SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
JANUARY 2018
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SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • JANUARY 2018
I know I’m not the only one who thinks there are too many cannot people in the business world today. I know I’m not the only one who thinks that moxie is in short supply when your business is in a pinch. That’s why Ken Greer’s attitude is so refreshing, which happens to be a doubly-apt adjective for his line of work. “You can put a draft tap anywhere if you really want, it just needs to be properly balanced and cooled behind the seam so that you’re not pouring shaving cream. But yes, you can pop a draft tap onto pretty much anything,” Ken said with a breezy determination in his voice. Ken’s Halifax-based company BeerTech specializes in draught system technologies. BeerTech offers consulting, design and installation, cleaning and maintenance, as well as beverage dispensing gas services to craft breweries, pubs, and restaurants throughout New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia. It’s Ken’s mission to design every BeerTech draught system for “optimum performance and cost savings and do the installation to the highest industry standards.” Even if you’re not in the beverage industry BeerTech has something for you. David MacDonald
As the lone independently owned and operated draught systems company in Nova Scotia, business development often means Ken hitting the open road. Ever had a growler filled at Big Spruce Brewing in Nyanza, on Cape Breton Island? Sampled an IPA in the tasting room at the Tatama- gouche Brewing Company on the Northumberland Strait? Brought home a six-pack of swing-top bottles from School- house Brewery in the birthplace of hockey, Windsor? Those libations were made possible in part by BeerTech. “We put in a fair amount of kilometres throughout Nova Scotia,” Ken said. “The number of craft breweries and pubs we’ve done over a five-year period is remarkable, and now we’ve got a couple things coming up in Sydney – and that will be a little bit of a haul.” BeerTech can help any business anywhere maintain a healthy profit margin and high quality draught beer for patrons by ensuring that each pint is the perfect pour every time. “I always tell customers that it’s like this: We get on the road, we do a job, we do it well and we don’t need to service it – and you don’t have to worry about having any issues,” Ken said. “I don’t take any jobs that I cannot get to quickly if the clients have a problem,” Ken said. “One of the things that we like to do is educate people – we don’t just come in and install your draft system and then just disappear; we give you enough information to get yourself out of trouble but not enough information to get yourself into trouble.” For current BeerTech clients, Grant Chisholm is a familiar face. He’s the “young guy” on the BeerTech team, Ken said with a laugh. Grant has previously worked at a few bars and breweries in Halifax. “He does all of our line cleaning, main- tenance – most of our service work. I focus on sales, market- ing, invoicing, and site surveys,” Ken said. “When it comes to custom work, we work on that together. He’s great at what he does and that really motivates me to keep the business small.” Ken said he’s looking into adding another person in the spring. “With the line cleaning and mainte- nance work alone we’re getting to the point where we need another set of hands with us on the road.”
The story of BeerTech is a real bootstraps tale. Ken reg- istered the company name in 2013, packed his bags, and headed south of the 49 th parallel north. “It doesn’t matter what you do, education is key,” Ken said. “When the BeerTech name was mine, I went down to do training at Micro Matic, which is an American company that builds draft equipment and they offer an advanced draft course.
The course really teaches you to install draft systems and how to do it right.”
Doing it right is only part of the BeerTech equation. “It’s a really fun industry,” Ken said. “There’s a lot of camaraderie amongst the brewers in the craft brewing industry in Nova Scotia and throughout the Maritimes in general. It’s a lot of fun going into a new pub, a new craft brewery or a new restaurant and setting up their taps. Going in and it’s bare- bones, and thensetting up their new draft system is a really great feeling.” “We do tap installations and growler-fill stations for craft breweries and private liquor stores all over.” When Ken came back to Halifax from his advanced training program at Micro Matic with his mortarboard in hand, the timing couldn’t have been better. “We started right around the time the boom in the craft brewing industry happened,” Ken said. “When we started there was just one New Bruns- wick-based company doing draft installations through- out the Maritimes. Prices were not at all what they should have been because there was no competition.” Businesses outside of New Brunswick routinely experienced long wait times for installations and maintenance before Ken entered the market.
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JANUARY 2018 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
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Despite the company’s growth spurt, Ken said that he is cautious of too much change for Beer Tech, too fast. “I want to stay small and stay local and basically just work for small independently-owned businesses.” “It’s also just neat to be able to dispense beer at a get-together or on a fishing trip. It definitely has its advantages.”
However, that doesn’t mean that Ken isn’t willing to continue to diversify his business model. “The bulk CO2 side of the business is growing, and it’s important to us financially, because it’s something we’re doing that our competitors aren’t,” Ken said. For example, 2 Crows Brewing in Halifax is a complete BeerTech setup. “We did their draft system, but we also set up their bulk CO2, installed the CO2 system they require for the brewing process, canning, and bottling,” Ken said. “We even custom-built storage towers to their specifications.”
“It’s a lot of fun going into a new pub, a new craft brewery or a new restaurant and setting up their taps.”
BeerTech’s custom tap installation resumé includes a 1950s-style ice box and a vintage French oak wine barrel.
While the rental division at BeerTech is currently, as Ken explained, more “favours for friends” than anything else, it’s getting the name out there and reaching a clientele that he wouldn’t otherwise be interacting with, through draft systems technology. “If you’re going to a cottage or camping or fishing, and you want to dispense some draft we offer units called jockey boxes for rental,” Ken said. “A jockey box is essentially a cooler with a 120-foot cooling coil inside of it. You fill it with water and ice and get the coil nice and cold and then when the draft is dispensed from the keg it travels through the stainless steel coil and it comes out cold.” Jockey boxes don’t need any power or electricity, creating an easy beer-on- tap experience, anywhere, any time. The jockey box is growing in popularity as an alternative to transporting mass amounts of bottled or canned product. “It’s also a lot more environmentally friendly because this way you’re not leaving a bunch of trash behind,” Ken said. “We started right around the time the boom in the craft brewing industry happened, so coming up on five years.” “We also have kegerators, which are single-door keg fridges,” Ken said. “We rent those out for weddings, stag parties, bachelor parties, and beer events.” Kegerators have become useful rentals for breweries or restaurants who are participating in beer festivals, wine shows or other trade shows.
“We put in a fair amount of kilometres throughout Nova Scotia.”
For more information about BeerTech’s draft system technologies, including eco-friendly water systems, visit beertech.ca .
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BEERTECH
info@beertech.ca (902) 431-BEER (2337)
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as spotlighted in the JANUARY 2018 issue of SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
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