Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Sarah Maxim . We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Sarah , thanks for joining us today. One of the toughest parts of scaling a business is maintaining quality as you grow. How have you managed to maintain quality? Any stories or advice?
We are passionate about quality control. As lovers of all things delicious this is a value we take very seriously. How often is it that you spend your hard earned money eating out or trying something new and the quality is not there, or maybe it was the first time but not every time.
It can be very challenging for multiple staff to take a recipe and have it vary depending on who makes it. And I think often unless there is ownership, things can get skipped, missed, unknown mistakes made or sometimes an attitude as “good enough.”
Seth and I for this reason have always believed in hands on ownership and operation. We actively have our hands in every aspect of our business from chef, brewer, bar tender/server, hospitality, management and more. Our staff jokes that I wash more dishes than anyone here, which is true! I think our staff feels supported and appreciates Seth and I working side by side with them in the trenches of the kitchen, bar and dining room. It means our staff knows we are there to work, guide and teach along side them and they see our passion for quality. I think when staff feels supported and appreciated they try harder and care more.
Not everyone has the desire or motivation to invest as many hours as we do in our kitchen, brewery, bar and Brewtel, but this is what we love to do, so we do! While wearing many hats and working long hours is exhausting at times, we feel we’ve built a brand so far on quality, consistent, food, beverage and service. This keeps us motivated and we are proud of what we’ve built so far!
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?
We are Seth and Sarah Maxim, a husband/wife team who had a vision to rebuild and rebrand MN oldest craft brewery, Lake Superior Brewing. We purchased the business and brewery in summer of 2020 and then purchased a very run down old building in the neighborhood we grew up in to create our re envisioned LSB as a brewpub. After an intense and very long 2+ years of DIY construction on roughly 8000 square feet we open the Brewtel (our three guest accommodations, bookable via our website), the restaurant and bar. We finally completed the brewery in May of 2023 after 11 month back ordered boiler parts came in and launched our beers once again shortly after.
I tell people, this is the craziest, hardest thing we’ve ever done, but we are so proud of what we’ve built together. As disappointing as it was for us to open without our beer, we are grateful to have had the focused time on our kitchen and staff for consistency and quality purposes.
We were able to give our beer the same quality focus by not having to roll it all out at the same time and it’s fun to overhear guests talk about our beer being the best they’ve ever had!
We hope to continue to build on our values and preserve the beer legacy of long time Lake Superior Brewing. You’ll find flagship beers like Kayak Kolsch and Sir Duluth Oatmeal Stout along with some new and original recipes too!
We can’t wait to serve you!
www.lakesuperiorbrewingduluth.
5324 East Superior Street Duluth MN 55804
Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?
We scrounged up every penny we had along with some loan equity we had from our very first home, and used that as the down payment for our building and business purchase. Finance professionals will tell you, that we were crazy to do that, and that ventures like this should be diversified between many folks so potential loss isn’t just on one person. We knew the pros and cons of business partners but decided we’d rather invest everything we had and all our sweat equity into being our own bosses and responsible to just each other.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
3 plus years of DIY construction and business design! This was the hardest, craziest thing we’ve ever done, and I joke that we are never doing it again. We built this during a pandemic and with two small children in tow and now we are facing the effects of inflation and the economy.
We’ve made it through our first year! We finally put ourselves on payroll for minimum wage at 40 hours a week, (even though we work 100 hours a week) and even though we operate tight ship we wonder how restaurants/brewpubs can afford to hire several salaried management and key roles? We want to make our business sustainable for the long haul and for us as humans, partners, parents to kiddos, as we value work life balance.
We wear many hats and have actively taken on most of the major roles, as executive chef, master brewer, HR, all management and operations in order to successfully navigate opening and running a business where the margins are not great. We take pride in paying all our staff a real living wage, choosing high quality ingredients (that support other small business) and have worked hard to create quality food, beer, our bar program, and environment for our staff and guests.
We aren’t the new restaurant in town anymore and we are in the midst of an inflation crisis where everyone is spending less, and feeling the pinch financially, so we are definitely seeing a downturn in our guests spending and overall sales.
The world is very expensive right now. Our giant loans will be up for refinancing at much higher rates next year. Food, labor and operating costs are more than they’ve ever been so the continued challenge will be honoring our guests hard earned dollars when they choose to dine with us. We very much value and need our community to rally around us during this economic time, and we promise to deliver quality and consistency food, beer and dining experiences, hoping that will keep our customers coming back as much as they can.
We are launching a rewards/loyalty program for our customers, trying to boost online ordering and take out, and are working on creating budget friendly options so our community can still afford to eat and drink out at Lake Superior Brewing. We are still just getting out the word that we are brewing beer once again and it will take sometime to undo the tarnish of a brewery opening without their own beer.
The future is a bit worrisome, but we will hold fast and are grateful to our customer base who see and value what we do and hope to attract more likeminded customers as time goes on. On a positive note, LSB’s flagship beers Kayak Kolsch and Sir Duluth Oatmeal Stout are back (along with several of Seth’s well loved brews) and tasting better than ever! Come on in and try them and take a Growler home to share!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.lakesuperiorbrewingduluth.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/lakesuperiorbrewingduluth?igshid=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA==
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lakesuperiorbrewingco?mibextid=LQQJ4d
Image Credits
Laura Jean Photography Sarah Maxim