MILLERKNOLL

From Page 3 the Gap — had sent a message to MillerKnoll staffers reiterating her intent and also shared a message with an apology for how her remarks landed.

A company spokesperson did not provide a statement to Crain’s Grand Rapids Business as of press time, though company officials have reportedly said the video was taken out of context.

“Andi fiercely believes in this team and all we can accomplish together, and will not be dissuaded by a 90-second clip taken out of context and posted on social media,” according to a statement to CNN by Kris Marubio, a spokesperson for the company.

Tone deaf?

Still, social media users pointed out the tone-deaf nature of Owen’s remarks in light of her own personal wealth. According to a proxy statement filed by the company toward the end of 2022, Owen’s salary for the previous fiscal year amounted to nearly $1.1 million while more than $3.5 million in stock awards and other compensation brought her total com-

1935, echoed those sentiments.

“We’re a small business with a limited amount of staff and a limited amount of people,” said Szilagyi, who serves as vice president of the Michigan Golf Course Association. “We’re not immune to the employment challenges that everybody else has.”

Lynx was the first course in Michigan to participate in the new Registered Apprenticeship Golf Course Maintenance Technician Program, a program from the Michigan Golf Course Association that offers candidates the chance to learn turf maintenance roles while immediately filling job openings.

The trade group coordinated with the Michigan Department of Labor & Economic Opportunity and U.S. Department of Labor to pensation to $4.98 million. the industry while helping them get ahead in their careers.

By comparison, Owen’s compensation reached almost $6.4 million for the 2021 fiscal year. This year’s amount seems to reflect some of the financial pressures weighing on the company as hybrid work and delayed office returns continue to impact the office furniture market.

In March, MillerKnoll reported $987.4 million in sales for the third quarter of its 2023 fiscal year, a 4.4-percent decline from a year earlier.

“To be sure, this is a disruptive period. Traditional office usage and layouts are not as they once were, and new opportunities exist to help our customers design more hybrid, collaborative work environments,” Owen said in a conference call at the time.

In the current fourth quarter, MillerKnoll expects sales to decline to $930 million to $970 million, compared to the $1.1 billion recorded for the same period a year ago.

The company — which executives hoped would seize full market potential as a combined entity this year after furniture giants Herman Miller and Knoll merged in 2021— has launched strategies to streamline business and operations.

The Golf Course Maintenance Technician Program currently has nine apprentices enrolled for the 2023 season, but Paisley said she expects to see 20 by the end of the year. Most apprentices will take about one or two years to complete the competency-based program.

Paisley said the program aims to attract talent and offer them training with the hopes of piquing their interest to continue their education in the field.

“The registered apprenticeship is not to take the place of a fouryear degree by any means,” she added. “It is to really address the critical agronomy needs that the courses have while potentially exposing somebody to a career that they might not have thought of before.” maybe had nine students in their turf program where they used to have 40,” Hoag said. “You get a series of years like that and all of a sudden there’s no professionals coming out of the program.”

At the same time, Paisley added, graduates from in-state turf programs are not finding the salaries in the area to meet their needs, and are leaving for better pay. According to Paisley, 94 percent of Michigan’s golf courses are small businesses.

“Their salary just can’t meet the demands of a four-year turfgrass student coming out of school — not that they don’t understand the reason, they just can’t match (it),” Paisley said. “So what’s happening is those students are going to private, member-owned clubs or they’re leaving the state.” launch the apprenticeship program in June 2022.

“We decided to tackle the issue as an industry head on and create a registered apprenticeship and develop our own talent pipeline from within,” said Jada Paisley, executive director of the Michigan Golf Course Association.

The program started last year with its first apprentices at Lynx Golf Course. The apprentices accessed online career training supported by Golf Course Superintendents Association of America and on-the-job training alongside other industry professionals and a mentor. Apprentices who complete the program receive a certificate from the Department of Labor while also earning a wage, a factor designed to help younger professionals learn the ropes of

Recently, the company announced the closure of a furniture manufacturing plant in Sheboygan, Wisc., in an effort to “better align its resources,” a company spokesperson said in April.

MillerKnoll’s current fiscal year will wrap up at the end of May. The results of which will determine any bonuses. At this time, no bonuses for anyone at the company have been decided.

Meanwhile, the company recently announced that it is marking the 100-year anniversary of its Herman Miller brand name with a curated exhibit in Milan, Italy, celebrating its designs.

