We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Brandi Burgei a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Brandi, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. So, one thing many business owners consider is donating a percentage of sales or profits to an organization or cause. We’d love to hear your thoughts and the story behind how and why you chose the cause or organization you donate to.

At LandLocked Ales, we hold an annual event called Pints 4 Purple, in which we donate 20% of all beer sales for the day to the National Pancreatic Cancer Foundation. One of our regulars’ wife died of Pancreatic Cancer, and we work in conjunction with him and the foundation to make it our biggest sales day of the year. We have raised several thousand dollars for the foundation over the years, and this will be our fifth year running when we hold the event in October.

Brandi, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

LandLocked Ales started, like a lot of microbreweries, as a couple guys home brewing beer in their backyards. Tyler and Nick honed their brewing skills on the weekends, while Nick worked for a local brewery, and Tyler underwent formal education and got certified in brewing technology.

We wanted to set ourselves apart by brewing lower gravity (lower alcohol) beers for the the local craft beer community. Over the years, we have adapted our offerings to consumer demand, but stay true to our roots by always having at least a couple options in the 5% or lower ABV range. What has become much more important to us is catering specifically to our clientele, providing a fun, welcoming neighborhood hangout for our community. We have worked hard to figure out what our peeps want and what keeps them coming back. Adding events like weekly trivia and Bingo, and a monthly comedy show (all free), as well as sporadic ticketed events like murder mystery nights, has driven repeat business and familiar faces.

We are most proud of the reputation and following we have gained, whether it’s from our mug club members, word of mouth, or recommendations from businesses around us, including other breweries. We are proud to be an integral part of the Lakewood community, and we’re especially proud of being one of the largest fundraisers for the National Pancreatic Cancer Foundation.

Staying connected and making an impact in our community has been in our business plan from the beginning. Our partnership with the National Pancreatic Cancer Foundation grows every year through this event. The founders even come all the way to Colorado from South Dakota. We have people all over come and show their support for this cause. It is a horrible cancer usually caught too late and has taken more people from our friends than any other cancer. Together we hope we can make a difference.

How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?

We have a monthly e-mail newsletter and use Sentext texting solutions to blast about new beer releases, special events, food trucks, and the occasional deal (show this text and get xyz). We have started a mug club this year to help with brand loyalty that is working out well. Of course, gaining followers on social media and interacting with people who comment is essential. We are active in a couple neighborhood social media groups and are sure to post about upcoming events/specials to make sure locals are aware, and we put up posters for upcoming events in a couple neighboring businesses. We also do some paid advertising on social media to get in front of our target demographic within a certain radius.

Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?

I wouldn’t say it was quite as bad as a “near death” moment, but the business was struggling in early 2020 and not doing as well as were hoping. We were physically and mentally exhausted, and the stress of making ends meet was morally deflating. While I would never say COVID was a good thing – obviously it was a horrific part of modern history – there were some silver linings for us. We got some financial relief from the government in the form of Emergency Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) and PPP loans to help us get through the shut-downs and keep our staff on payroll. Being able to take a step back and not stress so much about financial shortcomings and focus more on how we could improve the business once things opened back up was a break we didn’t realize we needed. Once the “to-go only” mandates were lifted, we came back strong and have been seeing double-digit growth consistently since then. While we’re still not quite where we want to be, we feel we were able to take advantage of some time away from the taproom and re-focus our mission, and we’ve come out ahead because of that.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.landlockedales.com
• Instagram: landlockedales
• Facebook: LandLocked Ales

Image Credits
These are our own photos.