needs. If there’s anything a client wants done differently, in that sense we’re still a small company. We are happy to make changes and accommodate as best we can.” The first question Iron Heart asks when approached by a new client is “What do you know about canning?” Marston elaborates that canning and packaging beer isn’t quite as simple as forcing suds into cans and sealing them. “Part of our service is explaining what canning does for a brewery, from the conditions for the beer, right down to how pack- aging and distribution will help in their success. When they are a new brewery, our mobile aspect makes sense. Their volume might not be there yet, so we guide them on figuring out what their market might be like for beer in cans, and how often they will need to use our services. They don’t need to buy a $150,000 machine that they won’t be able to pay back for several years.” Mobile canning also has the ability to become the yard- stick in measuring volume demand, leading to future brewery expansion. “It helps breweries grow a revenue stream, maybe buy more tanks and see if the volume of their canning supports what they are producing.” He also explains that rapid volume changes, perhaps due to special events or increased demand, make mobile canning indispensable for many craft breweries. “We scale up with our clients as much as they need to. So they come to us and say ‘we need x more cans every week, starting next week.’ We can do that.”
A large part of what Iron Heart does for breweries is remove a level of labor and administration from business- es that are generally more focused on forging relation- ships with customers, rather than worrying about materi- als for packaging. Iron Heart has developed partnerships with suppliers of all the materials for canning and packaging (printed card- board, labeling, etc.). “For the small mom and pop who has no experience with what the best packaging prices are and where to get everything, that’s where we step in. We have a pretty unique economy of scale going now, so we have very com- petitive prices. In fact, we have vendors who want to work with us because of our volume business. And we then work directly with the breweries and get them what they need.” The mobile “pay-as- you-go” type service provided by Iron Heart Canning also helps breweries combat an almost uni- versal ongoing battle — space in their brewhouse. Marston points out, “Instead of buying pallets or a bulk trailer-load of cans, they can just buy the exact amount they need. So they aren’t going to pay for and store a year’s worth of cans. They are able to get what they need for their monthly runs and that’s it. So that helps with their cash flow, because they aren’t tying up cash in supplies
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