Brewery stays afloat after changing business strategy to serve their community
When the coronavirus hit, Highland Park Brewery had to change their business strategy.
"Essentially, overnight, the model shifted 100%. I mean, we obviously cannot be a gathering place for our community," said owner Bob Kunz.
"It took us a couple of weeks. It was like two, three weeks [when] we started to see this sort of downward revenue. [We] kind of hit a low point about three weeks into this," Kunz continued.
Pre-coronavirus, their sales breakdown looked like this: 80% beer on drafts and 20% cans. But once the "Safer at Home" order went into effect, their sales had to shift to 100% cans. At first, they were only seeing about 40% of their regular revenue.
"It took us two or three weeks [for] our team to start to hone in and our customers to get familiar, but now we're operating at like 80 to 90 percent of prior revenue," Kunz said.
Aside from changing their output from draft beer to cans, they also received a small business loan. They managed to bring back the majority of their staff to help with bottling, canning and non-stop orders.
"I mean, a month ago and I was scared beyond belief. So, I think fast forward to now and it's this just lightbulb moment of like, I think we are one of the fortunate businesses right now," Kunz said.
"I think it's a testament to our customers, but it's also a testament to an awesome team that we have," Kunz added. "The human resilience for change and survival and the ability to thrive is awesome."
1220 N Spring St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012
213.878.9017
