Crain's Cleveland Business by Crain's Cleveland Business

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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 15 pany to look outside of our four walls and bring in expertise that we thought we could use,” said the 67year-old Pat Conway. Dan Conway, 55, added, “It’s nice to have some folks like Bill and Bridget step into some roles that we were trying to fill. As you know, with any startup, you’re accustomed to wearing as many hats as you can possibly wear, it’s nice to have a dedicated management team to always have those hats on.” With annual production now at about 160,000 barrels a year, Great Lakes is the 21st-largest craft brewery in the United States, according to the latest rankings from The Brewers Association, a national trade group. The question on tap, however, is whether Great Lakes needs to get bigger. If it does — and Boor said the company is leaning in that direction — that would certainly necessitate a larger brewing operation beyond its current digs in Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood. Great Lakes’ last major investment in its plant came in 2014, with a $7 million spend that added considerably to its fermentation capabilities. Today, the company’s growth is hampered by the size of its brewhouse. And with little room for additional brewing vessels, the company will likely set its sights beyond its current landlocked confines. Boor, using the analytical acumen for which he was hired, said the company is in the midst of several market studies to decide the long-term growth potential of the brewery. At the same time, the company has looked at potential sites and done preliminary engineering work to gauge what it would cost to build another brewing facility. Boor said the company also is interest-

ed in canning some of its beers, which would expand the types of places where Great Lakes beers can be enjoyed, but there’s simply no room for a canning line. “The big bet in the end is on the market side,” Boor said. “You can know how much it’ll cost to build a facility and know the operating costs, but the market has to be there for you. While we’re making this decision about the potential to expand, we’re doing so in a marketplace that’s very competitive with a lot of dynamics.” According to The Brewers Association, in 2015, craft brewers produced 24.5 million barrels and saw a 13% increase in volume and a 16% rise in retail dollar value. Also last year, the number of breweries in the U.S. grew 15% to 4,269 — the most at any time in the country’s history. Meanwhile, the total U.S. beer market was down 0.2% last year, meaning that the bulk of the growth opportunities have been in the craft beer segment. So given the growing popularity of craft beer and, more specifically, the Great Lakes brand, why so much research into whether additional brewing capabilities are needed? The world always needs more Christmas Ale or Dortmunder, right? “A lot of craft brewers have gone and built a whole new amount of capacity and assumed a certain level of sales will happen and that will be used up,” Dan Conway said. “Sometimes they build it and forget how to sell it.” All the while, megabrewers looking to capitalize on the growing microbrew craze have acquired several regional breweries around the country — something the Conways aren’t particularly interested in at the moment. “We’re getting calls also, but we’re wary of bringing someone in and losing the culture and what we’ve developed so nicely over these three decades,” Pat Conway said.

Culture fit Of course, with the hiring of Boor came the natural question of whether someone with his background would come in and “corporatize” what has historically been a close-knit, familyrun enterprise that now employs 237 people — 202 of whom are in Cleveland. However, Boor said he wasn’t “being brought into a turnaround situation, so they didn’t need me to start throwing chairs around the room by any means.” In fact, he’s bought into the culture fairly quickly. It doesn’t take long in an interview for Boor to spout Great Lakes’ philosophy surrounding its triple bottom line the Conways have preached for years — namely, engaging in economic, social and environmental practices that achieve a sustainable yet profitable business. Pat Conway said Boor fits “beautifully, like a hand in a glove.” Plus, he has a passion for the product. “Most of the people who started breweries over the last 30 years didn’t do it because they thought it was a good business idea,” Boor said. “There’s such a culture around craft brewing that goes beyond the dollars and cents. That resonates with people.” One of the perks of working at Great Lakes is that all employees at the end of their shifts can sip on a free beer courtesy of their employer. Boor’s beer of a choice? That’s tough, he said, but as of late it’s been Chillwave, a double IPA with 9% ABV that, according to its label, “will melt the ice in your beard and never lose its balance.” “Every time I go down for a shift beer, I say ‘Don’t order a Chillwave. Don’t order a Chillwave,’ and when the bartender says, ‘What’ya have, Bill?’ I always say ‘Chillwave,’” Boor said with a smile.

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