Why we are not consistent
We have survived our first year of business. Yet, we recognize that we have lots of room to grow, and one of the places where we need to improve is with our consistency with our hours of operation. We get calls asking if we are open, and sometimes, our taproom is totally empty because people don’t know we switched locations that day. In all of our endeavors, we try to be as transparent as possible, so let me take a moment to explain why we seem inconsistent sometimes on how you can find us.
To be clear- our mead is delicious and is ALWAYS tasty. Just talking about our hours of operation here.
WE ARE STILL IN A GLOBAL PANDEMIC.
We opened the meadery last year, in June 2020. During a global pandemic, where government mandates that affected our capacity seemed to change every other week. This affected us greatly, because at the most, our 200-square-foot taphouse could only seat three groups- two at tables, and one at the bar. But with restrictions, we were looking at a capacity of about 7 people. Total.
While we could extend our taphouse outside into the parking lot, this was something that was only legally allowed during the COVID state of emergency, which in our county, was removed in July 2021. Plus, it was a pain in the ars to move all the tables and chairs and tents outside every day.
SO WE OPENED AN OUTDOOR SEATING AREA.
This year, we opened The Berlin Commons. The Commons is gorgeous- it has lots of seating, plenty of flowers in our pollinator garden, and a great location right in the heart of Berlin. This gave us a lot more seating, that our current taphouse just doesn’t have. We especially love the outdoor seating options, because it is an attractive dining option for people who are concerned about COVID, or just want to let their kids roam in the fenced-in area while they enjoy a cold drink.
But, the major downside of The Commons is that it is totally weather dependent. This means that if it’s too hot… or too rainy… then people just don’t really want to come out and drink our mead. (Or, probably if it’s too cold too… but we haven’t been open in the winter yet… so we shall see!)
Another downside to the Commons is that it still takes us lots of time to set up and break down the set up. We have to grab all of the kegs and bottles from the cooler and move them into the van. We also have to set up our table and display each day, and still put up the umbrellas and flags at The Commons too.
One day, we might have a beautiful estate winery/meadery with lots of land and plenty of seats in a taproom with AC, and all of our bottles and kegs easily accessible in the cooler, but unfortunately, that’s not where we are yet in the business.
BUT LIFE STILL HAPPENS.
Brett and I (Megan) are also parents to two young toddlers, and we work full time as teachers. So in the summers we are off and can focus on the meadery. Our kids do go to school during the week, which allows us to get some things done.
We decided to open just three days a week at the meadery. During the school year, that means we basically leave our teaching job, and open up an hour later at the meadery. In the summer, that gave us a little more wiggle room to go talk with our wholesale accounts, pick up a couple extra farmers markets (we are currently at three markets), and attempt to take some down time for ourselves.
In a perfect world… that schedule could work, even if means we are literally working seven days a week to stay afloat and keep working on this dream.
But then sometimes, weeks like this come along and totally derail everything.
Almost two weeks ago, we got a call from school that our son had a fever. It ended up being RSV. Luckily, he’s 1.5, so wasn’t as badly affected as a young infant would be, but it still took him six days to be better. During that time, Brett and I juggled childcare while we still managed to get our responsibilities done.
Well… two days later, then our daughter got sick. We both happened to be working that day, and had a babysitter at home while we worked the Renaissance Faire and the taphouse. That meant that I had to close the taphouse and head home. She ended up having Hand, Foot, and Mouth. Two days later, my son also got HFM too. Now while Kenna is feeling better, she still can’t go back to school yet, and Jesse is only two days in so has a ways to go before he is able to return.
When the kids are sick, we pretty much have to drop everything to be able to take care of them. And when both are home, it’s basically impossible to be productive at all because they aren’t old enough to sit and play on their own.
This means that Brett and I will be alternating who is bartending this weekend, who is at the markets, and who is home taking care of the kids. We are SO fortunate to have an awesome and reliable brewer, who is able to keep cranking out mead- shoutout to Sam! And we are so grateful for our awesome staff, who are able to lighten the load- shoutout to Ryan and Abi for bartending.
WE WILL JUST KEEP HUSTLING.
At the end of the day… there’s nothing that we can, or would even want to, change! We love our kids, we need our teaching jobs, and we will absolutely chase this dream as far as we possibly can, because it is that important to us.
Along the way, that means we will probably be a bit inconsistent. We might open at the taphouse instead of at The Commons because it’s hurricaning or 100 degrees out. Or, we might skip a market because we couldn’t arrange for staff coverage.
We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience! Our goal is NOT to anger or annoy you. We are simply trying to stay open.
Hopefully this gives you a bit of insight about our family, and who we are, and how we are working SO hard to figure this dream out.
If you are ever wondering what our plans are, we do encourage you to follow us on social media. We post on our Facebook and Instagram story daily, and post our plans if anything changes. I also attempt to send out a weekly newsletter to our email list *most* weeks if I can mange it!
FOLLOW US HERE so you know what is happening:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thebuzzmeadery
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebuzzmeadery/
Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/f0ea1c4e977a/club
FIND US HERE:
The Berlin Commons, Thursday-Saturday right now
21 Jefferson St, Berlin
—————————-
The Taphouse, closed unless open
9040 Worcester Hwy, Unit D, Berlin
(Behind the Pitt Stop Liquor Store, behind Sunshine Laundry)