Business Profile: Braybrooke Beer Co

How did you come to found Braybrooke and how has the business developed since then?

“To rewind a long time ago, 12 years ago Luke [Luke Wilson, co-founder] and I worked for a wine importer called Liberty Wines, who did national distribution, but we were both based in London doing sales to the on-trade. So that's how Luke and I met. Then he left and set up a restaurant called 10 Greek Street in Soho with Cameron [Cameron Emirali, co-founder]. So Cameron is the chef and Luke’s the wine guy and front-of-house. Then I left liberty and went to run a restaurant for a bit and then set up a beer distribution and wholesale company called Biercraft. That was 10 years ago. So Luke had a restaurant. I had the beer distribution business. And I essentially changed from selling wine into restaurants to selling beer. This was around the time that Camden and The Kernel and Five Points were starting out. And they were quite ok with selling into pubs in kegs, but not so used to selling into restaurants. Obviously I had experience of both, working for Liberty and then buying the drinks for the restaurant. And it seemed to me there wasn't anyone really doing it with beer in the way that the wine industry works. So that was my big business idea. Luke and I obviously stayed friends and his family have got a farm up in Market Harborough, and they had upgraded their drying shed, so there was basically a big empty farm building. And we always talked about going into business together, so we settled on a brewery. And that was five years ago, when we started it. We recognised that lager was the thing for Biercraft that we sell lots of, to lots of restaurants. And also from Liberty, we were used to working with fifth or sixth generation families, making the same wine in the same place. So when I started the beer distribution, I thought it would be lots of German and Czech and Belgian breweries that I'd be importing. And I did. And we still do work with Mahr’s Bräu in Bamberg. We could see similarities between those traditional Bamberger breweries and the wine companies. So rather than maybe following trends too much, we thought we'd pick lager, and try and do that traditionally, and really well.”

Did you have to buy in specialist kit to go down the German-style lager route?

“We got our kit from Mondo Brewing Co in Battersea – at Biercraft they were one of our producers so we've been quite good friends with Tom and Todd - and they were going for an expansion. So they were upgrading their 10hl kit to a 20. And we knew we wanted to do lager properly so we needed a proper German style brewhouse. And they had this kit from Zip, it's a Hungarian manufacturer, but it’s a German spec. So it was quite fortuitous. Then it took about six months to sort out the building on the farm to get it all rigged up. It's a nice 10hl kit that can do decoction. And it's quite automated so hence not a huge brewing team.”

I wanted to make a beer that was maybe not your classic, pale, crisp lager, but something with a bit more of a malt body to be a food beer, and a beer you can drink by itself.

What is the ethos behind the business?

“I’d done a few trips out to Bamberg. And I really liked that they are quite traditional breweries out there, but making a different type of beer from British traditional brewing, so lager rather than ale. But I could see with our customer base in London with the restaurants that provenance is really key. When it comes to food, they'll be trying to work with certain farms to get their vegetables and meat and certain fishermen for their fish. And it seemed to me that we could do something similar with the beer, have a real provenance and just do everything without cutting corners. Lagering properly, decoction mash, not speeding up any processes, not pasteurizing, not filtering. The beer that I really liked drinking from Mahr’s is the 'U' beer, which is their keller beer. So I wanted to make a beer that was maybe not your classic, pale, crisp lager, but something with a bit more of a malt body to be a food beer, and a beer you can drink by itself.”

How do you stay true to German brewing techniques in the production of your beers?

“We were very lucky. We basically had this relationship with Mahr’s. And Mario, who was our first head brewer, he had previously been the head brewer at Orbit Beers in South London. And he went out there for a couple of weeks, brewing alongside all that Mahr’s brewers. And he'd always had a deep interest in Bavarian beer and brewing. So he brought that passion with him. And then Alexis, who is now our head brewer, he came over from Italy, but he applied to Braybrook when we didn't really have a job for him, because he just loved lager so much. And I don't want to nationally stereotype too much, but it does feel like with the Italian slow food movement there's a real link with lager brewing as well. They just really get the idea of perfecting something and not cutting corners and making it as good as it can possibly be.”

Do you have any plans to expand your direct retail side?

“We have a sort of unofficial home at the restaurant in Soho. Which is kind of unusual, because it's a food restaurant, but it's also where we've got Braybrooke on tap. But we have just put in a planning application to do an expansion, to grow the kit from 10hl to 20, but also to put in a proper taproom. So if it all goes to plan, maybe next summer, 2024 in early summer we'd be open.”

What are your key goals for the business in 2023 and beyond?

“So the planning application for the expansion has just gone in and I think we're pretty much there with who we want to do the kit. It'd be moving from 10hl to 20hl, we've got quite a few 20hl fermenters. So those will stay as our single batch fermenters. And then we'll be getting some 40s to replace the 10s that we've currently got. It's going to be quite a big chunk of capital expenditure. But the good thing is we've spent five years in building up the brewery and the reputation and there's definitely the demand to do that. The new brewhouse we're looking at is going to be a four vessel system, which means we'll be only twice the size, but potentially can brew four times as much beer. And then this month, we've just brought a Pilsner on as our third core beer. So we started with Keller Lager, then 18 months to two years ago did Helles and now we've settled on a house Pilsner style, which is 4.5% ABV. So that's our big focus this year is to really shout about our Pilsner.”

What do you see as your main challenges as a small brewer in the UK market?

