We were lucky to catch up with Stacy Ward Lattin recently and have shared our conversation below.
Stacy, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?
My husband Torrey and I had an idea about 12 years ago while visiting microbreweries and taprooms in Colorado.
At the time, we only had 2 brewpubs and the taproom concept did not exist in Wichita, KS. Torrey had been home brewing for several years and thought our community could use a business model like this. We decided on a small taproom with a 5 BBL brewing system and small distribution plan rather than a restaurant in order to create a beer-focused atmosphere.
We wanted a cozy space where you could sit at the bar by yourself and meet a new friend, or catch up with old friends at a table over beer flights and board games. I think of it as a coffee shop vibe, but with beer. It was really hard to come up with a name, but one night, Torrey was having a beer at home and noticed a give-away from the 2012 Kansas City Royals All Star game that was a little gnome. He ran upstairs and said “how about Hopping Gnome? You know like hops in beer, and gnomes are known for drinking.” The name stuck and after finding a local graphic designer to create the awesome logo, Hopping Gnome Brewing Company was born.
When we opened the first taproom in Wichita in the summer of 2015, our only goal was for the locals to try our craft beer and hopefully bring in enough people to cover the bills. What happened was really unique and exciting. Hopping Gnome Brewing, or “The Gnome” as the regulars started calling it became a hub for craft beer lovers and those curious to try something new and locally made. Over the years, the number of breweries and taprooms have grown, which has only strengthened the buy local movement in Wichita and surrounding areas and quite frankly, made Wichita cool, but the community that started “The Gnome” is really quite special., and it continued to grow over the years proving our space too small.
We opened a new taproom and beer garden in May 2023 that includes more indoor and outdoor space with an electrical hook-up and parking for local food trucks, and areas for local live music and other activities so our community can continue to grow. We’ve also adapted to the trends and needs and now include a gluten free hard seltzer and non-alcoholic hop water among other options for those who aren’t able to drink beer and still want to be a part of this community. We’ve also been able to hold more give-back events to support local non-profits and partner with other small businesses and organizations to create meaningful experiences for our guests.
We realized a few years in that it’s never really been about the beer. Craft beer is just a by-product, the thing that brings guests in initially, but the people who have created and supported this community and small business are the true product, and I feel my legacy to my hometown.
As we were opening the new space in 2023, we met with our staff to revisit our mission statement and create values as a team. Now that you know our story, you can see that our amazing team is all in on this little idea we had over a decade ago.
Mission: Hopping Gnome Brewing is a pint serving, keg filling microbrewery with a taproom. Our tagline is “Brewed for the Locals,” and we’re proud of our welcoming and beer-focused space with something for everyone, including fun events, merchandise, and new beer tappings weekly. By sharing a hand-crafted Hopping Gnome beer with friends, you’re now a part of the craft beer revolution in Wichita!
Purpose: To brew a variety of craft beers with high quality ingredients to bring people together. Our passion is to promote and sustain the buy-local movement in our community.
Values: Teamwork, Inclusion, Customer Commitment, Passion, Fun, and Community
Stacy, 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?
Before starting Hopping Gnome Brewing in 2015, Torrey and I had zero business experience. I have a background in non-profit management and he was a draftsman for a local engineering firm, with home brewing as a hobby. We Googled how to write a business plan and worked closely with organizations like the Small Business Administration in order to get our plan and numbers together. This was a huge help, and I would encourage anyone interested in starting a business to reach out to these often free resources, as well as connecting with others in your industry for guidance and mentoring if possible. Sometimes when you’re getting started or even as a business owner almost 10 years in, you feel like you’re alone on an island and have to make decisions and solve problems on your own, but reaching out to others who have gone through the same stress and struggles can really help.
