For Barry Braden, the business plan for Fieldwork Brewing has worked, he just didn’t expect it to go this fast. With the announcement of a fourth satellite taproom today, the Berkley, California-based brewery will have opened all of them in just 19 months. That’s on top of opening the original facility in February of 2015.
“Our business plan hasn’t changed,” said Braden, a co-founder and owner of the brewery. “Folks are enjoying the beers and we are just fortunate to be able to accelerate our plans because of this.”
With multiple locations to cover, which include the original Berkley taproom and production facility; in midtown Sacramento; and inside Napa’s Oxbow Public Market, having beer on-premise is a key, but Braden tipped his cap to the draft accounts that helped get Fieldwork started at the beginning.
“As a small brewery, on-premise sales are critical to having a healthy overall business,” Braden said. “The success of our taprooms enabled us to reinvest cash flow to expand our capacity this year to 22,000 barrels. Our satellite taprooms are an effective way for us to get fresh beer to consumers in those areas and to maintain a relationship with those beer drinkers. However, our success to date wouldn’t have been possible without our draft partners. We are grateful to each and every one of them for taking a chance on us 19 months ago and serving the beers. We will always support them as they have supported us.”
Fieldwork announced today that it will operate a 4,500 square-foot outdoor beer garden featuring communal seating, adjacent fire pits, and leisure activities in San Mateo’s pedestrian village, Bay Meadows. Set to open in spring 2017, Fieldwork Brewing at Bay Meadows will offer a rotating selection of a dozen beers along with a menu of small bites and growlers to-go.
“What an opportunity for Fieldwork to bring our fresh beer to Silicon Valley,” Braden said in a release.
The openings have meant movement within management as Nowal Mitchell is taking over as General Manager of the Berkeley taproom and current GM Michael Kirby is taking on an expanded role in the management team.
“Nowal has been with the brewery since our early days. We are excited to have her leadership at the mothership,” Fieldwork said in a release and added that they are pretty excited about what Kirby will be able to do as well.
Photos courtesy Suni Sidhu.
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