Recently, I watched a news piece on the rise of craft brews or basically local brew houses. This begs the question of why not here in Lorain and why not use the Broadway building. Now I have no idea who owns the building and it looks like it needs some repair. However, it sits empty and deteriorating as you read this. I would expect that if would make a good building for just such an enterprise. Cleveland has "Great Lakes Brewery" and arguably has had some success and I do not see why we cannot do the same thing here on the river. No, I have no brewing experience No; I have no experience running a brewery. However, I do have experience drinking good beer and that must count for something. What do you think? (About the brewery).
Jim, I have been involved in the culinary business for the last 13 years and all of it has been in Lorain County with 8 of those years here in Lorain. I have lived in the city of Lorain for the majority of my life.
ReplyDeleteFor the last 3 years I have been looking at opening my own venture. One of the ideas I have is for a micro brewery. The problem with this concept is the city of Lorain. As much as I love this city, and believe it will turn around to be the Diamond in the rough it is, this concept is not capable of surviving in Lorain.
Something of this nature would have to bring people in from out of Lorain, and that's not going to happen. Lorainites do not have the palates or the appreciation for a good crafted beer. Yes, you may have that palate, I may have it, but a dozen or so people do not provide the money needed to sustain something of this caliber.
A restaurant, in order to survive, needs to closely watch labor costs, rising food costs, etc, etc. When you add a brewery to this, the costs get more enormous (master brewer salary, equipment, supplies, etc). When you break down the numbers, it's just not going to work.
I'm not saying that if Lorain makes a turn around and turns into the city I know it can be, then yes, something like a Fat Heads in North Olmstead IS a possibility. I just hope we see it in our lifetime. This was a good post though none the less.