A people’s pub: Brewery co-op gets started

The business news these days is full of startups and entrepreneurs launching businesses, raising capital and, hopefully, cashing out. A group in Burlington led by Matthew Cropp is taking a different approach to entrepreneurship. They are starting a co-op. And not just any co-op; their venture is a brewery co-op called Full Barrel Co-op and Taproom. I collided with Matthew to have him share his vision for this new brewpub.

Both the structure and the focus of the co-op are equally important to Cropp.

“We wanted to develop a co-op based on something people were passionate about,” says Cropp, “and we Vermonters are passionate about our beer! Our project creates opportunities for the many home brewers in our area. By joining our brewery co-op, members can hone their brewing skills and make new friends by participating in a community of practice, which, in turn, builds a culture of participation and commitment among the co-op members.”

Even though the focus is beer, there’s a broader desire for the co-op. Cropp laments the decline in community-owned social spaces where people can gather. He sites organizations like the Masons or Eagles who used to supply those spaces but who have now disappeared in many communities. One of the key goals he and his group are trying to achieve is to create an inclusive community-owned third space in Burlington that is rooted in the values in the co-op model.

His model is the village pub in England, a venerable institution that is also in decline. In England, he notes that there is a group called the Plunkett Foundation that is trying to save village pubs by turning them into member-owned co-ops.

“Gathering over a pint is a social thing and it’s a perfect way to bring people together who are passionate about craft beer in Vermont,” says Cropp. “But Full Barrel Co-op is not only about consuming alcohol; it’s about creation and craft production. It’s about getting to know each other through shared work and community.”

It reminds me of Howard Schultz’ vision for Starbucks: he dreamed of a way to bring the Italian café culture to America. We all know how that turned out.

So why bother with a co-op and not just start another brewery like so many other people have done, with success, in Vermont?

“The co-op structure guarantees meaningful power and ownership to its members. It’s not just an abstract idea,” says Cropp. “By vesting ownership in the community of customers, the co-op model allows members to feel more secure in their support of the brand and in the integrity of the community around it. The core cooperative spirit is the sense that ‘we’re all in this together,’ and ensuring that customers have a real, meaningful say in the process makes them even more valuable to the brand.”

Full Barrel Co-op will have a core group of professional brewers responsible for operating the equipment and brewing the beer. Outside of that is a broader circle of members who home-brew. The co-op is planning to engage and energize this group through member classes, through group buying (of hops or other brewing material), and through homebrew competitions.

Those competitions would engage an even broader segment of members as part of the three member assemblies held each year. Everyone would taste and vote on their favorite homebrew and the winning concoction will be brewed on a larger scale and sold at the co-op. It’s essentially a crowdsourced product development fueled by people who actually own the enterprise.

Like most food co-ops, Full Barrel members will buy shares, now currently set at $100 per share. “Members will be entitled to a share of the profits, pro-rated by how much they spend at the co-op in a given year, and we’re still trying to figure out the best way to return those profits to the members,” Matthew Cropp said. “It might be that we simply write them a check, like at City Market. Or, we’re checking the legality of giving members the option to add dividends to their bar tabs, so they can imbibe their share of the surplus.”

This winte, Full Barrel is finalizing its board of directors and then it is time to start looking for an incubator space for the brewery. “Our ultimate goal is to have a full-scale Full Barrel Co-op brewpub, with most of our sales happening on site,” Cropp said. “We hope to start doing some limited business with area food co-ops as well. If we can find space and get our paperwork in order, we’re hoping to open in late fall of 2015.”

There is one other co-op brewery in the U.S.: the Black Star Co-op in Austin, Texas. Cropp and his friends think Vermont is the perfect place for another co-op brewery. “We think the model resonates especially strongly with the culture and ethos of Vermont, and, given the overwhelmingly positive response we've received thus-far, we have great optimism for our co-op's success.”

To find out more about Full Barrel Co-op, you can visit www.fullbarrel.coop.

Rich Nadworny is principal at Empatico, an innovation and design firm in Burlington. You can connect with Rich at www.empatico.us or follow him on Twitter @rnadworny.