Page 36 of Drunk Girl

“Now’s great, let me just go refill the coffee cup and I’ll be ready.”

“No problem,” I tell him as he gets up and heads downstairs. While he’s gone, I pull out the information, placing his copy on the desk and readying mine to explain everything included in the costs.

“All right, lay it on me,” he says, sitting down and opening the binder.

“I’ve separated everything into categories. First, is the space. I’ve found a space that I think will be perfect for the setup, and it’s not far from here—just a few blocks away, actually. They are willing to discuss a rent-to-purchase option, which I think is beneficial to us, as we’d eventually own the property and would build the equity. Especially if we end up scaling up and add more tanks down the road.

“The next section”—I point— “is all the equipment that we’d need to purchase. I’ve set it up to have the equipment to start out with being able to brew two batches at the same time, that way we can appeal to a wider customer base.”

I pause long enough to take a drink from my water bottle before jumping right back into things. “The third section is the actual brewing supplies we’d need, which are pretty straightforward. The last section is the packaging section. I figure, at startup, we’d only keg it to have at the bar, but if I can dream big here, I’d love to think that, at some point, we could bottle it up and end up on the shelves in stores. I know that piece is a ways off, but I included it, to be thorough.”

“This looks great, Nick,” Kaiden says, flipping through all the pages as he reads through my notes and numbers.

“Oh, and the last page has a spreadsheet with all the numbers together, color coded even, with things broken down into startup costs, mid-point expenses, and future expenses.”

“You really put a lot of work into this,” he says, sounding impressed as he flips to the last page with the numbers. “It actually isn’t as much as I was thinking it would be for startup costs. What kind of timeframe are we looking at to actually get beer in the bar?”

“The building would need some work, obviously the tanks would need to be ordered and installed. If we got started on everything soon, I’d think we could be brewing within six weeks, maybe eight. Then it would be another six or so weeks after that before beer would be ready. If we give ourselves a few extra weeks buffer for delays, I’d say we’d have beer on tap by the new year, probably earlier than then, but for sure by January.”

I can tell he’s mulling all the information over as he flips through the information in front of him.

“I know that it’s going to be a commitment, and one that we have no guarantee will take off. But, small batch breweries are killing it these days, and I think we can tap into that. With us just having hired some more employees that are all well-versed in handling the bar, I think this is the perfect time for me to be able to swing my focus to this part of the business. I wouldn’t completely step back from being behind the bar, but I think that if I’m focusing on the brewing side of things, that most of my time will be spent there and not here.”

“I get that, and I agree that our staff can handle things,” he says, still flipping back and forth between pages. He’s got his super-serious, furrowed brows, look on his face, and I wait in anticipation for his answer. “I think you’re on to something with this and these numbers look good. We’ve got enough in our savings to cover the startup costs, still leaving us a nice cushion for other business expenses. We’ve also got the business line of credit should anything go wrong.”

“So, you’re on board?” I ask, trying to keep my excitement tamped down.

“Yes. Let’s do it,” he says, a huge smile on his face.

“I’m happy to hear you say that,” I tell him honestly.

“I see the positives, and you’ve obviously done your homework and know what you need to do to make this as successful as you can. One thing I’d be interested in from the beginning, is seeing if the building owner would be interested in just selling from the start. We’d have to get a loan for that, but if we’re going to be renovating to fit our needs, I’d rather be doing that to a building we own.”

“I can find out for sure,” I tell him, seeing where he’s coming from.

“Let’s do that, find out if we can just purchase now, and if so, start the negotiations on the sale. I can call up our banking contact and get the ball rolling on the possibility of a new business loan for the purchase.”

“I’ll get on it today, and hopefully have an answer for you by this afternoon. Thanks, brother. I think this is going to be something special.”

We part ways and I call up our realtor to have him start looking into the purchase option on the building. Within hours, he’s got answers for us and an offer written up for Kaiden and I to look over before he submits it.

* * *

“Hey, baby,”I call out as I come into the house, finding Ashley on the couch.

“How was your day?” she asks, a smile filling her lips, like she’s excited about something.

“It was great. We’re moving forward with the brewery. Kaiden loved my presentation and we’ve submitted an offer to buy the building rather than rent it.”

“That’s amazing! I’m happy that it’s all working out for you.”

“Me too, babe. How was your day?” I ask, dropping down to give her a kiss.

“Good, work went well. I stopped at Mom’s place after and packed up the rest of my things and brought them here.”

“About damn time,” I tease her. “What did you want to do for dinner?”

“I’ve got some steaks and veggies all ready to go, just waiting on you to fire up the grill,” she says sweetly.

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