“I think that there's definitely lots of challenges. We're kind of lucky in that we're quite small and can be quite nimble and adaptable to the market. And also, we’re out in the countryside on a farm, so perhaps some of the rising costs in rents and utilities are not so bad for us. The utilities we share with the farm, so probably we don't have to pay the top rates you would if you were a brewery in London. So that's certainly helped us. But I think the challenge has been just riding everything out. We got through the pandemic. And obviously with the other business Biercraft being a distributer to hospitality that was tricky, but we got through. But actually, I feel really this year has probably been when a lot of places have been really struggling. There were things like furlough payments and bounce-back loans which got everyone through, but now we're seeing everyone having to survive in this new landscape. So we're quite lucky, we've got a really broad and large customer base. We've got lots of people buying small amounts, rather than putting all our eggs in one basket with a few places buying lots of our stuff. That would definitely be a concern if we were reliant on just one or two customers.”

The we're looking at is going to be a four vessel system, which means we'll be only twice the size, but potentially can brew four times as much beer. And then this month, we've just brought a Pilsner on as our third core beer.

Do you think there's an increasing demand for craft beers with provenance within the restaurant market?

“I think there's always been a bit of a disconnect. When I started the wholesale company, typically the beer would be bought alongside the Coke and the water and the soft drinks. The sommelier would only deal with wine. And now I feel a lot of those sommelier or bar manager positions, they actually look at everything much more closely and want to buy the best spirits and the best soft drinks and the best beer. So it's not the afterthought that it used to be. If you've got a wine list that's full of interesting small family producers, then why wouldn't you have the same on your beer list? Why would you go for some big, mega-brewery? With us, three-quarters of the brewery’s production is sold through Biercraft, which is also another thing that's really helpful. We've got a couple of sales guys in London, and selling beer is different from selling wine. So when I used to work in the wine trade all the wine companies have a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, but it would be from a specific producer for each distributor, so there was no crossover on producers. Whereas beer, in wholesaling distribution, everyone sells everything. So to have Braybrooke as something that they know they can go out and be the only person offering has been a good door-opener for them.”

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What was the market for craft lager like when you launched?

“There was obviously Camden doing lager when we launched but then their trajectory was to go for volume. And we've worked with Lost and Grounded and I know Alex quite well. So they were maybe a couple of years before we started. But I think we're an unusual brewery in that we weren't focused on getting big draught accounts. It was bottles into nice food establishments, and that could be fancy Michelin starred restaurants or just good casual dining, but places where they really care about what they're serving. So it didn't feel like too hard a conversation to have with people, because I think everyone just wants to have something really delicious. We're not like hipster brewers or whatever. So we weren't ever going to be very good at chasing trends. We're much more keen to nail our core beers and make sure they're really consistent and really good. When we started it was a point in time when Camden was the default lager for lots of restaurants. But then as soon as it goes into the supermarkets, and it's in all the pubs? That’s a problem. I think the ambition with the brewery is not to become some huge mega brewery, it's to just be the quality lager choice for lots of places.”

Would you ever consider expanding outside of lager?

“I think we're pretty adamant we'd only ever do lager, but obviously, lagers are pretty wide. For example in November, Bonfire Night, we do a smoked lager every year - we've got quite a few specials that are annual specials. So we definitely within the world of lager try all the styles. But I think specialising in something and doing it really well. It's not easy to do. So suddenly jumping ship and saying what we're going to do IPAs or fruited sour beers - I think it would just complicate things.”

What is the best piece of business advice anyone has ever given you?

“I think one big one was, make sure you invest in hardwearing floor! I think that was about three of the London breweries we work with had had to sort out their rotting floor. That was a very practical bit of advice we got. And then I think just general business advice has always been to try and be quite nimble. So having lots of customers buying small amounts, rather than one or two buying all of it. That worked well for us during the pandemic as well. We had, obviously, customers that really struggled. But then we had some, especially little local restaurants that then turned into bottle shops for the pandemic, that were suddenly doing more business than they'd ever done. It was tough. But we definitely, looking across all our customer base, we had some people that did quite well out of it.”

Who do you most admire in the craft beer sector and why?

“I suppose the obvious one would be The Kernel. And it's because they stick to their guns and the things they do, they do really well. They do bring out different types of beers, but genuinely, it’s about the ethos of the company and the fact that the staff don't change very often - it's obviously a good place to work - and Evan has always been a good person to talk to about stuff. Then currently, with Biercraft, you can see the breweries that are doing well, and one of the ones that's doing pretty well this year is Deya. I think that they've got the right mix of being the trendy brewery but also if you actually go and visit it is quite a polished operation - I always feel like you can tell when you go into a brewery how good it is by how tidy it is. And I was quite impressed when I went there last year. It was definitely a well-run ship.”

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Whether you’re a global beer behemoth like BrewDog, a fledgling brewery just taking on your first member of staff or even a bottleshop/online retailer, the law sets out that if you employ staff then you must provide them with a contract.

However, the benefits of a well-drafted employment contract go much further than simply ensuring you achieve bare minimum legal compliance. It should also safeguard your business secrets in the event of former employees joining competitors or setting up on their own.

Legal obligations

Firstly, employers are required by law to give certain information, in writing, to their employees when their employment starts. This “statement of initial employment particulars” should summarise the main terms of employment and include information such as: job title, start date, pay, hours of work, holiday entitlement and notice periods. Most employers will provide this information as part of a contract of employment.

Employment contracts usually set out additional information over and above the “statement of initial employment particulars”. For instance, they will often set the tone for the employment relationship and contain both parties’ obligations and expectations of each other. Ensuring there is common understanding from the outset is fundamental, especially when businesses are just starting out, as the future of the business is best-shaped by everyone working in the same direction.

Whilst employer/employee relationships usually start amicably, disputes can sometimes arise down the line. Having employment contracts in place that set out clear standards and refer to relevant procedures and policies can help ensure that disputes are resolved efficiently, so that more time can be focused on building a successful business, and