Jester King’s Jeffrey Stuffings on Adjustments Made During the COVID-19 Crisis

Mar. 31, 2020 at 9:54 PM

In a matter of days, Austin, Texas’ Jester King Brewery had lost two-thirds of its revenue, which dried up as the company preemptively closed its tasting room on March 16 -- a week before Travis County issued a stay-at-home order on March 24 through April 13 -- due to concerns over the spread of the novel coronavirus disease COVID-19. Jester King, a destination brewery located on a 165 acre ranch in Texas’ Hill Country, attracts thousands of visitors each weekend in a festival-like atmosphere as described by founder Jeffrey Stuffings. But Jester King’s business, which, similar to so many small craft breweries, was built on on-site sales to consumers looking for an experience at the brewery’s tasting room. Once those were temporarily banned, the brewery was forced into a “survival mode business plan.” Although “huge swaths” of Jester King’s business is gone, the company is making moves to adapt and keep cash coming in, including instituting to-go sales seven days a week, the removal of bottle limits, pre-releases and cellar releases of beer and more. Stuffings discusses those efforts, as well as the types of relief small breweries like Jester King need in the video above.