Fremont Brewing, Trap Door, and Aslan Brewing Owners reflect on COVID-19 challenges
Washington was one of the first states in the nation to be heavily impacted by the Coronavirus and was recently hit with new restrictions in the wake of continued spread of COVID-19. While the impact of the virus has effected everyone, it has been especially difficult for Washington brewery owners to adjust to the ever changing restrictions on sales, seating and capacity.
On July 23rd Washington governor Jay Inslee imposed new state mandated guidelines that called for the closure of bars and breweries for on-premise consumption without food. Unless you had a restaurant license and were serving food, you had to go to outdoor seating only. Brewpubs were safe, but taprooms without hot food were out in the cold with outdoor seating only if they had the option at all to do so. Since then, taprooms have had some work around but the perpetually shifting regulations and backtracks from the states phased reopenings have put breweries permanently back on their heels.
To better grasp the challenges that Washington brewers face during the uncertain times of COVID-19 and shifting regulations, we reached out to the owners of three breweries in different parts of the state.
Fremont Brewing co-founder/owner Matt Lincecum, Trap Door Brewing co-owner/founder Michael Parsons, and Aslan Brewing CEO/co-founder Jack Lamb joined the New School's Michael Perozzo for a video conference. Perozzo is a southwest Washington based industry expert behind the marketing and branding of many breweries as well as a leadership and advisory role with North Bank Beer Week. His knowledge of the Washington beer scene and their triumphs and challenges made him the perfect candidate to lead this discussion into the current and future struggles of these breweries.
For the full discussion, watch the embedded fireside chats youtube video above, or you can find a crib notes abbreviated version of some of the takeaways below. Also be sure to check out our youtube channel and subscribe here.
Fremont Brewing staff
Fremont Brewing gathers at APEX for their Portland distribution launch party. Owners Matt Lincecum and Sara Nelson center.
Fremont Brewing
Fremont Brewing is the largest of our three Washington guests, the 3rd largest overall and 2nd largest craft brewery in Washington. Fremont beer is available on all Alaskan Airlines flights, and thus is distributed from Alaska all the way down the west coast to California with drops into Colorado and over the sea to Japan.
Fremont Brewing has only one public location at their original home in their namesake Seattle neighborhood, but a larger production brewery in the Ballard neighborhood opened a few years back. Their taproom was the first Seattle brewery taproom that wasn't a full brewpub/restaurant and it's been incredibly successful. Fremont Brewing saw the writing on the wall early, knowing that Governor Jay Inslee was planning to ban indoor seating at any indoor bars/breweries that didn't serve food.
"We shut down our indoor seating for the taproom a week before it was mandated," says Lincecum. The taproom patio Urban Beer Garden seats quite a few, but if they had a kitchen and served food like a brewpub they would have those additional indoor seats available.
Before the pandemic Fremont Brewing has been looking into opening a restaurant taproom in the city but COVID has completely derailed those plans.
"I dont think we are expanding retail in Seattle anytime soon, we'd like to come up to Bellingham actually," said Lincecum, gesturing towards fellow panelist Jack Lamb of Aslan Brewing in Bellingham. "We are really just focused on our backyard."
Fremont is cutting back on hiring, brewery spends, and staff raises, while facing the proposition that a new shutdown could kill their draft sales to local restaurants which are still getting back up to speed.
"Whatever little business we have been able to claw back, we just get rid of those again," says Lincecum. "It's going to be hard to stay open, we will just go back to the to-go only method"
Since the beginning of the pandemic and shutdown in March, Lincecum and his wife/co-owner Sara Nelson pledged to not lose any of their staff.
"We didnt let anybody go, the main goal was to keep the band together, we were fortunate enough to redeploy them. But my wife Sara and I had to take out another large debt to cover the bills for that period for the staff" says Lincecum, but the bad news is: "We cant do that again. We are worried about the winter, we are worried about where this is going."
