for everyone that owns or started up a meadery..how long did it take for you all to be able to quit your day job and be able to sustain yourselves on the meaderies alone?
i just cant get enough of this site...ive been reading it for 2 weeks straight!
Glad you like my place, docdean! Welcome, and I hope you find all the info you need to make great mead!!
Sounds like you're considering the 'pro' route. I highly recommend that the first step be (if you haven't done this already) to develop your recipes so that they can be reliably duplicated every time. Probably 60% of the professional meads I've encountered are bad. So bad that I wonder how they stay in business. Making a good mead that can be reliably reproduced in large quantities is *hard*.
Once you've done that, you need a really solid business model and marketing plan. Without that, sales tend to be unpredictable. I've spoken with many professional meadmakers, and without exception, they all say that their recipes were first, while they did their research for their meadery startup process, and their business model is what allowed them to go full time.
I've been operating this site for over 10 years now, and have seen quite a few meaderies start up. Unfortunately, at least 50% of those don't make it, mostly due to jumping in too fast or over-extending themselves.
The market for mead is a narrow one. I'm sure you've run into the 'what's mead?' question many times. Our vertical market drink, while appealing to nearly all who encounter a good mead, still has to be approached with care, so as to get those 'converts' you need to keep your business going.
You should plan for at *least* 2-3 years of operation before you could make a living at it. The first couple years you'll be putting all your profits back into R&D, equipment upgrades and expansion, distribution and marketing. Of course, if you have a sugar daddy (or momma) bankrolling you, this might be different, ;D.
Finally, how fast you can go full time with it will really depend on *where* you are. Obviously, a place like Rabbitsfoot in San Francisco, has a bigger local market than say, White Winter, which is up near Duluth, WI. Plus, the CA meaderies have an already educated wine crowd that is much thicker on the ground than say, Montana, or Arkansas (or North Carolina, where I live). A knowledgable local customer base will fuel your business faster than one who is not.
Some of the startups I've seen that are succeeding take it upon themselves to educate their local market themselves. It takes a lot of time, effort and sometimes money, but they're doing it and succeeding!
Here are just a few mead-only (a lot of meaderies also do wine) meaderies that have 'made it', and are going strong:
- Rabbitsfoot Meadery - Mike Faul, the owner, left his job as a programmer about 10 years ago, and makes his living as a meadmaker
- Redstone Meadery - David, the owner, has also done this for a number of years and makes his living making mead
- White Winter Winery - they operated from their basement for about 3 years while doing their 'day' jobs, and are now full timers
These are just the few that come to mind. The Canadian models will be interesting, but theirs is fundamentally different than the US, as Canadian meaderies are required by law to produce their own honey with their bees, where in the US honey can be purchased elsewhere.
Hope this helps a little bit, and again, welcome to my place!!
