7.1% 3.6% 13.1% 11.9% 14.3% 3.6% 3.6%



4. in-House sensory Panel Frequency of Operations

Brewpub companies,

2011 Production # respondents Daily2-3 Days Per

Week Weekly twice Monthly Monthly Quarterly

1-500 bbl 13 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%

501-1000 bbl 26 0.0% 7.7% 19.2% 0.0% 11.5% 3.8%

>1000 bbl 19 15.8% 5.3% 15.8% 0.0% 5.3% 10.5%

All Brewpub

Companies58 5.2% 5.2% 13.8% 0.0% 6.9% 5.2%


2011 Production # respondents Daily2-3 Days Per

Week Weekly twice Monthly Monthly Quarterly

1-1000 bbl 17 11.8% 11.8% 11.8% 0.0% 17.6% 0.0%

1001-7500 bbl 27 3.7% 7.4% 14.8% 7.4% 14.8% 0.0%

7501-50,000

bbl31 9.7% 16.1% 32.3% 6.5% 12.9% 0.0%

>50,000 bbl 9 88.9% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 11.1% 0.0%

All Production

Breweries84 16.7% 10.7% 19.0% 4.8% 14.3% 0.0%

5. Outside sensory service Frequency of Operations

Brewpub companies,

2011 Production # respondents 2-3 Days Per Week twice Monthly Quarterly semi-annually less Frequently

1-500 bbl 13 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%

501-1000 bbl 26 0.0% 3.8% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%

>1000 bbl 19 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%

All Brewpub

Companies58 0.0% 1.7% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%


2011 Production # respondents 2-3 Days Per Week twice Monthly Quarterly semi-annually less Frequently

1-1000 bbl 15 6.7% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%

1001-7500 bbl 26 0.0% 0.0% 3.8% 0.0% 0.0%

7501-50,000 bbl 29 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 3.4% 3.4%

>50,000 bbl 9 0.0% 0.0% 11.1% 0.0% 11.1%

All Production

Breweries79 1.3% 0.0% 2.5% 1.3% 2.5%



6. Proportion of company Departments with Go-noGo authority

Brewpub companies,

2011 Production Qc lab sensory Panel Brewing staff cellar staff Packaging staff Other*

1-500 bbl 8% 8% 85% 8% 0% 31%

501-1000 bbl 4% 4% 100% 8% 4% 8%

>1000 bbl 21% 11% 100% 26% 5% 11%

All Brewpub

Companies10% 7% 97% 14% 3% 14%


2011 Production Qc lab sensory Panel Brewing staff cellar staff Packaging staff Other*

1-1000 bbl 24% 19% 81% 14% 10% 14%

1001-7500 bbl 25% 29% 89% 36% 25% 25%

7501-50,000 bbl 70% 30% 77% 30% 27% 17%

>50,000 bbl 100% 100% 100% 78% 78% 11%

All Production

Breweries48% 34% 84% 33% 27% 18%

Note: “Other” included Owner(s) (16), Brewmaster (3), Management (2), Chairman, Head Brewer, Marketing, Operations Manager, Sales, Accounting, Everyone.

Benchmarking and Best Practices survey results

82013-2014 BreWers’ resOurce DirectOry

7. Frequency of shelf-life lengths - Bottled Beer

Brewpub companies,

2011 Production#

respondents30

Days35

Days40

Days45

Days60

Days70

Days75

Days90

Days100 Days

110 Days

120 Days

130 Days

140 Days

150 Days

160 Days

180 Days

Over 200 Days

1-500 bbl 0 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%

501-1000 bbl 6 0% 0% 0% 17% 17% 17% 0% 17% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 17% 17%

>1000 bbl 10 0% 10% 0% 0% 10% 0% 0% 20% 0% 0% 10% 0% 10% 10% 0% 10% 20%

All Brewpub

Companies16 0% 6% 0% 6% 13% 6% 0% 19% 0% 0% 6% 0% 6% 6% 0% 13% 19%

Production Breweries, 2011

Production#

respondents30

Days35

Days40

Days45

Days60

Days70

Days75

Days90

Days100 Days

110 Days

120 Days

130 Days

140 Days

150 Days

160 Days

180 Days

Over 200 Days

1-1000 bbl 13 15% 0% 0% 0% 8% 0% 0% 8% 0% 8% 15% 0% 0% 0% 0% 8% 38%

1001-7500 bbl 24 0% 0% 4% 0% 17% 0% 4% 21% 0% 0% 17% 0% 0% 0% 4% 25% 8%

7501-50,000

bbl28 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 4% 36% 4% 14% 14% 0% 0% 7% 0% 21% 0%