Lincecum doesn't shy away from politics (nor is it a business talking point) and wears his heart on his sleeve, keeping active in the community and giving back.
"We need safety and the science to be what guides us all in our decisions. I think like everybody else we are very frustrated, we are all doing the right thing and being very public about what we have done. But we cant get our act together on the east side of the state, we still clearly cant get our act together on a national level. I am frankly losing hope that we're gonna see any kind of change to address this in a substantial way until frankly the election."
Fremont started a program called Heron Rising that raises funds for service workers, other breweries and distributors have stepped up to support the program. If you are an out of work member of the service industry you may easily apply to receive funds from Heron Rising.
Lincecum is afraid of whats next for the state and the country with an expectation that a surge may well be coming that will lead to a rollback on reopening.
"I think we all need to be ready for going back to phase 1," says Lincecum.
Washington's phase 1 guidelines are similar to Oregon's phase 2, meaning absolutely no draft beer or food would be allowed on-premise at bars, breweries and restaurants. Take out only, no outdoor seating or seating of any kind.
In the meantime Fremont Brewing is taking every precaution and plans to tent in the entire beer garden and install ceramic heaters. It will be an extremely expensive proposition that may not even pay off but they have no other options.
"Even if we are losing money on it we hold the line, we provide a place for our customers to come back. Atleast they can have that little connection to normal life at the brewery," says Lincecum.
Fremont Brewing has managed to marshall more resources than most, borrowing money and strengthening package sales but even that may not be enough.
"When you are losing money already for the year, its hard to look at 'can we spend more money that we dont have to make just enough money to still be nonprofitable?'"
Fremont Brewing's Matt Lincecum
Trap Door Brewing
Trap Door Brewing
Trap Door Brewing is a 15bbl brewery in central Vancouver, Washington. They are the smallest operation of the three on our panel, with just one location and no kitchen. A smallish indoor taproom is served by a larger outdoor patio and on-site food trucks which have been a huge boon during the COVID crisis.
The hot weather this summer has been an extenuating circumstance for business at Trap Door, with patrons less interested in sitting inside both because of airborne virus and stuffy heat. As customers have become more accustomed to the situation, many have came back to the patio and helped keep the taproom afloat.
"Ultimately sales have been pretty good considering circumstances," says Trap Door co-owner Michael Parsons.
But with the cooler fall and winter weather looming, Parsons is worried about taproom business as the pandemic continues.
"We are going to hopefully cover our patio to get as much seating in there as possible. Unfortunately you have rules with outdoor seating where two walls have to be open, so you can only have two sides of this covered area enclosed..." says Parsons.
Money is tight in a small business like Trap Door, even prior to the virus and Parsons admits it will likely mean doing less then before.
"I'd love nothing more then to have this big timber patio, something that is so robust that our building would fall down before the cover would. But we are probably just going to throw a cover up, throw two sides up, throw some heaters in and just cross our fingers."
Masks and public safety are another concern, in June Trap Door had to shut down because one of the owners was confirmed positive for the virus. They reopened after a short period of doing delivery and packaging more beer. But mask wearing has been a slight challenge from some customers who don't believe in science or public safety. When it becomes an issue Parsons encourages those customers to wait outside and they will bring them out a beer, opting to stay neutral on the public debate but always erring on the side of caution
"We dont want to bring politics into it because it becomes complicated."
The pandemic has also curbed Trap Door's plans for expansion. They had planned to be opening a second location further north in Ridgefield, Washington by this summer. That location was to house a sour program and barrel facility with an attached taproom. But because of the economic impacts of COVID they have had to scale that plan back and are now planning just a taproom and restaurant. And the timeline is also pushed out with construction and opening delayed until atleast this winter if not next Spring.
"Everything is contingent upon what is going on right now with Covid," says Parsons.
