Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in food and beverage but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Clay Potter, Owner of Moon Under Water Brewery, Pub & Distillery, located in Victoria, BC, CA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
We're a small, family-owned, operated Brewery, Pub, and Distillery in Victoria. We send our beer as far as Saskatchewan and ship our spirits across Canada, but we're hyper-focused on sourcing local ingredients. We've partnered with local Farmers and Maltsters, Field 5 Farms in Saanichton, to grow over 95% of our barley, wheat, and other grains on the Saanich Peninsula. We're celebrating our 10th year in business this Fall with the Brewery and 5th year with the Distillery. We try to provide a comfortable, non-pretentious atmosphere in the heart of the industrial Rock Bay Community while showcasing the Island's incredible, locally grown ingredient's in our products.
Tell us about yourself
I started as a Microbiology student, helping set up a lab for a local brewery during University. I fell in love with the brewing industry in Victoria, started homebrewing and distilling, then took a full-time Job brewing while I finished my undergrad. I later moved to Scotland to further pursue the industry, completing my Master's degree in Brewing and Distilling Sciences, specializing in yeast genetics. After taking a job with a big, corporate brewery, I felt a strong pull to go out on my own while I was still young, and I felt the industry still had room for more Breweries. I still have a strong passion for Brewing and Distilling, and I'm still waking up at 3 am to mash in the first brew of the day. For me, it's the perfect mix of art, science, and physical labor. Working with local farmers creates a connection with the community. It provides challenges dealing with and adjusting to changing produce season after season.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
Surviving 10 years in business. We're still 100% family-owned and have managed to grow organically, setting up the Distillery in 2017 and adding a large patio during the Pandemic. Versatility has been the key to our survival. Pivoting from the "Brewpub" model to increasing packaging and online sales helped us survive and keep almost all of our staff employed during the lockdowns.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
Work/Life balance. When I first started, I sold my house to purchase the Brewery and spent a lot of nights sleeping in the Brewery. Since then, I've gotten married and had two children. Learning to step away from the business, find great staff you can trust, and then actually trusting them to make decisions for the business was the hardest thing to learn.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Make sure you have sufficient cash flow. We've spent a lot of the first ten years just struggling to keep our heads above water while paying off BDC loans and Credit Card debts.
- Make 1, 3, 5, and 10-year goals yearly. It's amazing how much our industry and changed over the last ten years. We started as the 50th Brewery in BC, with what I thought was unlimited growth potential. There are now over 200 in BC, and the market and drinking trends have changed drastically year to year- from bottles to cans, IPAs to Lagers, Beer to Seltzers, and In-house service to take home. You need to be able to adapt quickly and adjust your long-term planning accordingly.
- Find great staff and find a way to keep them. My industry is very transient, brewers rarely spend more than a few years at a brewery now, and service staff come and go with the seasons. Finding a great manager or supervisor you can trust is worth whatever you can afford so that you can focus on the bigger picture of growing the business while not stressing about the HR details.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://www.moonunderwater.ca/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MoonBrewery
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/moonbrewerydistillery/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/moonbrewery
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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