Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Mike Olinger. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Mike, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your business sooner or later

I absolutely would have waited at least another year! I left my full-time job in November of 2019 with big hopes and ambition to start a microbrewery in a really cool, historic building in downtown St. Joseph, MO. I had a good business model, was paying for most of the business with my own money which meant no loans, and I had a good lineup of beers too. Buildout happened early 2020 and just as I was preparing to open to the public, Covid shut everything down. I had beer, wine, cocktails, swag……but I had no customers. I had to adapt by doing curbside growler pickups for about 2 months and then struggle through limited capacity restrictions, mandatory mask mandates for the rest of 2020. Plus, everyone was scared to go into crowded public settings for most of 2021 as well. If I could do it all over again, I would have definitely waited to open until the end of 2021 or early 2022.

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

My name is Mike Olinger, I am the founder, owner, and brewer of The Angry Swede Brewing Company in St. Joseph, MO. My previous job was managing an aerobic fermentation lab that produced vaccines, so I had a good background for the brewing industry. My brewery is a little unique in that it not only serves 10 craft beers that I make, but we have a speakeasy in the basement with wine and cocktails as well. This is very unique in the brewing world since most breweries only serve the beer they make. Our building is over 100 years old and was a bank until the late 80’s. It still has tons of old character including the original bank vault which leads to the speakeasy. The entire theme of the brewery is scandinavian/viking in nature. We have axes, swords, and shields on the walls. All of the beers are named after Norse Gods or Viking themes.

Any advice for managing a team?

The service industry is notorious for having high turn around. I have been able to avoid that for the most part by not letting the accounting or owning aspects of the business creep into my management style. Having started during a difficult time like covid, business was not great for the first year. By not making my employees a part of the struggles of ownership and keeping positive that things will get better, I was able to build up some loyalty and make my employees feel like we are in this together instead of cutting hours, being negative, or blaming others for the issues we were facing.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Survived Covid, the struggle was real for a business that solely relies on customers walking in through the front door. We adapted by doing curbside growlers and sales for 2 months until we could finally get back to limited capacity and after a year normal capacity with no masks.

Contact Info:

• Facebook: https://facebook.com/AngrySwede