In a January 2021 profile in the New York Times, Owen discussed the challenges of leading a major corporation experiencing vast uncertainty caused by the pandemic amid political and social turmoil across the country.

“We’ve tried to create opportunities for people to have frank conversations, for them to get together and discuss the hard topics of the day,” Owen reportedly said at the time. “I don’t think these are new problems. But whether it’s about race, or inclusiveness, or whether it’s about what’s happening in the world today, these are all things you have to talk about.”

According to Paisley, the causes of the current talent shortages in golf course maintenance are multi-faceted. In addition to losing workers to retirement, the industry also faces lower college enrollment nationwide following the COVID-19 pandemic, which is taking its toll on niche programs like turf maintenance. For example, Fortune in March reported undergraduate college enrollment dropped 8 percent from 2019 to 2022.

“Michigan State (University)

In order to change this, Michigan Golf Course Association’s new apprenticeship seeks to not only attract new talent but also nurture current employees to grow within their companies.

“We’re known for our golf in Michigan,” Paisley said. “So if we don’t do something to continue that, what does that mean for those tourism dollars? It’s really developing the talent from within and as an association, our board of directors just didn’t see any other options other than to do this. It’s just a really great way to develop that next generation.”

We at Coldbrook Insurance Group are excited to announce Rochele Duffy’s promotion to Client Executive.

Not only will she continue to service customers at a high level she will also be helping other businesses become a part of the Coldbrook team.

She has been in the insurance industry for 15 years with the last 6 being at Coldbrook. Throughout these years, she has gone from the ground-up to learn what her customers need most!

We are looking forward to her continued success in years to come.

Paul Isely, professor of economics and associate dean at Grand Valley State University’s Seidman College of Business, says work remains for economic development agencies to build public trust in the massive Big Rapids-area battery plant. But Isely says the project would be a net positive for the region and state.

For economic development agencies working to bring the public on board with large-scale projects, Isely said it’s critical to establish trust from the outset.

“You have to be able to provide the trust and say, ‘Maybe that question is not able to be answered now, but we have listened to you and we will be watching that.’ It seems there were several instances (with the Gotion project) where people started to have concerns and those concerns weren’t immediately addressed,” Isely said. “That creates the feeling that there’s something to hide and that trust starts to be lost. Once the trust is lost, it’s really hard to get back. You have to be vigilant early on in these processes to make sure you’re maintaining that trust, that you are taking the time to listen to concerns.”

Isely sees the geopolitical concerns as a likely result of the deteriorating diplomatic relationship between the U.S. and China. That includes the Chinese-operated balloons spotted in North American airspace earlier this year, as well as ongoing discussions around TikTok’s Chinese parent company and data security.

“There’s absolutely no way anybody could have predicted that things would shift that much that fast,” Isely said of the diplomatic tension.

However, Isely said he believes the benefits of Gotion’s plan near Big Rapids should outweigh concerns.

“They’re bringing a technology

Parking

From Page 3

Pending additional meetings that will take place in the next month or two with the West Grand Neighborhood Association and the West Side Corridor Improvement Authority on the alternative plan and final design, Burkman said construction should start next year. He added that city officials will need to eliminate street parking on one side of the street to carry out goals of the city’s Vital Streets Plan, which are to “balance the public right” between all users including pedestrians, motorists, cyclists and buses.

Business concerns

However the city moves forward, multiple business owners say maintaining street parking should be a priority to accommodate an influx of new traffic and residents.

With a surge in developments along Bridge Street — roughly 1 mile south — in recent years, drivers have started using Leonard here and a manufacturing model that we can learn from, and that’s a good thing,” Isely said. “I think in the scope of concerns that we have with China, this one’s likely pretty small compared to some of the others.”

The economic opportunity with the Gotion project and its alignment with the state’s effort to retain automotive production amid the electric vehicle transformation also contribute to the greater good of the project, according to Isely.

“We do know that overall for the entirety of Michigan, this undoubtedly will make things better off,” Isely said. “We know that because of the ability to anchor automotive production here, and we know that because of the number of jobs being created. Even if the number of jobs created aren’t as many as they say, it’s still a project that generates value in many different ways. It brings technology and worker skill sets here to Michigan so that other businesses will then decide, ‘Hey, maybe I want to be there because Michigan workers now have that skill.’”

