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

Daren, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. One of our favorite things to brainstorm about with friends who’ve built something entrepreneurial is what they would do differently if they were to start over today. Surely, there are things you’ve learned that would allow you to do it over faster, more efficiently. We’d love to hear how you would go about setting things up if you were starting over today, knowing everything that you already know.

I had over 10 years experience as a brewer when we opened Ataraxia Aleworks, but had never been in a position to run a business from scratch. I knew it was going to be overwhelming at times, but there was still a lot that surprised me. We opened without an excessive amount of capital, but we quickly found ways we could save. Doing more research ahead of time in regards to vendors would have saved a lot down the line. Of course, the bigger companies are going to be the names most recognized, but there are a lot of smaller, local vendors with better pricing, better product, and lower shipping costs. The way gas prices have shot up have made everything more expensive, including shipping. Being able to save on that allowed us to cut costs – something we wished we would have accounted for when we started.

Another big thing we would have done differently is increasing our focus in marketing and advertising. The sad reality is the quality of product is only a fraction of running a business. Getting our name out there and marketing ourselves as a great place to visit and a fun place to hang out was more difficult than one might think, especially since our location isn’t conducive for capturing any foot traffic. Once we found a good marketing company we were comfortable with, we saw the increase in business almost overnight.

Running brewing operations, back office, marketing, sales, and the tasting room are all full-time roles, and somehow we have managed nearly 2 years with only 2 people fulfilling all roles and responsibilities. This was no easy feat, and always with room for improvement, but something to be proud of. This journey has instilled a whole new respect in us for small business owners. You never can be over prepared for the road ahead in opening your own business, and the knowledge you learn on the journey is priceless.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I started homebrewing in 2009 just for fun and because I had the free time. Shortly after, I applied for an entry level job at one of San Diego’s most prestigious breweries, and eventually fell into a management role. I stepped down so I could pursue the brewer path, and after almost a decade there, I decided it was time to branch out and start my own brewery. It was a risk being yet another small brewery in one of the biggest beer cities in the world, but we’ve been focusing on our craft and passion, and our customers seem to have noticed and provide their unwavering support. I partnered with Alex Kim to open Ataraxia Aleworks. We have our own specialties we bring to the business, and our partnership has been a key to success. We truly feel our beers are second to none and we constantly strive to find the best ingredients and processes to make our product one of the best on the market. We focus on every aspect of the beer manufacturing from start to finish, including starting with mineral-free reverse-osmosis water and adding our own minerals back into it. This gives flexibility for each individual batch of beer and allows us to brew styles specific to any region in the world. Our meticulousness definitely comes through in our final product.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

I met this piece of shit Alex through mutual friends over time. We always ended up running into each other and became friends ourselves. I was already working for a brewery at the time we met, and we had loosely mentioned in passing about opening a brewery someday. I don’t think either of us were really serious about it the first time we said it, but over time, as my craft and both of our passions grew, we became more and more serious. We sat down every week and wrote up a business plan over hundreds of iterations, and we were finally ready to make the jump.

We originally planned on opening out of state, had visited sites to rent / buy, and priced out equipment. We were on the verge of securing a place, but our plans took a turn when Covid-19 hit. We had taken a break from looking and pursuing opening the business, when out of nowhere, a turnkey brewery in our hometown of San Diego posted that they were for sale. It was serendipitous, and rendered most of our business plan obsolete. We created a new one, bought the previous brewery, and hit the ground running.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Social Media has become an essential resource for businesses, such as ours, in 2023. Through social media you are able to attract such a broad audience of patrons, but not without an intense amount of effort. You can only grow so much and reach so many people through word of mouth and organic growth. Social Media is a living breathing ecosystem, and you get back what you put in. This means there is an under exaggerated amount of efforts and involvement from the business to create an impactful social media presence.

As we approach our second year of being in business, we cannot stress enough the importance of a solid social media strategy and growing social media presence. We are currently investigating local Social Media Management companies to help us focus our efforts beyond the capabilities of the ownership teams. Constantly fighting the ever changing algorithms ensuring posts are being made during prime hours for the best outreach results, and staying on top of the latest trends is incredibly challenging while simultaneously keeping track of all other facets of the business.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ataraxiaaleworks.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ataraxiaaleworks/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AtaraxiaAleworks/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/ataraxia-aleworks-san-diego
• Other: https://linktr.ee/ataraxiaaleworks