>50,000 bbl 8 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 13% 0% 0% 25% 13% 0% 13% 0% 25% 13%

All Production

Breweries73 3% 0% 1% 0% 7% 0% 3% 23% 1% 7% 16% 1% 0% 4% 1% 21% 11%



8. Frequency of shelf-life lengths - canned Beer

Brewpub companies,

2011 Production

# respondents 45 Days 60 Days 75 Days 90 Days 110 Days 120 Days 130 Days 150 Days 180 Days

Over 200 Days

1-500 bbl 0 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%

501-1000

bbl2 50% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 50% 0%

>1000 bbl 4 0% 0% 0% 50% 0% 50% 0% 0% 0% 0%

All Brewpub

Companies6 17% 0% 0% 33% 0% 33% 0% 0% 17% 0%


2011 Production

# respondents 45 Days 60 Days 75 Days 90 Days 110 Days 120 Days 130 Days 150 Days 180 Days

Over 200 Days

1-1000 bbl 3 0% 33% 33% 33% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%

1001-7500

bbl7 0% 0% 0% 29% 0% 43% 0% 0% 14% 14%

7501-

50,000 bbl6 0% 0% 0% 17% 17% 33% 0% 0% 33% 0%

>50,000

bbl2 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 50% 50% 0% 0%

All

Production

Breweries

18 0% 6% 6% 22% 6% 28% 6% 6% 17% 6%



9. Frequency of shelf-life lengths - Draught B


180 Days10%

150 Days10%

120 Days10%

100 Days10%

90 Days20%

75 Days10%

70 Days10%

60 Days10%

# Respondents8%


0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%


27%

63%

82%

100%

46%

100%

17%

69%

5%10%


Over 200 Days9%

200 Days4%

180 Days9%

140 Days4%

120 Days13%

90 Days18%

60 Days13%

45 Days4%

30 Days9%

# Respondents16%



10. Frequency of Date coding Methods - Bottled Beer


0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%


0%0%0%0%4%

8%

0%0%4%

8%

0%0%

12%

25%

0%0%

24%

42%

10%

0%

64%

33%

90%

100%

None Bottled On Date Best By Date Label Notch Inkjet Other*


0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%


27%

63%

82%

100%

46%

100%

17%

69%

5%10%


0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%


12%

44%

6%

12%

0%

38%

67%

48%

32%

8% 6%11%

3%

12%

0%

23%

44%

35%

12%

0%

53%

33%

52%

56%62%

13%

0%3%

20%

31%

None Bottled On Date Best By Date Label Notch Inkjet Other*

Note: Lines may add to >100%, as some companies report using more than one method of date coding. “Other” included laser date coding on labels (2), laser etching on glass, batch number on box (2), batch number on labels, web searchable release number, hand stamping pressure sensitive labels.


12

11. Frequency of Date coding Methods - Draught Beer


0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%


0%0%0%0% 2%0%0%

10% 9%6%5%

20%

4%6%

0%

10%

58%

69%

53%50%

42%

31%

42%

60%

None Kegged On Date Best By Date Label Notch Inkjet Other*


0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%


27%

63%

82%

100%

46%

100%

17%

69%

5%10%


0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%


7%

22%

3%7%5%

19%

67%

14%18%

9% 9%11%

3%

11%14%

9%

44%

10%

4%0%

75%

33%

83%86%

68%

5%0%0%

7%9%

None Kegged On Date Best By Date Label Notch Inkjet Other*

Note: Lines may add to >100%, as some companies may use more than one method of date coding. “Other” included laserjet on labels, stickers on keg caps, batch number on keg, bar code, web searchable release number, color coded zip ties that correspond to brew date.

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brd benchmarking and best practices survey results

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