Recap/noted from Engaged Members meeting (fwd)

[Noelle <http://dummy.us.eu.org/noelleg>]

 > From: Laura Winter <http://www.gmail.com/~laurarwinter>
 > Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2023 11:08:57 -0700
 > Cc: Unumhum Board <http://www.unumhumbrewing.com/~board>
 > To: Dan M Winter <http://www.gmail.com/~danmwinter>,  
 > Kevin Imboden <http://www.hotmail.com/~kdimboden>,  Rosemary Greenlaw <http://www.gmail.com/~rbgreenlaw>,  
 > Dale Elliott <http://www.mengarelliott.com/~dale>,  Chris Mengarelli <http://www.mengarelliott.com/~chris>
 > Tim Topole <http://profiles.yahoo.com/ttopole>,  Bob Gulino <http://www.gulino.net/~robert>,  
 > gigatropolis <http://profiles.yahoo.com/gigatropolis>,  Susan M <http://www.gmail.com/~susan.martindill>,
 >  David Brothers <http://www.gmail.com/~dbromon>,  
 > Bernard Montaudouin <http://www.sbcglobal.net/~montaudouin>,  Nick Puzar <http://www.gmail.com/~nicholas.puzar>,  
 > Frank McPherson <http://www.fhmiv.net/~frank>,  http://profiles.yahoo.com/alexander.travisj
 > 
 > Hi everyone,
 > 
 > First, thank you agin to all who were able to attend our Engaged Members 
 > meeting on Sunday, August 20th. The board was pleased that o many of you 
 > took the time on a Sunday to listen to our message and gave feedback. Here 
 > are the notes I read from plus any comments/suggestions from you. The board 
 > will use this to formulate a message bring to the membership as a whole at 
 > our upcoming Annual meeting in October. As always, please feel free to reach 
 > out to me if you have questions or comments; I’m happy to talk any time!
 > 
 > Cheers,
 > 
 > Laura
 > 408-930-0466
 > 
 > Members in attendance: Laura Winter, Dan Winter, Noelle, Robert 
 >, Jeff Gale, Jim Sullivan, Travis Alexander, Kregg Kemper, David 
 > Brothers, Susan Martindill, Bernard Montaudoin, Kevin Imboden, Rosemary 
 > Greenlaw, Frank McPherson, Chris Mengarelli, Dale Elliott
 > 
 > Current Challenges
 > 
 > Contract Brewer
 >    1. Freewheel has been sold and has not yet informed us if they will 
 >        continue to contract brew for us
 >    2. Board has reached out to several local breweries with limited results
 >    3. Strike has capacity, but a minimum brew size of 15 bbls; may be too 
 >        big right now; will elaborate
 >    4. Current analysis of break-even is 56 bbls of beer per year; ideally we
 >        would like to do one 15 bbl batch of both Pale Ale and Hefeweizen on
 >         a semi-annual basis and fill in quarterly with a 7 bbl batch of a    
 >         seasonal style
 >    5. Loss of test batch brewing space for the last 10 months has
 >        hampered Brewing Committee’s ability to brew new beers
 > 
 > Cost of brewing beer has increased for all breweries in the last 3 years;
 >     our cost of brewing one 7 bbl batch has increased by approximately 
 >     30% since 2019
 >    1. All ingredient costs have risen
 >    2. Wages have increased at contract brewers
 >    3. The cost of cans, labels, and canning have made canned beer for us 
 >        prohibitively expensive
 >    4. Cost and lack of available cold storage has limited our styles to ales 
 >        and darker styles; no Lagers, IPAs, Pilsners, etc.
 > 
 > Member Engagement
 >    1. No current membership committee, chair, liaison
 >    2. Pandemic eliminated in-person events for several months for both 
 >        our members and beer events as a whole
 >    3. Board has traditionally not bombarded members with emails
 >    4. No private members only page on website
 >    5. No marketing or social media committee, chair, liaison
 >    Comment: members are more likely to volunteer for something if it’s 
 >    approached individually for a specific task as opposed to a generic ‘we 
 >    need help’ email.
 > 
 > Finance committee challenges
 >    1. Need a member skilled in QuickBooks or other appropriate
 >        software and knowledge of an inventory-based business
 >    2. Loss of crowler sales has negatively impacted finances
 >    3. Outstanding debt to co-op member remains a challenge to repay
 > 
 > Lack of members engaged in sales
 >    1. Although we know how much beer we need to produce annually in
 >        order to be profitable, we currently only have 2 members consistently
 >        making sales calls
 >    2. Opportunities for sales are good, especially in South County, 
 >        Peninsula, and East Bay, but we need members willing to commit
 >    Comment: consider paying a sales commission to increase sales 
 >    participation, but is this fair to other co-op members who also put in a 
 >    great deal of time for no compensation?
 > 
 > Type 17 Wholesaler license does not allow for legal sales of beer to co-op 
 > members, regardless of Ca corporation law
 >    1. We remained afloat financially through the summer of 2020 with no 
 >        draft beer sales to customers by selling crowlers to members
 >    2. Under ABC law, we cannot sell to members with our current license
 >    3. Our members have been purchasing beer and we believe they would
 >        like to continue to do so
 >    4. $64,000 Question: given our membership engagement challenges
 >        combined with a board burned out by doing both operations and 
 >        long-term strategy for staying afloat, do the members of Umunhum 
 >        Brewing want to continue as a wholesaler or change licenses and 
 >        pivot to a private beer club?
 >   Comments: this discussion was the most robust amongst the attendees. 
 >   Changing/adding an aBC license would be time-consuming and expensive, but 
 >   if it allows us to legally sell beer to members, would be worth pursuing. 
 >   Everyone agrees that Ymunhum members would like to be able to buy 
 >   growlers/crowlers of beer for home consumption.