CBC 2024: Monday Night Brewing's Jeff Heck on Multi-State Taproom Expansions & Ghosts

Speaker 1 [00:05] This is Justin Kendall, and I'm here at the Craft Brewers conference. We are on the trade show floor. I'm joined by Jess Infante, and our next guest is the co-founder of Monday Night Brewing in Atlanta. Jeff Heck, what is up?

Speaker 2 [00:18] Hey, great to see you guys.

Speaker 1 [00:20] It's great to see you. So you've been busy. You've opened your, 5th and 6th taprooms in the last year. You just recently, you opened Knoxville. Why Knoxville?

Speaker 2 [00:30] So, as you mentioned, we've opened two in the last year. Charlotte was, uh, was the one we opened last summer, and, uh, Knoxville was a, uh, a, a rational next step too. We really have targeted metro areas that have some good, uh, density, um, but also really thriving, um, city centers and, and communities. And Knoxville is just a place that's, it's beautiful. There's a lot of great, uh, breweries that are already there. Um, but also we found like a really awesome project that we got to be a part of. So we're in a 100 year old, uh, bakery, uh, that's been renovated into a food hall. So it's about 75,000 square feet, and we get to be a part of this, uh, revitalization. It's been, it's been closed for decades and so now it's opening up to this new, uh, food hall that's really preserving a lot of the. Uh, original building, a lot of the, uh, the, the culture behind the place, and we're getting to be a part of a great community of a lot of other purveyors of great food and they're small independent, uh, restaurant operators. So, um, it's been, uh, two weeks in, it's, it's been amazing.

Speaker 3 [01:33] I feel like a food hall in a 100 year old previously decades-long abandoned bakery sounds like it is like. Just primed for ghost stories.

Speaker 2 [01:41] Exactly. Yes,

Speaker 3 [01:42] yes. Is there a ghost baker?

Speaker 2 [01:44] So there's not a baker, but there, there is the, the piece of lore about the bakery is that there was an old carousel, like a small little kids' carousel that you, that the kids would like rent that the bakery would rent it out to, uh, families for birthday parties and It disappeared, but it's lure in Knox in Knoxville. So that for, for decades people have been trying to find where's the Kern's carousel, the Kern's Bakery carousel. Uh, so if there's any, any listeners out there who have a lead on the Kern's carousel, um, give us

Speaker 3 [02:12] a call. This is amazing. And can one of your first beers in the new spot be like missing carousel IPA something like that,

Speaker 2 [02:19] yeah. That's a good one.

Speaker 3 [02:20] Thank you. You're, it's like I, it's like I know things.

Speaker 2 [02:22] It's not quite that spot is not quite as, um, as primed for ghost stories as our Nashville

Speaker 3 [02:28] location. How many ghosts are in your brewery?

Speaker 2 [02:30] So listen, the, the Nashville location is in a 100 year old slaughterhouse. Stop it. Seriously. So if you wanna talk ghost stories, they gotta start in Nashville, and then maybe they can. I don't know what it is with Tennessee and our ghost stuff, but we found. Some really cool spaces in, in Tennessee.

Speaker 3 [02:45] Do you throw like awesome Halloween parties,

Speaker 2 [02:47] you know, I don't, we throw a great Oktoberfest. OK, well,

Speaker 3 [02:50] I think you're gonna have to have, you're gonna have a spooky Oktoberfest.

Speaker 1 [02:53] Yeah. Tell us a little bit of the Charlotte location, what you've learned since you opened there, what you were looking for in that market. I mean, it's a pretty prime craft market. So to go in there, what's it take to, you know, be sort of local when you're not

Speaker 2 [03:09] local? Yeah, uh, I, I think that. The thing in my mind that has changed a lot over the last 5 to 8 years in terms of local is, uh, we, we find that we can earn the trust and credibility in a local market as long as we are entering into the local and the local community and culture and so, um, having employees who are super who are deeply connected to Charlotte. Um, having a location that's been really well researched, bringing in, we do, um, bizarre like a weekend bazaar where we'll bring in, uh, pop-ups from local artisans, so I think that from, from our experience so far that's made a huge difference in terms of being able to get the buy-in from local community. So that's certainly been a huge, a huge part of it. The other thing with, with Charlotte is, uh, again, is, is a lot of like real estate, like if we find a space in a, in a, in a location that's kind of deeply connected to the city. So we're in the south end, uh, right near this, uh, this, uh, kind of, uh, walking path that cuts through the, through the city near a, a, a, a light rail station. Um, and we found an acre of outdoor space, uh, when in what, where there are high rises going up around. So it's just a really unique space that the, the neighborhood is looking for and craving. And so on a spring afternoon, it's, it's packed with people just hanging out outside. So it's serving this dual purpose of kind of a, a, a park, a public park, and a, uh, and a new, a food establishment. Uh, so we have, we have pizza. Our pizza program is there, um, as well as our, as well as our, our beer. What about ghosts? No ghosts so far though. It's in an old mechanic's shop, so I don't know. There's probably a, there's probably the ghost of some old mechanic creeping around there somewhere.