Economic developers respond

Confronted with public concerns, local economic development organizations have started to ramp up education campaigns and outreach for these large projects.

In West Michigan, The Right Place Inc. and project backers have worked to advocate in support of Gotion’s planned development, which is yet to be finalized. Last month, state lawmakers advanced a spending plan that included $175 million in support of Gotion’s facility, which promises to create 2,350 jobs. Meanwhile, Gotion’s North American vice president recently addressed some claims during a virtual panel discussion, proclaiming that there is “no communist plot” associated with the project.

For The Right Place and other proponents of the Gotion plant, the project is a major economic

Street as their way in and out of the city, said Jeff Joyce, owner of Mieras Family Shoes Inc., a 100-year-old business located at 841 Leonard St. NW. Mieras Family Shoes is located along the path of the city’s sidewalk redesign.

“We’re not worried about slowing the traffic, we’re worried about this (city) plan restricting it, and people will seek another alternative route and it will cause less vehicle traffic,” Joyce said.

Joyce compiled a letter backed by 14 other business owners along the Leonard Street corridor asking the city to maintain the existing 6-foot sidewalks and street parking.

“Each business has become a destination for thousands of different shoppers per year,” Joyce wrote in the letter. “It would be a financial hardship and directly affect each business listed here to make access more difficult. Businesses that have just enough parking for their workers and a few customers do not have any spots extra for neighbors or snow piles in the winter. Several of these businesses have zero parking and rely on curbside parking directly opportunity to add new jobs and contribute to a domestic supply chain for EV components.

The Right Place President and CEO Randy Thelen said such a large-scale development also would benefit local manufacturing companies riding the wave of the ongoing EV transformation.

“A lot of our area companies are highly dependent on the automotive industry, and as that industry changes, the supply chain’s going to have to change,” Thelen said. “The more we can retain in Michigan and in the Midwest with this EV and battery industry, the more opportunities our companies will have to supply it.”

Thelen said the project represents “a sizable decision for the community, and you’re seeing people on both sides — pro and con — voicing their opinions.”

Thelen agreed with Isely that some questions on the Gotion project may be premature.

“I think right now, if there’s a question that goes unanswered, people assume that it’s this sort of ‘gotcha’ moment, when in fact it’s just more of a function of timing,” Thelen said.

“One challenge as you try to inform the public is that these are the types of projects that haven’t happened in this country for a couple decades,” Thelen added, referring to the wave of foreign automakers establishing U.S. operations in the late 20th century. “But we have to understand these projects are generally positive.”

Lansing outreach

In Lansing, a public education effort is underway for another large-scale manufacturing project. Unlike the Gotion plant, how- in front of their businesses.”

Mieras said the store, which opened in 1922, would have lost about seven parking spaces under the city’s plan to eliminate street parking on the north side of Leonard. Potentially removing parking on the south side of the street instead also would negatively affect Mieras’ customers, he said.

“Most of our customers are young families with multiple children as well as elderly people who are not able to safely cross the street,” he said.

The city’s effort to make Leonard Street more walkable and pedestrian-friendly comes as business owners say the corridor, which stretches eastward from Powers Avenue to U.S. 131, needs more parking to accommodate business activity.

Joyce hopes the city will rethink its design, maintain street parking on both sides of Leonard and add handicap-accessible crosswalks. As well, if the city identifies underutilized property in the area, it should be converted into parking, he said.

The West Grand Neighborhood Association plans to hear more ever, the proposed Michigan Manufacturing Innovation Campus slated for a nearly 2,000-acre site near Lansing hasn’t secured a development agreement.

The massive greenfield in Clinton County’s Eagle Township is near I-96, Michigan State University’s campus, a municipal airport and within an hour of driving distance to both Grand Rapids and Ann Arbor. Project backers see each of these factors as ideal to attract a large company manufacturing electric vehicle batteries, semiconductor chips or similar production.

“It’s kind of a rare site that is the best of all worlds,” said Bob Trezise, president and CEO of the Lansing Economic Area Partnership (LEAP). “It’s very close to a major metropolitan area and university, but we’re able to provide that acreage necessary to ultimately land some kind of transformative company.”

LEAP has been working to assemble, manage and now market the site as Clinton County and Ea- gle Township undergo a master planning amendment process ahead of any formal approval.

Clinton County Planning Commission, Clinton County Board of Commissioners and the Eagle Township Board of Trustees.

