As a craft brewer, your brewery equipment is the key to your business. Without the right equipment, making your product becomes difficult to downright impossible. Your brewery equipment will also be one of your company’s biggest investments, so it’s important to choose carefully. Here are some important considerations when choosing your brewery equipment.
1. The vendor – Your equipment vendor may not be the first consideration you think of when you shop for equipment. However, your vendor can be one of your company’s biggest assets, if you choose the right one. Choose a vendor that has worked with many other brewers and who has a reputation for making quality equipment and standing behind their product. Choose a vendor that has engineering design experience if you want help in setting your brewery up. The right vendor can help you ensure you get the right equipment and that you use it properly as your business grows and changes.
2. Whether the equipment is scalable. Most craft brewers start small, making only one or two products, and only in small batches. As your product becomes more successful, however, you will need to make more product, and you may want to add other brews to your lineup. Equipment that can be scaled is critical to preventing you having to scrap your old equipment and start over.
3. Whether the solution is component based. Another method of scaling your business as demand increases is automating previously manual parts of your process. Vendors that provide component-based equipment offer you a way to speed up your process more easily as you grow.
Keep these three considerations in mind as you choose a vendor and brewery equipment for your company. These features can help you ensure your brewery equipment will help you have a successful business both today and down the road.