Meadery Startup Guide - Part 2 - Location
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- Опубліковано 12 вер 2024
- Welcome to the second video in my meadery startup guide video series! I'll be taking you along on my journey from homebrewer to pro mead maker and sharing all my experiences along the way. Resources on how to navigate this process are quite scarce, which is what inspired me to make this series. I am literally going through the process right now, and will be releasing video at key points as I make progress toward my goal of becoming a real pro mead maker, so stay tuned!
In this episode I'll be explaining how to select your location. While this might sound easy, it is without a doubt the single most important decision that you will make when starting your meadery. This is because it involves understanding many complex factors including the overall licensing process, zoning and land use laws, proximity restrictions, overlay districts, business park covenants, and more. The bottom line is that selecting the wrong location WILL prevent you from obtaining your licenses and starting your business, and nobody wants that!
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Looking forward to this series, currently in college to learn business management so I can get a loan and start my own meadery, I already have my logo made and the brand name Harbinger Meadery
That's wonderful. I'm working on the licensing episode as I write this comment. Stay tuned!
@@MysticAmbrosiaMead I'm starting to lay the groundwork for opening a meadery in Minnesota. Really looking forward to more of your videos. Thank you!
@@marfourn That's fantastic. I'm looking toward to hearing about your journey as well.
Looking forward to the next video. Good luck guys!
I'm so glad you're into this series. Working on the next video now. Stay tuned!
This was incredibly useful information! Hopefully I can try your mead out soon!
Thanks for the compliment! Between starting the meadery and making mead, I'm having trouble making the next episode, but it will come! Bottle sales will come this spring/summer!
As a home mead maker who also dreams of turning this hobby into a business at some point, I really appreciate this series and look forward to future episodes! However, the issue of startup cost has proven a particular obstacle in any future business venture. Of the professional mead and wine makers I've spoken to about the issue of funding, they've all had one of three things going for them; in that they had obtained their startup funding through previous professional pursuits, had wealthy backers or went into it as a group and thereby shared the financial burden. & while the cost varies by region/municipality etc., I would be very interested to know how you raised the necessary capital to start this process and thereby your meadery?
I'm in the same boat (live in MI currently). The startup cost is a small mountain to climb that is simply too steep for me as well. I've tried researching ways to direct to consumer ship my products, since the biggest cost is irnoically the monthly lease of commercial property, but I can't find a way around the state needing to inspect a property that is not a primary residence. Government apparently thinks your home can't also be your place of business if it involves alcohol.
For MI, after every branch of the government has come and robbed you blind, it looks like roughly $5k in fees, ( plus recurring annual fees of a few thousand for the licenses). Then we have rental lease (even in MI, still $3k-$5k mo/ for a small commercial building. Probably another $500 in b.s. fees for you local municipality. Already we have to sell something like 200 gallons of mead PER MONTH at our current cost basis to just stay afloat. To prep for that rate & flow, add about $7.5k minimum investment for equipment to meet that target rate & flow of 200 gallons.
In all, upfront fixed costs somewhere around $15k. Then recurring expenses of about $3-5k a month depending where you set up. Frankly, it's depressing. I just want to share my mead with people and not have to eat the cost of every bottle I give out. The government has made the entire process for entrepreneurs as painful as humanly possible. They have to protect the big brands from competition. Remember to vote for you small gov minded politicians this fall. Shameless plug for libertarians here.
Indeed it is a financial challenge. My wife and I sold one of two houses we owned, refinanced the other one, our cars were paid off, we both still work our day jobs too, so we are dual income no kids.
Great and Very useful video it will definitely help me in the future to pursue my passion/dream. I also will continue watching the series too
That's my goal! I honestly had no idea how busy I would be once our licenses were complete. Also still working my day job to make ends meet. Will continue this series in this fall/winter.
Nice info! Looks great!
Thanks a bunch! An episode all about getting licensed is coming next!
I'm trying to figure out how to skip the storefront and go direct to consumer. Unfortunately, seems like no matter what I'll have to pay to rent a physical location monthly to pass the health inspection signoff and such. Wish there was a way to scale this from kitchen brewing that didn't involve forking over like $15k for the privilege of selling the mead I've already created 🙄. Nothing like the government getting in the way of innovation and entrepreneurship.
You can skip the storefront and just sell online and at festivals, but you still need a properly zoned production facility. I have heard some wonderful things about more rural areas allowing wine production in garages and guest houses. If your area allows such things, your dream might be easier to realize than you know!
I’m thinking of retiring and being a Full time Mead maker.
I hope that you do. It is a real interdisciplinary endeavor with all the business, design, marketing, sales, service, production, vending festivals, construction, and the list goes on. Something new every day!
@@MysticAmbrosiaMeadI’m starting the LLC process tomorrow.
I have to get it ready by a festival next weekend.
I still won’t have the license to sell, but I am allowed to give stuff away after getting the Safeserv certification.
how much money to start a meadery, approximately
This is a really difficult question to answer because there are so many variables., Including but not limited to zoning laws, property readiness to produce, mead maker production techniques, designing your retail space, and more. I think I'll include some bits about this in a future video because this isn't the first inquiry I've received about cost.
He's doing this in Santa Fe, so that's going to skew the cost quite a bit.
So how much did this all cost you, I need to know roughly how much I should nest to pay for all of this.
That's an excellent question but difficult to answer with precision, but it was a lot. Essentially, we had to sign a 7 year rental agreement for a 2000 sq/ft warehouse, have construction to bring in electricity/water/gas/drain, buy pro grade equipment, then pay the rent and bills for almost 2 years while we got licensed, produced mead, designed labels, built our tasting room, and put together a festival vending setup. I plan on discussing this topic in a future video with details, as well as how to plan to minimize expenses and get up and running as fast as possible. However, I can tell you that unless your city allows you to start your meadery in a place you already live in and pay rent for, you'll have to have some very deep pockets.
Any ETA on the next video?
Are you thinking of opening a Meadery too?
@@magacop5180 it's a dream of mine
@@magacop5180 sounds awesome to me
Sorry no, we are slammed with actually producing, packaging, and building our festival vending setup. Probably this fall/winter once festival season is wrapped up.
Its annoying that you cant get a liscense that gives approval as long as certain requirements are met. It seems like so much risk
I'm not sure what you're saying here. There is definitely a lot of red tape and bureaucracy involved, but at the end of the day most of it is important. The licensing process ensures a lot, including that your formulas and ingredients are safe, that you are disclosing enough information on your labels, that you're not misleading consumers, that your business is located in an area that will not make life unpleasant or unsafe for others, that your production process is safe, and that your premises is safe for customers. Would I like it if it was easier? Oh yes, but all in all the steps seem reasonable and necessary to me.
@@MysticAmbrosiaMeadmy bad, i should have been more descriptive! I agree with all of that, but im saying it would be nice to be able to go through the liscensing process first to say here’s everything im going to do, and the authority grant you a conditional liscence that states everything is good to go permitting you do what you say you will. Otherwise it seems like theres a risk of them saying “ohh you forgot to think about this one aspect early on so you have to scrap everything and start over”
And then once you’re done they could just give a notice to proceed once an inspector signs off. Cause i imagine a lot of first time start-ups miss something if they arent experienced.
@@pyroboy417 that is how it works to a certain extent, but it's not zero risk. Consulting with a city planner, commercial real estate attorney, and crafting an early termination clause provide the closest thing to a guarantee you can get.
@@MysticAmbrosiaMeadgood info! One quick question for you… do you think this could ever be possible as a side hustle? From the looks of it, it seems like it requires full time attention and effort.