We recently connected with Shawn Hopman and have shared our conversation below.

Shawn, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. So, let’s imagine that you were advising someone who wanted to start something similar to you and they asked you what you would do differently in the startup-process knowing what you know now. How would you respond?

When we set out to start Ya Sure Kombucha, we knew there would be challenges. We create a very unique product and it’s just not as popular in our area as it is in other parts of the country. There isn’t enough of these around to just go and ask how things are done. So we have had to forge our own path in production and in the retail portion of our business. I have spent a lot of time developing our brewing process to be efficient without sacrificing any of the qualities that are important to us. If I could change anything I’ve done in this whole process, I wouldn’t have gotten so lost in all of the craziness of opening the business, and took some time to focus on the efficiency of my processes. Then I would have purchased different equipment that would have saved me more money and time being able to produce more product and in return, create more income. I work hard to keep the human element in the product we make. There is a great deal of care that goes into our creations of flavors and our product as a whole. We take great pride in converting Kombucha haters and hearing the stories of how it’s helped people with some of their health issues. We don’t want to lose that. So all of that is taken into consideration, but knowing what I know now, I can definitely shave time off of my production without losing what’s important..

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I started with the desire to drink less soda pop. I was looking for a more healthy option along with flavor and carbonation. I found Kombucha and fell in love with the process of making it and experimenting with different flavors. I eventually was making way more than my family could drink and we started to give it to friends and family. Everybody loved it so much that they thought we should start a business. We thought we could maybe make a nice side hustle out of it and do a couple of farmers markets. Before we even got to our first market we were faced with the decision of going commercial as we had coffee shops, breweries and restaurants that wanted to have our product. We chose to go that direction and started to make plans to find a commercial place where we could get started. We found that in a local brewery that let us bring in our equipment and use some of their floor space. We got our manufacturing license three days before the first Covid shut down. Once things opened up a bit, it took off. By the end of summer, every drop of kombucha we brewed was sold before we even brewed it. We then decided that we needed our own place and by November of 2020 we had purchased a sports bar in downtown Brainerd, Mn. We have experienced great growth as well as the struggles of a start up business getting going in the throughs of Covid.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Everyday seems like there is some sort of pivot. This is an important characteristic of an entrepreneur. The ability to adjust. Especially in our business, but not certainly limited to ours, there aren’t very many Kombucha taprooms and breweries around. There’s not really anybody you can just call up and say hey, how do you do this? There are efficiencies always being worked out. I’ve shaved hours and hours off of production tie just by discovering new ways of doing things. Growth means pivoting, I feel. It’s abandoning the way you used to do things and figuring out the new ways of doing things. Leaving a secure job in corporate America was certainly a big pivot in my personal life. Definitely for the better!

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

We started our business on the midst of the pandemic. We opened right at a time when we didn’t qualify for any help to deal with the shutdowns and ups and downs of what was happening in our world. We got our manufacturing license three days before the first shutdown. So we’ve definitely had our share of difficulties getting this thing up and running. The big thing that kept us going, and still keeps us going, is that so many people told us the strongest businesses start in the midst of either a pandemic or a recession. So we have held on to that for sure.

Contact Info:

• Website: yasurekombucha.com
• Instagram: yasurekombucha
• Facebook: yasurekombucha
• Linkedin: Shawn Hopman