Speaker 3 [04:54] Uh, yeah, I mean, I think we just convinced the rest of the country that Monday night is the spooky brewery, so you're welcome. Uh, so I mean, Charlotte's a really interesting place to me because the craft beer scene absolutely popping off, but there's a good mix of, you know, brewers who started elsewhere and are moving in and are finding success, and there's also like homegrown breweries that are doing really well. So what's the relationship in the community like in like in Charlotte?

Speaker 2 [05:21] Yeah, it's, um, you're, you're right, it's a really interesting, um, kind of community there and, um, and I think in part it's been, uh, spawned by the, the regul the laws and regulations in North Carolina so it's just a lot easier to operate as an out of state, um, in, in as a taproom or if you're in the state to operate multiple taprooms as well. So there are a lot of people that have multiple taprooms in Charlotte, uh, so. So that's, that's been part of the driver of that, um, and, and because it's been, you know, North Carolina's for so long been, uh, the East Coast, uh, Colorado, uh, and craft beer, uh, there's just a receptivity and a, um, an openness to, to do and different, different things. So, um, we've, we've found people nothing but, um, but friendly and, and, um, and excited so that said. Uh, you know, it's a, it is, it is a crowded market, and then, frankly, so is every other market that we're in. I mean, in Atlanta, when we opened our original location, we were the first brewery to get a a brewing license in the city of Atlanta in 17 years, and now there are probably, um, you know, a dozen breweries within a couple miles of us and so it's a different landscape than it was. I think we really try to take the posture when we go into anywhere new that we wanna be a part of the community and. You know, there's certainly times when, um, everybody's not excited for some competition and I get it, um, and we don't hold that against anybody, um, and at the same time we always wanna be, um, you know, good partners and, and, and, um, and work together with everybody else who's in this, uh, really collaborative industry.

Speaker 1 [06:49] Well, you've got 6, where's 7.

Speaker 2 [06:54] Well, I think we, after, after 2 in, in a year, our team needs to take a little bit of a breather. And also I think we're at a, we're at a point where we need to really start thinking about um what kind of infrastructure do we need to build in order to both sustain uh the long term success of the locations we have as well as think about like and then how do we build something that's scaled for continued growth. So we're, we're entrepreneurs, we've always got something up our sleeve. I don't have any, um, any bombs to drop on this, uh, in this conversation. Um, but I promise you you'll be the first to get, uh, any kind of tip as soon as I, I'm ready to let go of it.

Speaker 3 [07:30] I'm gonna hold you to that.

Speaker 2 [07:32] Done

Speaker 3 [07:32] and potentially haunt you if it doesn't happen. So, I mean, you got, we've established you're in a bunch of different states. What's the main thing that brewery owners need to know before they start looking to expand outside the confines of their home state?

Speaker 2 [07:47] Number one is have a, have a strong identity, both in terms of your brand but also in terms of your culture and what's important to you. Um, I think that as we've gone, we part of the reason we went slowly and methodically at first into, so Birmingham we opened after we've been around for, you know, 7 years and then. Nashville was the following year, then Charlotte, and then Knoxville, and so we really felt like it was super important to go slow and make sure that our locations that are outside of our home market are not only well supported but also culturally aligned with who the rest, who, what the rest of the company is and who we are as people. So that's number 1. Number 2 is know the rules and. Know the laws and regulations like do your homework, um, it is, uh, you know, there's lots of different, every state is totally different we operate in 4 states. Every state has their own weirdness, um, and so that's huge and then third I would say is, um, take your time picking a site and understanding like what is. What is the, what is it you're looking for in a location? What are your expectations for sales? How are you gonna build the right team? So just having a good, having a really, really good plan.

Speaker 1 [09:04] Sound advice. It's always a pleasure, Jeff. Thanks for doing this. Thank

Speaker 2 [09:07] you, guys. Great to be with you.