Brewery Tours: The Economics of a Successful Marketing Campaign

Brewery Tours: The Economics of a Successful Marketing Campaign

Brewery tours are commonplace in the market today. But with over 6,000 breweries in the United States how will your brewery set themselves apart and gain market share in an ever-increasing competitive space. Brewery tours could be part of the solution.
In 2013 the Portland, Maine brewery Allagash estimated to have 22,000 people touring their brewery a year with each tour selling out at 25 people per tour. In addition, Allagash discovered that when they offered tours, it in turn increased brand merchandise sales and fostered a loyalty with the brewery. The increase in merchandise sales eventually paid for the staff to run the free tours.

Not all breweries are capable of supporting tour staff with merchandise alone. That’s where a paid tour comes into play. Offering a brewery tour for $10 per person can be more than enough to offset the cost of samples and a glass. If the brewery has an on-premise bar, the brewery tour has been proven to get more customers into the brewery and for those customers to drink longer.

If Allagash were to monetize their brewery tours in a traditional way at $10 per person the below table helps to demonstrate the annual breakdown of potential supplemental revenue from the tours alone (assuming sold out tours):

 

1 day/week

2 days/week

3 days/week

4 days/week

5 days/week

6 days/week

7 days/week

1 tour

$13,000

$26,000

$39,000

$52,000

$65,000

$78,000

$91,000

2 tours

$26,000

$52,000

$78,000

$104,000

$130,000

$156,000

$182,000

3 tours

$39,000

$78,000

$117,000

$156,000

$195,000

$234,000

$273,000

4 tours

$52,000

$104,000

$156,000

$208,000

$260,000

$312,000

$364,000

5 tours

$65,000

$130,000

$195,000

$260,000

$325,000

$390,000

$455,000

6 tours

$78,000

$156,000

$234,000

$312,000

$390,000

$468,000

$546,000

7 tours

$91,000

$182,000

$273,000

$364,000

$455,000

$546,000

$637,000

8 tours

$104,000

$208,000

$312,000

$416,000

$520,000

$624,000

$728,000

9 tours

$117,000

$234,000

$351,000

$468,000

$585,000

$702,000

$819,000

10 tours

$130,000

$260,000

$390,000

$520,000

$650,000

$780,000

$911,000

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