Lots of talk about brewery non-competes lately. Here's our experience: (1/12)
A few years ago, Bryan and Tim, our head brewer and taproom manager at the time, called the 4 owners of Austin Beerworks into a meeting. They were leaving to start their own brewery in Austin. (2/12)
If you've ever been broken up with, their news felt a lot like that. Two of our most valuable people, who we had spent so much time, effort, and capital to train, were leaving. (3/12)
Our initial feeling was, "Well fuck you then!" But, we had all previously worked for companies that treated their employees like property and we promised from the very beginning that we'd never do that ourselves. (4/12)
They had earned their management positions through talent and hard work. They didn't owe us anything. In fact, they were partly responsible for our early success. (5/12)
After working through our stages of grief, we began to feel proud of them for going out on their own and were excited to see what they would do. (6/12)
We helped them as best we could, sharing our experiences with permitting, general contractors, lease negotiations, etc. (7/12)
We let them take beers they developed at our brewery along with them. Recipes and names. They made them, they deserved to keep them. The law says otherwise, but some laws are stupid. (8/12)
Their brewery, @stelmobrewing, is now one of the best in town. The beer they developed at our brewey, Carl Kolsch, is their best seller. (9/12)
We could have been assholes and made starting up very difficult for them. But that's not why dedicated our lives to this industry. 'A rising tide lifts all boats' was the craft beer mantra for a long time. It should be still. (10/12)
Since they opened, our sales in Austin are up over 25%. They didn't take anything away from us, they made the community better and grew the pie for everyone. (11/12)
So, our advice to other breweries is: put down your slings and share your spatulas, because pie is delicious. (12/12)
