Brewbound Rising Star 2024: Topa Topa Brewing

Speaker 1 [00:05] Our next award winner is Topa Topa Brewing Company in Ventura, California. Joining me now is Jack Dyer, Topa Topa's president and CEO. Congratulations, Jack.

Speaker 2 [00:17] Thanks so much. It's a great, great honor to be included. Um, we really appreciate it. We work hard at what we do and love what we do. So, uh, any, any accolades always are, are, are, they feel good, so we appreciate it.

Speaker 1 [00:28] Well, I know Jess and myself left very impressed after we talked with you at CCBA earlier this year, and one of the subjects that we talked about was Chief Peak IPA, which you have a real flagship brand, which is. You know, that, that, that stands for something this year or any year actually. So, how big a part of your portfolio is chief at this point?

Speaker 2 [00:55] Yeah, it's, um, Chief Peak's, yeah, it's an amazing beer. It's a beer we've continued to chase. Uh, we're about to turn 10 years old, uh, in June this year, and, and, um, Chief represents about 65% of our of our production portfolio, um, so yeah, it's, it's a, it's a beer that we have a high degree of confidence in, in selling when we can go out and sell it to retailers, uh, with a high degree of confidence that it's gonna move very, very fast for them. The velocity on it remains really, really high as its footprint starts to expand. Um, but still a heavy, heavily weighted draft, um, beer as well, but we've expanded formats this year to account for a number of growth. So it's in 6 packs, 12 ounce, uh, also in 19.2s, um, so that's, that's really helped it continue its, it's, it's trajectory, uh, outside of its draft footprint, which it does very, very well on draft as well. So yeah, we love Chief Peak.

Speaker 1 [01:44] What have you learned from those package additions?

Speaker 2 [01:48] I think this year was a really important year um for us you know we just graduated kind of into the regional status uh and so we need to find new ways to innovate and and approach approach the market and and create different occasions for our drinkers and. Um, the 192 expansion was our big bet of the year. Uh, we released Chief Peak in the 192 as well as an additional double IPA, um, and then we put our Mexican lager in it as well. Um, and by all marks and, and, uh, we've accomplished what we, what we wanted to, what we set out to do. Um, our distributors were kind of begging for them, um, so when we, when we did that format, um, expansion, uh, that's accounting for a decent amount of our growth this year with our distributors. So I look back at the numbers and if we hadn't done it, I, I think we'd be in a much different position than we are today.

Speaker 1 [02:36] Do you view that as a convenience play or is it going into those venues that we've seen these, these formats play into?

Speaker 2 [02:45] I think it's a little bit of both. We haven't gotten too, too many like crazy big venue, um, uh, hits with it like some of the stadiums that we didn't get into it, but we're still seeing significant growth and high velocity with it. So it just seems like both the both Chief Peak, our IPA and then our double IPA, which is called Huckster, um, has done really, really, really well in even in some grocery settings, um, and convenience. So just creating that different occasion and, and potentially for us since we, we are still an emerging brand, uh, across, uh, most, most of, much of Southern California, I think it, I think it is a way to, um, access new, uh, new customers who might might otherwise not wanna buy an entire 6 pack at, you know, 13 or 14.99. Um, but are, are willing to take a, take a chance on something that's 349 or 399 just to, to get some liquid lips and, and, um, we have a high degree of confidence in our beer, uh, so once people drink it, we hope that we hook them in.

Speaker 1 [03:37] So when Jess and I spoke with you at CCBA, you mentioned that you're on the lookout for a number 2 brand to, to pair with Chief Peak. Is that Huckster or is there something else in the portfolio that you're really building to be that strong number 2?

Speaker 2 [03:54] I think you know for us right now we have a a Mexican lager called uh Dos Topas Lager that um right now that is our our clear number two it's in uh it's also in that 19.2 package as well. It doesn't do as great there I mean it it has its occasions and it has its its places where it pulls, but it does really well on draft as we've expanded further away from the brewery. You know, we get closer to, um, other great breweries that have incredible IPAs that have, you know, really tight footprints around the brewery. We're finding Dos Topas as a way to get into a lot of places, um, with the craft lager, um, so that's been a really good addition for us and, uh, even in our home market where Chief Peak is pretty much on tap at most places, uh, that you're around, we're gaining some second. Handles with uh a different occasion or a different drinker, a different topa drinker. So, um, Dos Topas right now is in the is in the lead, um, you know, but we're always looking for, for new products and and new things that's through we test them in our taproom network and if they work there, um, you know, hopefully over the next 1 or 2 or 3 years continues as we go in the future, we'll, we'll continue to innovate and see what works.

Speaker 1 [05:02] This feels like a year in which Topa Topa has really. Tried a lot of new things. You mentioned the new package formats for Chief Peak, but you also launched your first mixed six-pack this year. What did you learn from that?

