Mother Road’s Strategic Hires for a Post-COVID-19 Market

In May, Mother Road Brewing Company announced it had appointed a new Director of Brewing Operations in order to lead the brewery into a post-COVID-19 market.

Leah Dwyer had worked at the Flagstaff, Arizona facility for 3½ years prior to taking on this new role. She has a degree from California Polytechnic University in San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly SLO) in Wine and Viticulture. Dwyer started off cleaning kegs as a part-time Brewer I, was quickly promoted to Brewer II where she learned all areas of the brewery, including wort production, cellaring, packaging.

“My educational and previous work experience focused on lab/quality, but there wasn’t as much need for one person dedicated to this early on at Mother Road,” Dwyer said.

She later became Quality Manager as the team moved into its production facility.

“Leading up to this, I was working on wrapping my head around brewery operations under normal circumstances,” Dwyer said. “COVID-19 has impacted many aspects of operations drastically. In terms of scheduling, we’re working very closely with our distributor to manage inventory needs as on-premise accounts begin to reopen. And we’re operating as a smaller team than we had pre-COVID which adds another element. 

“I think above all else, we’re trying to remain adaptable during a time when it’s difficult to predict what’s coming in the next week or month.”

Dwyer knows that consumers are looking to enjoy their go-to brands for a semblance of normalcy, adding that she values the support, and so maintaining standards is important to the brewery.

“I think it will take some time for the public to be comfortable with dine-in experience, especially with ‘new normal’ standards,” Dwyer said. “I wouldn’t be surprised to see to-go purchases remaining as popular as they have been for the foreseeable future.”

Other departments, such as Hospitality are working to update policies that reflect the new normal and making customers’ experience comfortable and safe.

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