Lessons on Keeping Small Businesses Afloat
Here’s how one microbrewery pivoted to online orders, pickup and delivery and leveraged social media.
May 08, 2020 | 2 min read
PHILADELPHIA—Small businesses across the United States have felt the impact of the coronavirus, and to remain open and competitive, they have made major pivots. Just eight years ago, Trevor Hayward and Luke Bowen started Evil Genius microbrewery, which has since grown to more than 35,000 distribution outlets in seven states, along with the Lab bar/retail location, Forbes reports. Then came the coronavirus pandemic.
Almost overnight, more than two-thirds of the company’s distribution outlets dried up, the bar closed, and the owners laid off workers. “With the closure of bars, that has reduced our business by approximately 60%. The impact there has been pretty aggressive as you would imagine,” said Hayward.
But the pair decided to strategize on how to keep the business going—and rehire as many of their former employees as quickly as possible. By early May, the company had started bringing back staff. Here’s how they did it:
1. Employ innovative thinking. The company quickly pivoted to carryout service at its bar/retail location, offering bottled six-packs and cases, and tap beers in crowlers, growlers and kegs. Evil Genius also added online orders for delivery and pickup. They debuted new beers with whimsical titles like The Gang Gets Quarantined.
2. Demonstrate a caring attitude toward workers and customers. Right after letting their employees go, the owners put up a GoFundMe “Virtual Tip Jar” page for the workers, raising enough to give each employee $500. They then successfully applied for the Paycheck Protection Program. They also encouraged customers to “Stay Home” with a revamped company logo, plus used social media to convey its new pickup policy. Evil Genius also gave away free beer to frontline workers and those out of work during a four-day period.
3. Creatively use social media. Evil Genius always relied on social media to promote its brews, but now it kicked up its postings. “We know that people are a little bored,” Hayward said, “so we’ve tried to create and put together whatever we can in terms of keeping things fun. We’ve always had the mantra of ‘Keeping beer fun,’ but now it’s morphed into ‘keeping things fun.’ Whether it’s a funny meme, or a silly video we make ourselves, we’re always coming up with something new to try out.”
NACS has compiled resources to help the convenience retail community navigate the COVID-19 crisis. For news updates and guidance, visit our coronavirus resources page.
Crisis management Social media
