We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Matthew Juaire. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Matthew below.

Matthew , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

I believe it’s more risky to not risk when it comes to starting and operating your own business. With how ridiculously regulated, overly taxed and with fees coming at you from every form of government known to man, the idea of starting your own manufacturing and restaurant business is about a risky as it gets…perhaps even a bit masochistic! But, I also think most can understand the wonder of creating things that taste great and are used in times of social gatherings or relaxation, settings that bring smiles to most of our faces. Opening any business is a risk, but in many cases for an entrepreneur it pulls you to it like the Dark side pulled Anakin Skywalker…

On top of all that how could we have envisioned what reaction the world would have to Covid-19? Bay Cannon Beer company opened 6 months before the shutdowns were announced and to be as honest as possible, for many of us there is a litany of risks taken ever since. What are customers doing? How can we serve them? How have buying patterns changed? How do we attack those gaps? Whether you’re in food or beverage or darn near any industry, these challenges have needed action, and we’ve taken our fair share of swing at the plate.

Businesses evolve naturaly and always have. But what the “Covid era” has done for us and probably for many is increase the timeline for those evolutions. Each time you pivot to attack new issues in business, it’s risky. Bay Cannon has pivoted several times on a grand scale, and many more times internally. But what was the alternative? For us it was and is almost certain doom. In today’s ecosystem, if a small business is unwilling to take risks, I think that’s the riskiest position.

Matthew , 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?

I naturally fell into Craft Beer on the sales side. I’d held several different sales positions but was looking for something that resonated with me intrinsically, and as an extrovert and social person the idea of visiting bars and restaurants to sell things that people truly enjoy was ideal.

The entrepreneurship side of the industry was calling me from the very beginning. So when my family moved to FL it was to open our own Brewery. We manufacture and sell beer and NA Cannabis seltzers along with partnering with a great chef for food. We offer a great taproom experience as well as our products in distribution. I don’t think we solve any problems for clients, i rather think we provide a needed “timeout” for many from those problems. Perhaps some time alone over a beer to think, or a great pairing for dinner with the family to discuss the day.

I think I’m most proud of the team we’ve had at Bay Cannon both past and present employees for just continuing to battle our way through adversities. It’s never been smooth sailing for the business. Both on the service side and on the financial side, and everyone involved has just tried to figure things out. Personally that is something a part of my DNA, I will just keep trying to find answers no matter what, and it’s a credit to the entire team they’ve been in the same head space during our 3 years.

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

The biggest pivot we had to make, was creating a product that could be sold outside of the walls of the taproom and restaurant. Bay Cannon was not built to be a distribution brewery, but the Covid era forced us to be if we wanted to remain alive.

We don’t have the production size to effectively make money in distribution, we didn’t raise capital to be a production brewery, and we didn’t even have the ability to package our own product initially. This pivot is like turning a cruise ship 180 degrees, it isn’t easy and it takes time. We are truly still figuring it out.

Can you share one of your favorite marketing or sales stories?

On the heels of trying to change how our product was sold, we created packaging and a brand for our initial product, Xander, a Hazy IPA. When the shutdowns were announced we had full tanks of beer in production and nobody to sell it to other than to go sales. So we brought in a mobile canning company, canned up all the Xander we had and began selling it across the country to anyone we knew that wanted to try it, we sold it to go, but the biggest win was selling it into ABC liquors.

I got a contact name and number for the team at ABC and I just went in there with product and story. After that meeting we got sold into 5 locations which grew to 8 and is now a few more than that. It was a huge win for the brand and for the process of moving through liquid, saving yeast, etc on the production side. In the end that is what really made Bay Cannon known to most of those who have heard about us.

Contact Info:

• Website: baycannon.com
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