Starting out, Torrey did all of the brewing and we both worked in the taproom, only hiring a couple of bartenders to help out. I continued to work full-time for the first two years, and then we decided someone needed to be out in the community more since he was stuck in the brew house. My experience in non-profit was all about partnerships and relationship building, so this is what I brought to Hopping Gnome. By partnering with local food trucks and other small businesses, we’ve been able to create fun and meaningful experiences for our guests, while staying true to our craft beer focus and supporting other local businesses. Our industry is unique, because we choose collaboration over competition. We brew beers with other breweries, help each other with ingredients and equipment issues, and love to hang out and enjoy brews at all of our establishments. Our guests enjoy this too, and tend to frequent all of the area breweries since we have different offerings and experiences, only strengthening the craft beer revolution in our community.
Our main focus has been on ales, with our flagship Sepia Amber winning a silver medal at the Great American Beer Festival in 2018. We’re known for having a variety of styles of both standard and seasonal rotating offerings, so there is always something for everyone.
We’ve recently expanded our IPA series as well as lagers and lighter beers, which have become more popular over the past few years. Our HBIC Sour has been our top seller since 2019. HBIC stands for Head B In Charge (insert whatever B word you’d like). Torrey brewed this beer for me, because I love fruited sours and knew this trend would be popular for those who want to try craft beer, but are also looking for something fresh and fruity.
Over the years, we’ve also grown our list of other offerings, including a gluten free hard seltzer we call Bubbly Gnome with rotating flavors, and a new non-alcoholic hop water called H2Gnome with rotating hops. We also carry local hard cider, wine, kombucha, canned coffees, sodas, and juice boxes for the lil gnomies.
While I have little background in marketing, this is the main role I’ve taken on with this business adventure. We created a strong brand with a great logo, making it easy to include funny gnome puns like “There’s No Place Like Gnome” on t-shirts and other merchandise. Personally, I am most proud of this lasting branding that people recognize, and we’re able to re-share pictures on our social media of people wearing our shirts all over the world.
Overall, we are most proud of the community that our guests and team have created. We make the beer and set the atmosphere, and they do the rest.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
During the pandemic, we were lucky to be able to stay open for to-go beer sales only.
We were already filling 32 oz crowler cans and 64 oz bottles to-go, but quickly added a 16oz option we could sell in 4packs, and started promoting this as much as possible to move the beer and keep the lights on. Of course, every brewery in the country was doing this same thing, so there was a can shortage the summer of 2020, and we got creative and shared resources with our fellow brewers here and around the state of Kansas to make it happen.
What I remember most during this season was the grit and resilience of our small staff to come in, fill online orders for a few hours a day, and stay positive, often times writing words of affirmation on the cans in order to lift the spirits of our regulars.
The community really showed up, ordering beer weekly and also supporting our local restaurant neighbors by getting takeout and making this part of their lock-down routine. When they came to pick up their order, we would always air high-five and you could tell how much they missed sitting at the bar here and really going anywhere that used to make up their normal routine.
Before the Covid numbers were very high here in Kansas, we decided to do a weekly zoom and Facebook live video with members of our staff who were comfortable coming in. We would sit at a table, drink beer and eat pizza from other local breweries, and discuss topics unrelated to the pandemic. We called it Virtual Taproom, and our guests and community loved the interaction and distraction, and we loved being able to hang out together, if only for an hour a week. Virtual Taproom only lasted a couple of months before we were no longer able to get together, but despite the circumstances, it’s one of my favorite memories at Hopping Gnome.
How did you build your audience on social media?
We successfully completed a Kick-Starter campaign in 2014 in order to help with our construction costs.
This was how we established our social media presence and gained followers. We were posting weekly videos of our friends being silly and telling everyone to donate to Hopping Gnome so we could make our dream come true.
Once we reached our goal, I started posting weekly and soon daily with construction updates with gnomes around, showing everyone what was happening while keeping them posted on our progress.
I created a Facebook event for our grand opening and this was really the only advertising. We were packed the first weekend and that first summer, but I think it wouldn’t have had the reach if not for the Kick-Starter.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.hoppinggnome.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hoppinggnome/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HoppingGnome/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/57343162/admin/feed/posts/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/HoppingGnome
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@hoppinggnome?lang=en
Image Credits
Brand 5 Angie Evans