Do you dream of becoming a professional brewer? Of moving the carboys, stainless steel pots, auto-siphons, and pH meters from your garage or basement to an actual production warehouse or taproom? You’re not the first. In fact, many of the almost 9,000 breweries in the United States are owned by people who started as homebrewers and turned their hobby and passion into a professional career.

If you’re serious about going from a homebrewing hobby to professional brewing, you need to understand how to open a brewery. Here are some things to consider to help make your dream a reality.

As many breweries, bars, brewpubs, and restaurants reopen and business owners strategize around how to successfully run their companies in a pandemic climate, finding the best way to safely and efficiently display menus has become essential.

If you’re the person making a decision about menu displays for your organization, you’re probably asking yourself several questions. Should you start or continue using paperless QR codes? Go to a digital menu board? Or switch back to paper menus? The decision you make could have huge repercussions on whether or not you attract new customers, retain loyal ones, and boost your bottom line.

For the last three months, the CPG Restaurant Group has been leveraging Untappd for Business’ QR codes and digital menus to help organize and implement drink and food menus in a safe, contactless way across their two Cheesie’s Pub & Grub and Whiskey Business establishments in Chicago, IL. With over 45,000 menu views at Whiskey Business and both Cheesie’s Pub & Grub locations combined over three months, the CPG Restaurant Group reports that their experience with Untappd for Business has been overwhelmingly positive. For them, Untappd for Business QR codes have helped reduce printing costs and improve their bottom line, with whiskey sales for all of their locations increasing by a combined fifty percent.

But the PJW Restaurant Group, which operates twenty-six locations across New Jersey and Pennsylvania, has gone a different direction, using Untappd for Business software to create custom digital and print menus. In the last year and a half, they’ve racked up 300,000 menu views, almost 15,000 check-ins, and just under 10,000 unique users. However, like the CPG Restaurant Group, PJW reports that their experience with Untappd for Business has been very beneficial for a majority of its businesses.

Because businesses are unique, each of them have different needs. Below, we take a look at all three menu options available for Untappd for Business partners, along with the pros and cons of each.

With three locations across Chicago, the CPG Restaurant Group operates a series of unique concepts including two Cheesie’s Pub & Grub grilled cheese restaurants and the Whiskey Business craft whiskey bar.

Operating several establishments each with their own variety of food, brunch, drink, and craft beer menus poses its own unique set of challenges. Mainly, each location needs to constantly maintain and update a rotating series of menus. Furthermore, after the COVID-19 pandemic, the CPG Restaurant Group wanted to find a secure, touchless way to display its menus to consumers.

For the last three months, the CPG Restaurant Group has been leveraging Untappd for Business’ QR codes and digital menus to help organize and implement each location’s drink and food menus while simultaneously providing a safe, contactless way for patrons to view what they can order. Partnering with Untappd has provided a comprehensive, easy-to-use solution for all three of the CPG Restaurant Group’s concepts.

With over 45K menu views at Whiskey Business and both Cheesie’s Pub & Grub locations combined, the CPG Restaurant Group reports that their experience with Untappd for Business has been overwhelmingly valuable. The Untappd for Business software has helped improve their bottom line and reduced printing and labor costs.

We sat down with Tony Contri, CSG Chief Operating Officer, and Juliette Driscoll, CSG Marketing Director, to chat about running a business that brings out the kid in adults, the importance of operating digital menus in a post-pandemic climate, and how Untappd for Business’ QR codes have helped Cheesie’s and Whiskey Business run easy-to-update, safe, streamlined digital menus.

With twenty-five locations across California, the Eureka! Restaurant Group operates a series of modern restaurants dedicated to supporting American craft beer. As the company writes on its website, “Eureka! is defined as expressing delight on finding, discovering, or solving something. Those that truly appreciate great food, craft beer, and small-batch spirits are discovering a better restaurant experience and Eureka! has elevated it to an art form.”

Operating a high number of establishments means that the Eureka! Restaurant Group is constantly striving to promote new beers, many of which are unique to each location. Additionally, educating their staff and guests on these location-specific craft beers is integral to Eureka!’s mission.

For about the last three years, the Eureka! Restaurant Group has been leveraging Untappd for Business (Try For Free Today!) to create custom menus to help promote not only their extensive craft beer list, but also their whiskey and specialty cocktails. From creating custom print menus to curating bespoke training materials for its staff, the Eureka! Restaurant Group has partnered with Untappd for Business for a comprehensive, easy-to-use solution.

We sat down with Trevor Tyler, Vice President of Beverage Operations at Eureka! Restaurant Group, to chat about how Untappd for Business has helped him create custom menus, efficiently operate menus at a large number of Eureka!’s high-volume establishments, and even how Untappd for Business’ analytics have helped him plan beer menus for future locations.

With 26 locations across New Jersey and Pennsylvania, the PJW Restaurant Group operates a series of unique concepts geared to beer fans—everything from sports bars and pour houses to a fine dining steakhouse, taco concept, and pizza bar. But, the majority of their locations fall under the P.J. Whelihan’s Pub + Restaurant concept, a sports bar known for the perfect blend of good food (such as PJ’s Famous wings), great beer and drinks, and fun in a relaxed atmosphere.

Operating a high number of establishments poses its own unique set of challenges. From a beer perspective, each location has its own drinks menu that needs to be constantly maintained and updated.

For about the last year and a half, to help organize and implement each location’s beer and drinks menu, P.J. Whelihan’s has been leveraging Untappd for Business. From creating intuitive digital and print menus to curating bespoke training materials for its staff, P.J. Whelihan’s has partnered with Untappd for a comprehensive, easy-to-use solution.

So far with over 300k menu views, almost 15k check-ins, and just under 10k unique users, P.J. Whelihan’s experience with Untappd for Business has been overwhelmingly beneficial for a majority of its businesses.

We sat down with Kristen Foord, Marketing Director at PJW Restaurant Group, to chat about how Untappd has helped a large number of their high-volume restaurants and sports bars operate its variety of menus more creatively and efficiently.

Last year, the global COVID-19 pandemic forced many bars, restaurants, taprooms, and breweries to shut down, changing the industry and drinking culture completely. As consumers were forced to drink at home, businesses turned to various strategies to keep the revenue flowing. One of these was serving batch cocktails to go.

According to a Bacardi Limited 2021 annual Cocktail Trends Report with external research commissioned by Nielsen CGA, ready-to-drink beverages such as canned cocktails grew 131 percent in the U.S. market.

Now, as people start safely returning to their barstools, they’re looking for more creative and experimental ways to consume their mixed drinks. Cocktails on tap are an innovative way to serve hard beverages — and they have a huge amount of benefits. From being more efficient than regular cocktails, to requiring fewer employees to serve, lowering operational costs, and increasing profits, cocktails on tap are a smart, viable strategy for any bar, restaurant, brewery, or taproom, especially as businesses across the country continue reopening.