New Meadery: Working on Business plan, need data.

[Erik N]

Hello everyone!
I have been a lurker here for a long time and i just recently registered on the site. You guys are super helpful with a wealth of knowledge and experience i enjoy reading through. Before I get to my question a little about me. My Name is Erik I have a degree in microbiology and chemistry and i have been making Mead since I was in college ( my room mate and I decided one night at 2am that we need to make some alcohol! found an old family recipe and I never looked back.) Recently i got tired of working in the corporate world and found myself unemployed. The unemployment office told me that I was "overskilled and unlikely to find a job before unemployment runs out before they even approved my claim! They signed me up for the self employment assistance program in Washington state. I had some friends over for a tasting of a few new recipies/variations i was trying out and was over whelmed by "YOU NEED TO SELL THIS! NOW!" down that path I go.


I am currently working on my business plan for a meadery north of Seattle and i am running into stumbling blocks around data acquisition. The state and federal government lump us into wineries as you all know, washington state takes it a step further and allows wineries/meaderies to use different NAICS codes... so they do not accurately track sales, growth trends etc. I have been asking around to different websites and groups that might internally track some of this data but i don't see much that is compiled. Does anyone know a good resource to find this data, or possibly have a recent business plan that I could take a look at for data points and sources?

Here is my email: erik@aesirmeadery.com
Thank you in advance for ANY assistance. Happy brewing!

Erik

 

[Noe Palacios]

Hello everyone!
I have been a lurker here for a long time and i just recently registered on the site. You guys are super helpful with a wealth of knowledge and experience i enjoy reading through. Before I get to my question a little about me. My Name is Erik I have a degree in microbiology and chemistry and i have been making Mead since I was in college ( my room mate and I decided one night at 2am that we need to make some alcohol! found an old family recipe and I never looked back.) Recently i got tired of working in the corporate world and found myself unemployed. The unemployment office told me that I was "overskilled and unlikely to find a job before unemployment runs out before they even approved my claim! They signed me up for the self employment assistance program in Washington state. I had some friends over for a tasting of a few new recipies/variations i was trying out and was over whelmed by "YOU NEED TO SELL THIS! NOW!" down that path I go.


I am currently working on my business plan for a meadery north of Seattle and i am running into stumbling blocks around data acquisition. The state and federal government lump us into wineries as you all know, washington state takes it a step further and allows wineries/meaderies to use different NAICS codes... so they do not accurately track sales, growth trends etc. I have been asking around to different websites and groups that might internally track some of this data but i don't see much that is compiled. Does anyone know a good resource to find this data, or possibly have a recent business plan that I could take a look at for data points and sources?

Here is my email: erik@aesirmeadery.com
Thank you in advance for ANY assistance. Happy brewing!

Erik

Hello Erick: Wellcome to GotMead.

Universities are always a good information's source. UC Davis (of course), I know Purdue University has some kind of wine program. These two could be a good start.

Saludos,

 

[akueck]

You could try to contact your mead neighbor: Dragon's Lair. They might have some local information for you.

 

[Erik N]

Excellent suggestions both of you thank you very much!

 

[Nathan K]

There are actually quite a few meaderies in the Seattle area / Western Washington now so it's possible you may be able to find some data. I think it is most likely going to require some footwork on your part and probably a bunch of phone calls. One good place to start - call the other meaderies in the area. Sure you could be seen as competition but in all likelihood they would be willing to give you a general idea because I'm sure they remember the challenges of starting up. Plus, more people going out there and selling people on mead is good for them as well. I would also call around to various wine shops that sell mead and get an idea of the general public's interest in mead. I've noticed that Malt & Vine in Redmond has about 20 different meads for sale and they are usually pouring at least one at their bar. They might have a good idea.