As with every brewery, the foreboding chances of a second wave and forced re-closure of their taprooms are at the top of their minds. For Trap Door Brewing, cans are their lifeline if such an event comes. But with breweries around the country rushing to put their beer into packages to-go since March, we now are in the beginnings of a national can shortage.
"If we do go into phase 1 and we have a can shortage, well we really depended on those cans for us. We don't have a canning line...if there is a shortage and we cant put things in cans then it's going to make things a lot tougher."
Parsons does have some optimism for the future as a small and nimble business with a devoted following.
"We've restructured our business 4 or 5 different times throughout this thing, so if we go back to phase 1 I think we will be able to manage...assuming that we don't have a can shortage."
Trap Door Brewing owner Michael Parsons
Aslan Brewing Seattle GM Madison Sorden and CEO Jack Lamb
Aslan Brewing
Aslan Brewing has three locations, two in Bellingham and the more recent Aslan Seattle taproom that opened in last October. Aslan is the 14th largest brewery in Washington by production volume, most of their beer is sold in state with limited amounts of distribution in Oregon and British Columbia. Cans and an active on-premise retail outlets and the community that sustains them are the lifeblood of the business.
Aslan Seattle was the hardest hit from the Governor Jay Inslee's decision to ban indoor drinking or dining at bars and breweries that did not serve food. The tiny taproom had planned to team up with a new Thai restaurant going in next door, a window between the businesses would allow food and beer to go back and forth, but the pandemic shut everything down.
"This threw a wrench into everything, it was a full step backwards for our Seattle location," says Aslan CEO Jack Lamb who was frustrated at the regulations and at other businesses not operating under the same good faith. "I will kind of call out a lot of these operations in Seattle...Aslan was actually keeping our tables spread out more than 6 feet and actually keeping our capacity below 50%"
Aslan had to reduce the staff that they had already brought back from unemployment after the new restrictions, even the manager had to go onto a work share program. They considered doing outdoor table reservations for a handful of seats, but even that seemed too bitter a pill to swallow. Over the past weeks they operated on a strict to-go method with extremely limited hours.
Luckily since the taping of our fireside chat discussion, Aslan's neighbors have opened and they have been allowed to fully resume business under social distancing protocols.
"Our main location is doing great," says Lamb. Their flagship brewpub has a spacious indoor seating area and restaurant with high ceilings and an outdoor patio. With the current restrictions, they can only operate at about 30% capacity but it will get them by.
A block away from the brewpub in Bellingham is the Aslan Depot, a 21+ taproom/barrel room with a more loungey vibe and no kitchen or food service. The Aslan Depot does have a patio though, and Lamb and CEO quickly pivoted to having food service delivered in from their brewpub a block away. In some ways it was a revelation, as they quickly learned people were staying longer and drinking more with food options.
Requiring customers to social distance and mask up has not been a big issue for Lamb.
"Bellingham is a blue sea in a red county," says Lamb. "I thought there was going to be more pushback... but the city of Bellingham has had more thank you's than F' u's."
"Has there been a case or two where people don't get it through their thick skull, yeah. It's fine, we have created a playbook that we have had our entire staff sign about 'this is how we are treating it.' I think it's the growler refills that are really pissing people off!"
Lamb says he is the type of person that wants to get the best, showcase the best quality stuff. So now that operating funds are tight, it's been very difficult for him to shift into a conservative cost cutting mode where saving money is a priority over expenses. With that in mind, he has focused his efforts on making sure the brewers are happy and the production is smooth.
"If we are going down to phase 1 anyway, then I need this Wild Goose canning line not to blow up," says Lamb, nodding towards their popular 6-packs that are all over Washington. The belief is if there is another shutdown and they cant serve people beers on premise then they can always go back to delivery and takeout, but only if they can keep packaging beers.
"We've done this before, we have been in phase 1. The thing I am not prepared for is if there is phase zero."
"If we lose the community we lose Aslan and everything that we stand for,"
- Jack Lamb, CEO of Aslan Brewing.