Have you ever considered going pro?

[Nosybear]

We've reached the point (pre-Covid) in the Denver area where they were closing at about the same rate they were opening. Not very promising if you're looking to open a brewery....

 

[Hawkbox]

They were doing reasonably well here but largely because we were late to the game.

 

[Mark Farrall]

Brew pubs should be considered as restaurants with more capital requirements these days (ignoring COVID). Great if you do a good hospitality job and can find the right niche.

 

[Craigerrr]

What clinched it for me was serving beer on a very busy night, the customers were friendly enough, but pretty $h1t faced. It got tiring very quickly. I knew then I would never do it.

Here is the other thing to consider, liability for what those sh!t faced people do when they leave your establishment. Here in Ontario, if an establishment over serves someone, or even serves one drink to someone who came on that way, the owner of the establishment is liable, and can be charged and the case of a drunk driving fatality that owner can do time. Way too much responsibility for this guy.

 

[FedoraDave]

There's also the hoops you have to jump through and the red tape you have to machete through just to get licensed, at least in NY State, where I live. You have to have a lot of up-front money to cover that, and the equipment, the venue, the renovations you'll need to do, etc.

There are two micro brewpubs in my town, and the newest one announced their intent to open a couple of years before they actually were able to accommodate customers.

 

[Over The Cliff Brewing]

Any business venture is at best a 30/70 proposition in the first 2 years. The ideal situation for me is find/know a group of folks that have and want to put up the capital to start a micro and just brew beer for them. Right now, I just enjoy the results of my own mistakes and those beers that come out just great! As "people" praising the free beer, I have some people that have tried a couple of my beers give negative reviews. I always try to find out why they didn't like it so I can either make corrections or go tell them to beat it and stop pilfering my beer. You can't please everyone.