You might want to crack a cold one for this! The results of my completely unscientific and informal survey are in! Over the past 5 days, when asked "Will your brewery be attending CBC?" the response has been:
YEP! We will be there: 26
NOPE! We are skipping CBC: 259
These are undeniably tough times for craft breweries, but a 90% truancy rate at the flagship industry conference was shocking to me. Maybe this is normal. This will only be my third CBC. But IF brewery attendance is down, I have four completely unsolicited theories. Take them with a grain of salt, a shot of tequila, and a lime.
REASON 1: Winning a World Beer Cup award is harder and less profitable.
CBC is coupled with the World Beer Cup. This is a win-win! Breweries can compete in the cup and meet up with their suppliers in the same trip! But unfortunately, in a mature market a World Beer Cup win doesn't come with the same reward. With cutthroat distribution and more local options, the sales bump is not what it used to be. Breweries have realized this. Many will enter beers but not attend CBC to keep costs down.
REASON 2: Most breweries now have capital equipment and supplier relationships in place.
At my first CBC 3 years ago in Nashville, I was struck by the supplier bias towards making beer instead of selling beer. When new breweries were popping up like weeds this was really important! New breweries need tanks, glycol chillers, and canning lines. They need grain, hops, and yeast. Now that the industry has matured, established breweries need things like new revenue opportunities, cost cutting ideas, and ways to turn profits (more on this later).
REASON 3: Much of the education is focused on beer making & national trends.
Much like the supplier bias, this type of education was critical when brewers were earning their stripes, IPAs were king and distributors were looking to fill out their portfolio! But at this point, in an industry full of grizzled brewers and limited distribution opportunities, national trends are mostly irrelevant to the local brewery/taproom.
REASON 4: Breweries are not flush with cash right now.
I know. Thanks a lot Rosstradamus for the insight of the century! But I'm stating the obvious because THIS IS THE POINT!. What breweries need, right now, more than anything is NEW REVENUE!
INTRODUCING THE BREWERY PROFIT CENTER
So what about the dedicated breweries who ARE making the pilgrimage to CBC? TapWyse will be focusing on NEW REVENUE by highlighting taproom marketing programs that are adding 150+ visits per month and over $20K in recurring revenue.
For CBC, we are coming together with a group of like minded suppliers to form the BREWERY PROFIT CENTER. Like us, everyone in this group is committed to sharing proven revenue boosting and cost cutting programs!
So come see us in BOOTH 1125 and let's flip the script from national industry declines to thriving local breweries and taprooms. See you in Indy!
