Tuesday, 18 Jun 2002

OLYMPIA, Wash.

Today is a “Meeting Day” for the folks who help keep Fish Breweries up and running. In addition to myself, there’s Martin Bills, our operations manager, who runs the brewery and has for nearly four years; Stephanie Whener, our pub manager, who is in charge of the Fishbowl Pub, our front-line retail operation, which is located just across the street from the brewery; and Scott Hansen, founder of the Leavenworth Brewery, whose brands and intellectual properties we purchased back in October 2001. Scott is now the man responsible for selling our draft beer throughout the Northwest. He spends most of his time on the road and typically only shows up at the brewery for Meeting Day.

Also present is Lisa Vatske, our chief financial officer. Lisa is an old friend and the only person besides myself who has been here since the company was launched. Lisa and I had nothing nice to say to each other from 1997 through 1998. She has the most unpleasant job in the company, telling our creditors, “The check is in the mail.” We would not still be here if it weren’t for Lisa, and I am glad we’re friends again.

These are not the only people who make Fish Breweries happen; they are just the ones who usually attend management meetings. In case I have misrepresented the situation thus far, let me be perfectly clear: I personally did not save the Fish Brewing Company with the Wild Salmon Epiphany. On the contrary; the miracle of our continued existence can only be attributed to a huge team effort. The people listed above made it happen, with the help of many hardworking brewers, sales people, and pub staff. I like to think that what brought us all together again was our shared desire to become the leading green brewery in the business. I also like to think we are well on our way toward achieving that goal.

Finally, let me not forget to mention Lyle. Lyle Morse is our “White Knight.” Lyle was a local furniture manufacturer and a Fish Brewing Company shareholder who joined the board of directors during the expansion. The worse things got, the more stock Lyle bought. He did his best to force some fiscal discipline upon us and he encouraged our efforts to develop the pro-environmental niche. Lyle became board president when I stepped down in 1999, and is now CEO and chair. He has never drawn a salary and he very seldom tells us what to do. Thank goodness for Lyle.

Back to the meeting. We hold these meetings approximately every two weeks. After a little catch-up on what we are each currently working on, we get down to the core issue. This is almost always the same: How are we going to get enough malt, hops, packaging, and so forth to fill last week’s orders? You see, we now brew a very popular line of certified organic beers, and orders for our products almost always exceed our brewing capacity. This would be a great situation, except for the fact that organic beer is very expensive to make and most people do not want to pay more for it than any other craft beer on the shelf. Even though we are still in business and brewing at full capacity, we never did fill all the financial holes we created back in the dark times. Cash flow is the issue. The catch-22 is that while demand for our product is high, our profit margins are too low. And as I am constantly reminding everyone, we really cannot raise prices again this year.

So here we sit at our meeting, incidentally, in the same office where I woke up on that cold January morning four years ago. We are here to try to juggle our resources and prioritize our needs. Marty needs a full silo of organic malt and a shipment of organic hops from New Zealand. Stephanie is hoping to improve the ventilation in the pub. Scott would really like to have new table-tents or coasters to help sell more beer. I have been hoping for a computer upgrade for some time now. Lisa listens and then reminds us that we are already overdrawn and payroll comes through this week. Then we get down to it. As always, Marty’s priorities come first. If we don’t order raw materials, we can’t make beer. On the other hand, ordering new point-of-sale to help sell more beer is not a priority. We can’t keep up with demand anyway. And as for my new computer, let’s get serious.

I for one like these meetings. I am not a communication guy for the most part, but I do like the opportunity to express my opinions. (Just ask anybody.) Unfortunately, none of my colleagues is required to take my advice any longer. I gave up that kind of authority a couple years back. No regrets though. Wearing different hats over the years and narrowing my focus to distribution and marketing has made my life much easier. Besides, most of my companions are pretty good about listening to my ideas before telling me to mind my own business. Sometimes I can even win a point, if I can persuade them that it is the environmentally responsible thing to do, and won’t cost too much money. If only I could think of a good reason why getting a new computer would save more salmon.