Business Plan Essential Prep: Your Checklist

The first real step of opening your own business is creating your business plan. Feels daunting, doesn’t it? It’s a lot of work, absolutely, and you need to have some specific essentials in place before you can really tackle it. Getting to this point took some soul-searching, and you’ve passed the litmus test of “deal breakers,” like working through your credit eligibility and figuring out if you want to work with partners. So, you feel like this really is possible if you can get the right support for your dream, and to do that you need to create the ultimate business plan of all business plans. Now you’re ready for the next step. Which foundational elements do you need to have on hand to build this compelling vision successfully? What’s essential and what is optional?

Join four craft beer industry professionals who have each worked with hundreds of breweries to discuss laying this foundation for your business plan. Dustin Hauck of Hauck Architecture walks you through which decisions must be made in advance and which can wait on both the architectural and location side and the municipality side of things. Will Camacho of CTVT and HRVST speaks to the financial aspects of your potential business with his background as a contractor and writer of proformas and business plans. Brook Bristow of Bristow Beverage Law tackles the creation of partnerships and business ownership. And finally, Candace L. Moon of The Craft Beer Attorney covers the myriad of things that can (and have) gone wrong.

Walk away with a solid checklist of the not-optional foundational elements that must be on the table in order to create that ultimate business plan, the reasons why they are important, and a really good idea of how to nail down each one.

Learning Objectives

• Understand the importance of a successful business plan
• Learn about the building blocks that ground all compelling business plans and why they are important
• Listen to real life examples of businesses that didn’t make it or struggled mightily due to issues with one or more of these essential building blocks
• Walk away with your checklist of foundational elements, knowledge of where to start with creating, locating, or getting the answers you need for these critical components, and confidence that the ultimate business plan is within reach!

About the Speakers

Laura Lodge is the co-founder of Start A Brewery, LLC, a business created to help dreamers, breweries in planning, and growing breweries by pulling together educational resources from savvy professionals across the brewing industry. Free to the public, StartABrewery.com divides the daunting process into phases and breaks it down by category, further augmented by a library of information submitted by contributors.

With over twenty-five years experience in the profession, T. Dustin Hauck has participated in all aspects of architectural practice. As principal of the firm, Mr. Hauck is the driving force behind all of the firm’s projects and designs, responsible for project management and document production. A local resident of San Diego, California since 1985, Mr. Hauck began his architectural career in 1996, and founded Hauck Architecture 12 years later. His background includes a bachelor’s degree in architecture from the Hammons School of Architecture at Drury University, study at the Edinburgh College of Art in Scotland, and hands-on experience in the construction industry while assisting his family in their many construction endeavors. Mr. Hauck’s combination of thorough analysis, client considerations, and attention to detail constitute the foundation of Hauck Architecture’s approach to every project, whether it’s a green home design, a sustainable restaurant renovation, production brewery, or Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) code compliance upgrades.

William Camacho is widely recognized as an esteemed professional with deep expertise in consulting and designing production beverage facilities. He is the founder and operator of HRVST, a renowned consulting firm specializing in process and start-up guidance. Additionally, he is a co-founder of CLTVT, a highly successful local General Contracting firm. Furthermore, William’s entrepreneurial spirit is evident through his involvement in co-founding several prominent breweries, reflecting his dedication to fostering a thriving and vibrant brewing community.

Founder and Managing Attorney of Bristow Beverage Law, Brook Bristow has practiced law since 2007 in both transactional and litigation roles. Representing hundreds of clients from small start-ups to national brands, Brook counsels those in the food and beverage industry. He regularly advises on federal and state regulatory compliance, licensing, contracts, intellectual property, and federal label and formula approvals, among other topics. He also has some street cred, having served as co-founder of Greenville Craft Beer Week, president of the Craft Beer Attorney Coalition, president of the Upstate Brewtopians homebrew club, and as the inaugural Executive Director of the South Carolina Brewers Guild. He is also a Cicerone program Certified Beer Server and was awarded the Brewers Association F.X. Matt Defense of the Industry Award in 2015. Brook enjoys Central Coast Zinfandel, aged Rum, and can brew a passable IPA.

Since 2009, Candace L. Moon, Esq. has actively served over 500 craft beer breweries, including breweries-in-planning, nationwide. She discovered the need for specialized craft beer counsel while working as a bartender at world-famous Hamilton’s while attending law school in San Diego, California. Through her conversations with brewers, she identified that there were no attorneys catering to the legally complicated industry. As a result, Candace formed The Craft Beer Attorney, APC.