However, the project also has faced local opposition to the potentially massive change to the land and its intended use based on its donation to Michigan State University in 2005 by local farmer Dave Morris.

Residents have spoken out at public meetings against the potential decision to approve the project, and a Facebook group called Stop the Mega Site has emerged as a forum for community members to discuss concerns.

In response, LEAP recently launched a public education effort to answer questions from area residents and provide information about the site and the process.

A website and fact sheet now outline why officials believe the site is the best fit for the MMIC, how environmental concerns are being addressed, and what kind of agricultural impact the project will have.

“There’s a public process, and that appropriately involves the entire community and a conversation about the vision for this particular piece of property,” Trezise said.

Trezise said project officials are working to preserve as much agricultural property as possible and that the total 2,000 acres represent less than 1 percent of all agricultural property in Clinton County.

People in support of the project see it as a valuable way to bring new jobs to the area, boost battery and chip production in light of recent supply chain disruptions, and serve as an overall unique manufacturing opportunity not only for the state of Michigan but for the U.S.

LEAP recently submitted more than 100 letters of support from various individuals, businesses, alliances and nonprofits to the feedback from residents and business owners.

However, Burkman said a previous parking study indicated that the use of street parking along the corridor was low and did not exceed 38 percent at any time or location while the study was conducted.

The business owners dispute the study’s findings.

“A lot of times, these parking studies don’t go and ask business owners what their peak times are, they just pick a time. A lot of times, it’s not when those businesses are busy,” said Annette Vandenberg, executive director of the West Grand Neighborhood Association.

Arnie’s Bakery Manager Jimmy Fahlen said his own informal parking study conducted from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. on April 7 showed heavy on-street parking usage, even during spring break week. Arnie’s has a back parking lot, but the company has 75 employees, which more than fill the spaces, Fahlen said, noting that removing street parking on the north side of Leonard would “ruin our storefront.”

At the same time, Trezise said he understands the significance of a project of this scale for the community.

“I am deeply respectful of the fact that it is a significant change for some people who live in the immediate area,” he said. “I think that this will not be nearly as disruptive as they think, but I have complete respect that it is essentially for a few people close to their backyard. We just want a very respectful public dialogue and reach what is best, though, for the greater good of maybe tens of thousands of people and our country.”

“I don’t foresee people wanting to cross Leonard Street just to grab a baked good when they can go to the Meijer down the road or even just get a birthday cake somewhere else,” he said. “A lot of our customers are elderly. We’ve been around since 1905 and it’s kind of a tradition to get a birthday cake here, but people usually come into the store, pick up their baked goods and leave.”

West Grand neighborhood residents and businesses generally support the city’s Vital Streets Plan, which calls for more trees and broadly improving walkability.

However, the city’s proposal to eliminate on-street parking comes with unintended consequences for business owners, Vandenberg said.

“The West Side is unique in how strong the local, generational businesses are — there are longtime people here that are very loyal to these businesses,” Vandenberg said. “But if (shopping here) becomes inconvenient, especially as more convenient online options are available, it’s going to affect businesses.”

Elliott, who has an option to buy the State Street property, seeks to determine how comfortable the Historic Preservation Commission is with adding density to the property for the proposed two additional buildings. The two new buildings don’t need to be a “high rise,” but three or four stories would help make the project more feasible, Elliott said.

“If they only allow us one or two (stories), this will never get built,” he said.

The commission did not vote on the project during its April 19 meeting. Elliott called the meeting a first step down a “long road” before the project comes to fruition.

“This is an underutilized part of town,” said Elliott, who said he prefers to redevelop historic properties. “It’s in a transitory space between downtown and Heritage Hill.”

Elliott’s Lansing-based Infinity Companies LLC also owns Loose Leaf Lofts, a 33-unit apartment project and adaptive reuse of a historic warehouse building at 333 Commerce Ave. in downtown Grand Rapids.

‘Vibrant connector’

As for Elliott’s latest proposal, the Heritage Hill Association neighborhood group noted a need for housing and mixed-use devel-

Brewers

From Page 1

Currently, Speciation’s business model is limited by the amount of beer it can sell via its taproom for in-house or to-go consumption, plus the limited volume it moves via the traditional three-tiered distribution system.

