Brewer Magazine Q&A: Alexander Phillips, Grand Canyon Brewery

This is a part of a continuing series of Q&As with members of the brewing community from across the U.S.
Brewer Magazine will share business and personal insights from Brewmasters, Head Brewers, Brewing Managers, Sales Directors, QCQA Managers and others each weekend to help you get to know each other better in the industry and learn more to better develop your own brand.

Alexander Phillips​, Director of Sales/Marketing​, Grand Canyon Brewery — ​Williams, Arizona

​BREWER: How has your business strategy evolved to help grow and stay competitive?
PHILLIPS: ​We have taken a heavy approach toward the off​-​premise market, specifically chains. Our business model requires us to move a lot of liquid pretty consistently and with the on​-​premise in shambles, we’ve turned to a segment we’ve usually only dabbled in. Basically we’ve had minimal to no representation in major chains for a while. While we always hoped to strategize and get our big break in the sets, and with the daily changing market, we’ve cranked the hustle to 11​. ​Working with our amazing distributor partners to figure out what is trending, what’s going to work and what bold risks are revealing themselves as opportunity.

BREWER: What idea did you or your team come up with lately that has been a big benefit to how your brewery functions?
PHILLIPS: We started producing sanitizer (we also have a distillery) due to a supply chain demand (we are on the border of the Navajo Nation, one of the largest hot spots in the country for CV19)​ and structured curbside and pick up for each of our locations​.​

BREWER: If you had one business strategy that you could implement to better the brewing industry, what would it be?
PHILLIPS: Proliferation seems to be the strategy moving forward​. While you want to “own your backyard​,​​”​ tell your story and build your brand with your community, the shutdowns have limited our ability to get beer into the hands of curious minds.​ ​People have more down time, more time to look for different and new, which is the longest way to say that I’d like to see a large nationwide or state by state approach to making online sales both in state and across state lines have an easier access to market.