Fair Isle Brewing, LLC
http://www.fairislebrewing.com
Fair Isle brewing is a brewery with tasting room in Seattle Washington, focused on the Belgian influenced style of beer called Farmhouse beer.
The Person Behind the Company
Geoffrey Barker, Co-Founder
About the Offering
JOBS Act Offering type: Reg CF
Portal used: NextSeed
Link to offering: https://www.nextseed.com/teamfairisle
Q&A
Q. What problem are you solving with your product or services?
A. Though this style is increasingly popular nationally, it is an under-served niche in Seattle's otherwise vibrant craft brewery scene. The reason for it being under-served is frankly a little puzzling as there is clear interest and pent up demand. Our best guess is that IPAs have been so successful and our proximity to one of the world’s premier hop growing regions has made for an obvious path for many brewers.
Q. What are your current goals for the business?
A. We are a startup, so our current focus is on the build-out of our brewery and tasting room. Once open, our focus will be to maximize sales through our tasting room where we expect to see four times greater revenue and three times profit compared to distribution.
We will also self-distribute our beer to select local bars and bottle shops to get the word out. As the capacity of the tasting room is reached we will also distribute more of our beer in both bottles and kegs to select well known bars and bottle shops in other parts of the country (such as Belmont Station in Portland OR and Monk's Cafe in Philadelphia). This will help us increase local and national attention for our brand.
Q. Why did you choose this particular crowdfunding platform?
A. We were drawn to NextSeed's Food and Beverage Industry focus and success rate.
Q. Why did you choose equity crowdfunding over other funding mechanisms?
A. We see crowdfunding as a good way to engage friends and family that would otherwise not be able to participate in other ways.
Q. What has been the hardest part of the equity crowdfunding process based on your experience?
A. The main challenge is assessing whether you are getting your information to the right people in a manner that they respond to. There are some metrics but it's a little bit of a black hole.
Q. What makes your company unique and/or distinctive to potential investors?
A. As spoken to earlier, we are focused on the under-served niche of farmhouse beers in Seattle. These special beers are made with a mixed fermentation culture of both domesticated and wild yeasts and bacteria (similar to a sourdough bread starter) as opposed to a single lab isolated strain of yeast as is typically used today. Because our culture has many organisms, each contributing a different flavor and aroma, our beers are more complex and interesting. Because of the mixed culture and the way it will take up residence in our space, our beer cannot be replicated anywhere else.
Q. What is the best business advice you ever received?
A. Spend more time fundraising and start a little larger than you think you should.
Q. What inspired you to start or become a part of this business?
A. Brewing these styles of beers is not easy, but deeply rewarding. The range of things to explore and discover in the brewing as well as the business is truly endless and that really appeals to me.
Q. If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be?
A. Don't try to eat the elephant in a single sitting but do fill your plate.
What they say about dbbmckennon
Q. Why did you choose dbbmckennon?
A. Referral
As a startup, we don't have a lot of time to spend chasing details and reading between the lines to understand what needs to be done. Working with David and Brian was a breeze. From describing their process to gathering information and final delivery; everything was simple and very well organized. I really appreciate that.
Social Media:
https://www.facebook.com/fairislebrewing/
https://www.instagram.com/fairislebrewing/