Your brewery may not be able to afford to overlook any source of revenue anymore and Elise Strupp, who helped run events for Milwaukee’s Eagle Park Brewing and MobCraft, says that hosting private events can provide not only crucial income but also built-in marketing.
“You should host private events because you can’t afford not to,” she said at the 2025 Craft Brewers Conference. “It’s a really tough time to be a craft brewery. It’s an even harder time to be a profitable craft brewery.
“That doesn’t mean it’s impossible, and private events can help.”
Strupp argues that a successful program doesn’t require a purpose-built facility. Instead, it comes down to managing expectations and maximizing what your brewery already has.
“Events are an expectations game,” she said. “You tell the client what you can and can’t do, and then as long as you meet or exceed those expectations, your client’s going to be happy.”
From her experience, the framework for building a reliable events program can be boiled down to four S’s: space, stuff, services and staff.
Strupp showed that breweries don’t need sprawling venues or expensive investments to create a thriving private events programs. With the right mix, even small operations can turn underused corners and simple add-ons into reliable revenue streams.
Space is the most obvious starting point, and Strupp insists even breweries with modest layouts can turn them into profitable venues. At MobCraft, she and her team used not only the taproom but also the production floor and even the parking lot to host events.
In another case, Milwaukee Brewing Company turned a mezzanine originally designed for tours into a midweek rental space.
“Think about what space you have, and then think about what space makes sense,” Strupp said.
Even underutilized areas can become opportunities to generate revenue.
Stuff refers to tangible add-ons that increase both customer value and brewery revenue. At MobCraft, Strupp developed offerings such as custom-labeled cans, rented barrel walls for backdrops and even painted barrels used as wedding centerpieces.
These options often required little to no upfront cost.
“All that took was two minutes for one of the production guys on the forklift to set it up before they left for the day,” she said of the barrel wall, which the brewery charged for at every event.
Services build on that idea by offering intangible experiences clients can’t get elsewhere. Brewery tours, cocktail-making classes or seasonal features — like weddings that coincided with Oktoberfest celebrations — added value beyond the rental itself.
READ MORE: Managing Events, Staff for Multiple Venues
These offerings differentiated breweries from banquet halls or restaurants.
“They might say, I’d way rather go to the brewery for my event, because we can have a brewery tour,” Strupp said.
“That’s way more exciting than sitting in a banquet room.”
Finally, having available staff can make or break an events program.
A dedicated manager — or at least someone tasked with overseeing events daily — helps breweries capture leads more quickly, provide consistent communication and deliver a smoother client experience.
“If you have someone in that dedicated role, or at least with dedicated time, you’re going to book more events,” Strupp said. “You’re also going to have higher client satisfaction at the end of your events.”
Be the first to comment