centric, where they’re really focusing on driving traffic to their facility. And that’s where their core business model is based. Have a nice large tasting room or lounge with a kitchen — and you don’t distribute much.” Hill adds, “another route is to go heavy into the outside distribution. So you’re not really as focused on bringing people into your facility as you are getting your beer out to the consumer, whether it’s through package products into liquor stores or keg product into restaurants and bars. So what we are trying to do is to find a line in the middle. We didn’t want to strictly be a destination brewery. I wanted to see our products in the further reaches throughout the province.” “We knew that Parksville- Qualicum Beach really needed somewhere to go.” Finding the balance also provides the people of Parks- ville-Qualicum Beach with a much-needed hang-out. Hill explains that the area was in desperate need of a place for multiple generations to go and interact. “We knew that Parksville-Qualicum Beach really needed somewhere to go. There is nowhere here in terms of places for people to go that really attract that younger demographic. And so we wanted to be able to offer that. Again, we try to find the middle ground and I think we have succeeded.” The beer flavours and styles are also a testament to their commitment to accessibility. And not just at home. Hill says they wanted to compete with the big guns and the sophis- ticated palettes found in larger urban centres. “There’s a couple of things that we wanted to accomplish. First we wanted to appeal to a market in places like Victoria and Vancouver, places that are tough to find shelf space. The people who are consuming craft beer in these places are knowledgeable. They know what they want. And a lot of times, they’re looking for that next new big thing.” “However, our local market here is a little bit of an older demographic. So we didn’t want to alienate anybody, and we wanted to appeal just as much if not more to our local demographic because that definitely is our bread-and-but- ter. If you can get your local markets to take care of you you can take care of them.” This translated into putting their own mark on beer styles that were familiar to a wider beer-consumer demograph- ic. “We tried to stick with more traditional flavour profile in terms of our original line. We certainly began to push into some new territory, more adventures territory, coming up with some different flavours that aren’t necessarily typical with craft breweries. But we also have a more typical IPA and pale ale and blonde ale.”
The strategy is definitely working. Awards have been rolling in, including the every sought-after BC Brewery of the year
48
SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • JUNE 2018
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online