“We don’t make money through distribution; we’re barely breaking even with that,” Ermatinger said, adding that the brewery would like to expand its business model to sell and ship beer directly to customers, a practice not currently allowed under Michigan law. “It would give us another outlet to sell directly to customers, and that’s where we really make money.”

While breweries can deliver directly to consumers’ doorsteps, a mode of distribution that took off during the COVID-19 pandemic, Michigan law dictates that deliveries have to be handled by the breweries and their employees using company vehicles.

Although drinkers can use third-party methods like Instacart, Hop Runner or Shipt to purchase beer or liquor from retailers directly, breweries cannot package and ship alcohol directly to consumers via UPS, FedEx, or other carriers.

For a company like Speciation, which offers small batches of products at a high-price point through a small ring of distributors, the ability to ship beer directly to consumers would alleviate pressure on taproom sales and wholesaler relationships.

“We’re struggling like pretty much every other brewery I know,”

Sleeping Giant

From Page 3

An East Lansing native, Murray led marketing and M&A teams at Mars Inc. and Stryker Inc. and “brings to SignComp a track record of building an impactful culture,” according to an announcement on Sleeping Giant Capital’s investment. He earned a finance degree in 2007 and an MBA in 2012, both from Michigan State University’s Eli Broad School of Business where he serves on the Advisory Board.

West Michigan-based, it’s got a profile that we like in terms of fundamentals, and it’s got some great avenues for growth that we’re excited about,” Lepisto said. “The company has a great product and it’s a superior product in terms of the customer retention that we have. So, it’s really just being able to broaden that awareness and familiarity of the solutions that SignComp provides, and there are some other kinds of adjacencies that we’re exploring as well.” opments in its State Street Corridor Area Specific Plan, which was created in 2014 as a supplement to the neighborhood’s master plan. Heritage Hill Association stated in the plan that one of its goals is to establish housing and commercial developments fronting State Street that can be adaptable to other uses as needed.

The property under consideration by Elliott, along with surrounding parcels along State Street, used to serve as a “vibrant connector” from downtown to Heritage Hill, said Barbara Draughon, executive director of the Heritage Hill Association.

“We would love to see this area become that again with mixed-use buildings, residences, as well as pedestrian- and street-friendly shops and restaurants,” Draughon said.

Ermatinger said. Direct-to-consumer sales “would be the thing that would easily tip the scales overnight. Honestly, I have been begging for this since COVID. The ability to ship beer would just be a total game-changer.”

Growing consumer interest

While direct-to-consumer sales models have become popular in the wine industry nationwide, beer distribution has been slow to adopt the practice despite growing interest from craft beer enthusiasts.

A January survey by the Boulder, Colo.-based Brewers Association found that 79 percent of U.S. craft beer drinkers would be interested in purchasing beer via the direct-to-consumer model, which also faces challenges given the patchwork of state laws regulating the practice.

The 21st amendment gives states full authority to regulate alcohol. Like most states, Michigan relies on a three-tier system where suppliers (breweries, distilleries and wineries) are required to sell to distributors (wholesalers) who distribute to retailers (restaurants, bars and stores).

As of March, the only states that provide clear, statutory authority for brewers to legally solicit and fulfill sales remotely and across state borders are Alaska, Kentucky, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Vermont and Virginia, plus the District of Columbia, according to the Brewers Association report.

Other states have their own forms of direct-to-consumer sales, like Oregon, which will only issue

General guidelines in the area specific plan could allow for new construction in the area up to three stories high, Draughon said. There could be some flexibility there, though she noted likely opposition to a proposal that is six stories, for example.

Residents in the community also understand the need for more housing, Draughon added.

“I constantly hear people say the housing crisis affects our neighborhood as well, and we need to be part of the solution,” she said. “We welcome creative solutions.”

“We’re already the densest neighborhood in the city, but we understand there is a little more room here to develop,” Draughon added. “A lot of people have been thinking about this stretch for years, and we’re excited someone is looking at it again.” shipping licenses to brewers located in states that themselves allow the practice and Rhode Island, which permits beer to be shipped to customers only who were physically present at the brewery’s premises at the time of purchase.

According to Chris Gartman, a Grand Rapids-based attorney with experience in the craft beverage industry at Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone PLC, Michigan’s three-tier system and its vested interests have held back the process to change the state’s laws to allow direct-to-consumer sales.

“Each of those tiers have distinct interests,” Gartman said. “The legislature has to balance those interests and keep everybody happy. I think the balancing of those interests is one of the reasons Michigan’s not there yet.”

