Big ideas sometimes start in small places.
Paul Brenner, owner of the Platform Beer Company in Cleveland, Ohio, got started in craft brewing in his apartment kitchen about six years ago.
“It was good at the time,” said Brenner. “In hindsight, I definitely made some mistakes, and it probably wasn't the greatest batch of beer. But, with time and effort and practice and obsession, I quickly started making some pretty good beer at home.”
Brenner’s obsession grew beyond his kitchen to the point where he opened his own craft brewery in 2014. For Brenner and his team, opening the doors to a new business was a leap of faith.
“We had the means to do it at the time,” he said. “We had the opportunity and we had a vision and we went for it.”
The Platform Beer Company focuses on two things: brewing beer for sale in the market and in its tasting room, as well as mentoring others who share the love of craft beer. “We invite home brewers in on a regular basis to get an opportunity to really be a professional brewer for a short period of time,” Benner said. “We'll have them come in and collaborate on batches and then we'll pour that here, actually on site at our tasting room.”
Benner describes a number of challenges when starting a craft brewing business: some which require hands-on work from the company team (such as the actual brewing) and others that go beyond the scope of the owners’ means or experience.
“We have fermentation tanks that run from $12,000 to $35,000,” he said. “Something that we make sure we do is we have strong partnerships, whether it’s lawyers we work with or insurance companies for all of our vehicles, our production brewer or the expansion we're doing in Columbus, Ohio. It's nice to know that's one of the variables that we don't have to really worry about.”
Benner believes one doesn’t just stumble upon opportunities like the ones he’s had while opening Platform Beer Company; some of them have to be self-made.
“I would say you've got to go out and get in the face of people who are in the industry and don't feel like you're being overbearing,” he said. “Ask as many questions as you can and then eventually it gets down to the point where you have to be honest with yourself: ‘Is this something that I can do?’ and then, just do it.”
Platform Beer Company is a policyholder of the Cincinnati Insurance Company.