Speaker 2 [05:17] We learned a lot, um, so I think the biggest thing that we've learned this year is, you know, we, we, we really professionalized a lot of the, the, the upper, upper management seats at, at Topatopa. Uh, our director of sales, Sean Bocar did a great job, uh, coming in and, um, proposing some really good. Ideas based on data, not just on like what we like or what's working in our tap rooms like trying to find some areas of uh in the data set that says this might this would work if we make this bet um, mixed packs is, is a challenging thing for a smaller brewery like us, um, you know, it does, uh, raise the, the labor on on it, but, um, we've had that solitude series that's the name of our, our, our mix pack it's a solitude series single IPA mix pack. Um, it's 3 different single hop IPAs in 1, uh, 12 ounce 6 pack, um, so we learned a lot about how to do it just like how, how from a production standpoint to, to line up 3 different IPAs and then package them on 3 different days, uh, and then, um, we learned what the customers want. It did, it did quite well, uh, out, out there in the market, so, uh, we're excited to continue that, um, that trend and, and we learned some things about kind of the size and scope of what we should put out there because we're. Treating that one as a as an in and out for now um until we can really figure out how to manage it from a production side because it was kind of an all hands on deck thing, um, you know, the sales team came in I was in there, we were all packing repacking cans onto the canning line um to to to to get that packaged beer into our cartons so, um, but yeah, a fun project, um, challenging project, really proud of the team for pulling it off because it was, it was truly a group team effort across the board for the whole company working on that.

Speaker 1 [06:55] You operate 5 locations in California. How is the at the brewery business going and what, what are you learning from consumers at this point?

Speaker 2 [07:05] Yeah, it's been, it's been an interesting year. Uh, um, our taproom business is down a little bit year over year, um, there, and it's kind of right in line with some of the national more in line with some of the national trends and craft overall. Um, we're finding that we're not seeing like, like the number of people who are coming into our tap rooms is remaining similar, uh, but what we're. they're spending a little bit less, so there's some macroeconomic things going on or people are just drinking one or two less beers, so we're trying to create new occasions for them to come out and join us. We've really ramped up of our events programming and those types of things to try and get people in the door. Taprooms are obviously our highest margin product that we that we sell. Uh, so when we can get uh more butts and seats and more people here to visit us, um, that that that's great for our company. So it's been, it's been a challenging, um, but, uh, a challenging year, but, um, you know, not like, not ringing the alarm bells type of type of stuff, just sort of like just down a little bit we gotta figure out some ways to create those new occasions.

Speaker 1 [08:08] Well, you're riding 3 years of double-digit growth and like you mentioned earlier, you reached that regional brewery status last year. How are you pacing this year and, you know, what, what are you excited about?

Speaker 2 [08:22] Yeah, we're, well, we're super excited about our wholesale growth. Um, we've, we're, we're, we're on pace to get potential double double digit growth in wholesale again, um, this year, uh, low double digits, but, uh, in this, in today's market, I think that's pretty incredible, um, and next year we're, we're, we're really. We've grown up now as a brewery into more like planned and strategic growth so we can look at a number and look at that growth number in the eye and really believe that we can go get it um versus for many years for us it was kind of like drinking from the fire hose where it was just like OK we grew 40% again like what the heck is going on um so now we're we're we we have some good plans for next year to to um. Innovate a few more products into the wholesale market and and hit the ground running early part of next year to try and achieve, you know, somewhere in between that 12 to 15% growth hopefully again um and uh early returns on some of, you know, our chain businesses and stuff looks like that's gonna help us get there but um that's our strategy for next year along with potentially another tap room uh or or or something to add to our portfolio so we'll we'll, we're working, working hard here every day and trying to, trying to keep, keep the train on the tracks and uh it's a much bigger train than it was when we started 10 years ago so.

Speaker 1 [09:32] As we look ahead to next year, is there one thing that you're most excited about?

Speaker 2 [09:39] I'm, I'm just really excited about my, uh, our team here at, at TOA. Like I said, we've, we've spent the last, uh, couple of years really professionalizing a lot of the seats, uh, and, uh, in the management level of, of our company, and I'm really excited about the ideas and the innovation that they're bringing to everything from a finance side, from a sales side, from a planning and production side. It's, um, we, we have a really great team here, so I'm really excited to see what comes of, of what comes out of that kind of brain trust and, uh, and keeps us going, but. Uh, certainly wholesales is, is a focus for us, uh, right now, and, and I'm excited to challenge ourselves to try and, uh, get the taprooms back to, uh, previous year's numbers, um, with, with different events and different ideas. Again, to me it's becoming more of that like occasion we gotta find more occasions to get people, uh, out here. Craft beer used to be like, I mean I can remember when I first started drinking a lot of craft beer where I would go sit in a warehouse with a plastic table and a plastic chair and now the, the levels of. You can get craft everywhere, uh, including Topatopa. I mean, I think some of our, some of our slowdown, our taprooms is maybe self-imposed because our beer is everywhere now, so, uh, people don't need to come necessarily see us. So trying to create those occasions through special release beers, um, community engagement events, uh, 1% for the Planet, nonprofit giving, um, those are the things that I think will, will, will get, get us back. So excited about all of it. It's, it's not without its challenges, but, um, I just really feel fortunate to come to work every day with such a. Energetic, great group of people, um, who are focused on, on the main goal.

Speaker 1 [11:09] That's craft beer in the middle 2020s at this point. So, well, thank you for doing this, Jack. Uh, super excited to honor Topa Topa and looking forward to seeing what you all do next year. Best of luck.

Speaker 2 [11:24] Thanks so much, Justin. We really do appreciate it. It's, it's humbling to be, uh, recognized and, um, for the whole team at Topatopa we're, we're really thankful. So thank you

Speaker 1 [11:31] guys. Thank you.