Gartman added that one of the complications in tweaking the three-tier system lies in the contractual relationship between suppliers and wholesalers. Revenue interests also play a role: Direct sales would add revenue to breweries and take revenue away from wholesalers and retailers, which will be “a big part of the discussion,” he said.

Changes ahead?

Despite the complications that come with changing the distribution model of a highly regulated product like beer, Gartman thinks state legislation allowing direct sales, long a priority for craft brewing industry groups, might have a shot in the current environment in Lansing.

“I think there’s a chance there

“We are poised to grow with our talented and experienced team and partners at Sleeping Giant Capital,” Murray said.

Lepisto formed Sleeping Giant capital in 2020 with Derrick McIver. Both are associate professors of management at Western Michigan University’s Haworth College of Business and co-directors at the university’s Center for Principled Leadership and Business Strategy.

Sleeping Giant Capital makes investments that support prospective owner/operators buying a company after they go through a training program. The model not only seeds a new generation of entrepreneurs but also helps retain local ownership of companies that Sleeping Giant Capital backs.

SignComp was a perfect fit for Sleeping Giant Capital, Lepisto said.

“It ticks all of our boxes. It’s could be a bill this year,” he said. “It’s been picking up speed, especially as we see other states getting it done. Michigan’s breweries want to see it happen here.”

Scott Newman-Bale, CEO of Bellaire-based Short’s Brewing Co. who formerly served as president of the Michigan Brewers Guild, where he’s currently co-chair of the Government Affairs Committee, agrees with Gartman, adding that allowing direct-to-consumer sales has consistently ranked as the top legislative request for the group’s membership.

“Right now, it’s in provisional discussions, letting everyone know what we are up to and why. We do have some proposed language generated and have identified some people legislatively to work with,” Newman-Bale said.

Newman-Bale thinks direct-to-consumer sales could have the greatest effect on smaller breweries. Larger-scale operations, including Short’s Brewing where he works, are already benefiting from the three-tier model and might not find shipping beer directly to be worthwhile.

“It really will benefit the smaller guys, which is kind of the whole point,” Newman-Bale said. “Small brewers don’t have the ability to get (products) on the shelf. Shelves are full and distributors don’t want new products and they are struggling to get their product sold even within the state.”

Jessica Stricklen, founder and president of Brewery Nyx LLC, Michigan’s first dedicated gluten-free brewery, said the ability to ship products to customers who aren’t able to make the trip to

Sleeping Giant Capital continues to scout for other deals and has five or six opportunities that it’s presently looking at, Lepisto said. He expects another deal could close this summer with another CEO-in-residence at Sleeping Giant Capital.

The investment firm also plans to open applications to the CEO-in-residence program.

“I’m more bullish now on just the opportunities we’re seeing and the talent that’s coming to us now to be owner/operators is really great,” he said. “There’s a lot of entrepreneurs out there that are wanting something different. They don’t want to start a company, they don’t want to continue working at their own company, but they have leadership experience, they have a track record and management skill set and they can lead a company. I think there’s a great fit for that, especially in West Michigan because people want to stay here.”

Grand Rapids would be “huge.”

“This is something that I’ve been hoping would come along,” Stricklen said. “We have people driving from out-of- state and from Canada, but definitely from across the state, too. They’ll drive several hours to get here, and they’ll buy a case or two to last them until the next time they’re ready to come to Grand Rapids. It would be wonderful if they could sign up for a subscription package and receive it at home instead of having to make that drive.”

“How many people are not willing to drive out here and so they just continue to drink cider and drink wine and drink cocktails? It could open us to a huge portion of gluten-free customers who just aren’t willing to drive. It’s an untapped market.”

Ermatinger at Speciation noted direct-shipping could provide new benefits for the brewery’s “Cultured Club” program, which offers exclusive bottles and regular discounts. Currently, about a quarter of the members hail from out of state, he said.

“Even if this wasn’t the equivalent of all of our taproom sales, if it was just a couple thousand dollars a month, that would be more than enough to make a huge difference,” Ermatinger said of direct sales, noting the challenges of operating a brewery throughout the pandemic and as inflation drives input costs higher.

“It’s been really hard to break even. Our costs are going up a little bit. The customer flow is incredibly unpredictable,” he added. “Any new revenue stream would be helpful.”