Worcester Business Journal

10 Worcester Business Journal • April 11, 2016 www.wbjournal.com the company. Initially dividing up the business responsibilities into sales, brewing and finances played to each brother's strengths. As the company grew from 30 employees to 85 in March, all three brothers had to grow quickly. "You have to delegate and giving up that control can be really hard, but in the end if you don't, you're never going to get anything done," Hendler said. "With small businesses, you are a generalist and do everything. You will just throw your own time at it and even if you don't do a good job at it, you will get it done because you are relentless." Emblematic of giving up that control was hiring a manager for the beer hall. With none of the brothers having expe- rience running a restaurant, bringing someone in who could handle this new aspect allowed the brothers to continue their individual focuses, Hendler said. Becoming a true beer geek Guiding Wachusett Brewing Co. on a high level has been a reality for co- founder and president Ned LaFortune for so long that he had to walk back into the past to reflect on his own per- sonal growth as the company was first expanding. "In 1994, I was driving a delivery truck, and I was our only sales and mar- keting guy; and the two other founders were doing the brewing… but then it was only a year or two until I had to step away from production and into an Brewing executives 18,500 in 2016. Demand is so high the brewery still has not expanded distribu- tion outside of Massachusetts and is looking for a 50,000-square-foot ware- house space in the city to expand its brewing even further. Wormtown isn't alone, similar growth is taking place at Jack's Abby Craft Lager in Framingham. This year, brewing was moved to a new location with a beer hall serving food. Production growth is up, expanding to 19,000 barrels of beer in 2015 and on track for 30,000 in 2016. Even established brewers like Wachusett Brewing Co. in Westminster deal with more growth than can be found in other industries. The company has expanded production by more than 100 percent every year since 1996, hit- ting 46,750 barrels in 2015. A booming beer market This kind of exponential growth is something breweries across the nation are dealing with, said Bart Watson, economist for the Colorado-based Brewers Association, which represents the craft brewing industry national. Craft breweries now represent 12.2 percent of all beer produced in the U.S., up from 5.7 percent in 2011, according to the association. The nation is home to 4,225 craft breweries who sold $22.3 bil- lion worth of beer in 2015 – a 16 percent increase from the previous year. Once a brewery hits it big, the growth can be difficult to manage. The issues associated with triple-digit growth encompass everything from needing to tweak recipes to account for larger brewing systems, difficulty sourcing raw materials, hiring sprees and the need for human resources investments. "Some [breweries] are choosing to artificially slow their growth so they can meet these challenges at a slower pace; some are looking for other business partners; and some are dealing with it as they go," Watson said. A primary goal of craft breweries dur- ing these periods of fast growth is main- taining quality, Watson said. No matter what the response is to growth, the founders of a brewery face a transformation from jack-of-all-trades entrepreneurs to managers and execu- tives of a growing firm, Watson said. From beermakers to executives Roesch has undergone this transfor- mation at Wormtown Brewery. Until the company's expansion in 2015 to its new 72 Shrewsbury St. location, Roesch was really concentrating on the beer and managing a small group of three employ- ees. Now he has 25 employees and had to greatly shift his role. "In the last year I have grown as a leader and a people manager. It's some- thing that I've never had the opportunity to do because I worked for small brewer- ies, but it's also something that doesn't come naturally to me … but we've gotten to a point where I've been able to lay out a vision for the company," he said. This meant relinquishing some con- trol and putting even more trust in Wormtown's employees, Roesch said. A general manager and a two-person finance department have been part of solidifying the company. At Jack's Abby, Sam Hendler is one of three brothers who founded the brewery in 2011 and has always handled sales for >> Continued from Page 1 (Above) Sam Hendler checks one of Jack 's Abby barrels, which the brewery uses to create more than 60 distinct types of beer. (Right) Jack 's Abby House Lager is one of the six beers the brewery has avail- able year-round. P H O T O S / E D D C O T E Wachusett Brewing Co. WBJ staff pick: Strawberry White Why? is is a traditional Belgian ale brewed with 160 pounds of strawberries, making for a deliciously light but decadent dessert beer. Wormtown Brewery WBJ staff pick: Buddha's Juice Why? A hoppy but drinkable double IPA made with rare Buddha's hand citron fruit and grapefruit peel. It's a bitter but delicious brew. Jack's Abby Craft Lager WBJ staff pick: Smoke & Dagger Why? is smoked, malty beer captures the essence of Jack's Abby's approach to beer, pushing the lager formula in new directions. 3Cross Brewing Co. WBJ staff pick: Single-Speed Pale Why? is is the brewery's base pale ale with different hops added to every batch, making for a unique but not overly hoppy experience every time. WBJ recommends...

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