Local Beer, Food, and Hospitality with Matt Reimold

Intro: Hey, everybody. Welcome to the Start Local podcast, where we’re helping local businesses in Chester County and the greater Philadelphia area, navigate the COVID-19 economy. 

Liam Dempsey: My name is Liam Dempsey. And once again, I am flying this show solo. My co-host, Joe Casabona is trying to sleep and meet a couple of work deadlines as he and his lovely wife welcome their second child and first son into the world.

Today, I’m joined by Matt Reimold, industry raised with a culinary education in his background, Matt Reimold is the Area Operations Manager for Victory Brewing Company. Originally from, and now back in the greater Philadelphia area, Matt oversees Victory’s taprooms in Downingtown, Parkesburg, Kennett Square, and soon to be, downtown Philly. Matt, thanks for joining us. Welcome to the show.

Matt Reimold: Thank you, Liam. Happy to be here. Appreciate you having us. 

Liam Dempsey: No, we’re delighted. Delighted to have you here. Matt, before we get into the questions around how Victory Brewing Company is pivoting because of COVID-19 and what it’s doing to prepare its taprooms and its venues to keep not only its staff, but customers safe, tell us a little bit more about yourself and, your role within Victory Brewing Company, please. 

Matt Reimold: Sure. Well, I think,  your intro was great and I appreciate it. I think you kind of summed up a little bit of my overall background, not too much detail to go over there, you know. So, I’d love to just dive in more to Victory and really, you know, my role with victory is just to provide leadership for our general managers and our management teams and our executive chefs at all of our taprooms. And, you know, every day we really just strive to create great world class experiences for our guests and our consumers that you know, already know about all of our world class beer offerings. You know, I’ve never met anyone that doesn’t know what golden monkey or never had a golden monkey or have a monkey story to tell of course, you know. 

So, our goal is making sure that our food and an our overall service is, you know, at the same experience level that they come to access from our brewery. So, you know, that’s a quick overview of really what my role is. And, you know, our goal is to connect with the community, and to do great things within our walls. 

Liam Dempsey: Excellent. Thank you for that. So Matt, as we’re recording this, it’s winding down July. We’re going from mid July towards the end of July. Lockdown orders came to southeast Pennsylvania in really in mid March. So we’ve been at this a few months. And admittedly, there’s a lot of flux and change. The guidance from both local government and from federal government, the science, what’s safe, what’s not, has been a challenge for businesses of all sizes to navigate. Maybe you can share with me what Victory Brewing Company has done really from the start to think about pivoting and how it handled that as the lockdown orders were coming, and how that’s progressed over time.

Matt Reimold: Sure. I mean flux and change I think is a nice way to put it. I think, anyone probably listening to this and other operators throughout the industry, you know, change seems to happen at the blink of an eye right now with everything going on. And really that is probably the biggest challenge for us as a hospitality industry is keeping up to all those changes. But I would say, you know, when finally all the guidelines and different decisions came down, you know, obviously our indoor facilities shut down.

And the quick pivot for us was really getting onto online ordering and creating a platform for our guests still to, you know, order great beer, and our food that we have provided to really keep our staff around and keep them moving and provide an opportunity to provide hours to them and pay checks to them. And really, that was our short term focus was staying dedicated to providing them an opportunity to, you know continue to pay their bills and stay afloat during these uncertain times at the beginning, you know unfortunately that didn’t last forever. We did have some opportunity to unfortunately lighten our staff a little bit to to be i n a better position. 

And you know, with that are continuing of online ordering and such really pivoted down to two locations. We actually condensed our Kennett Square location and our management team and some staff from there to our Parkesburg and Downingtown locations in order just to be a little bit more agile. And what we can do and hopefully perform a little bit better to keep Victory afloat and without knowing really when everything would change. So, definitely some scary times at the beginning before knowing how long everything would last. There’s no doubt about it.  

After that, really, you know, I think the leadership team did a really great job looking around at, you know, where we were, and obviously with all the restaurants and taprooms and bars closing down. We really had some stale inventory with our liquid and our kegs. And we decided to create a very aggressive promotion.  Some consumers called it “The Deal of the Century”,  which may be true.

Liam Dempsey: I would not argue with that premise.  Tell us a little bit about that.

Matt Reimold:  Sure. Yeah, of course. So yes, we started a $3.33 cent, 32oz crowler promotion. So at the time, our goal was really to take these kegs, which now had nowhere to go. We’re already preordered. We’re already packed, and really just moving through our warehouse. You know, our goal is always delivering, you know, fresh beer to our consumers. And the last thing we wanted is to come out of this six, eight months from now, with a beer that’s been sitting around. 

So leadership challenged us to create this promo. And I would say it took about 10 minutes to take off.  You know, with that, we were able actually to bring back more manpower, which was the most exciting part about that to help us support it.  

And we set up a contactless pickup at Parkesburg and Downingtown, and the response to that promotion was just incredible. You know, we really went through about nine months worth of our crowlers in about a seven to eight week span, which was just incredible. 

Liam Dempsey: Can you say that one more time? Nine months worth of crowler sales in about seven weeks.

Matt Reimold: You got it. So just under nine months worth of crowlers, in about seven weeks. 

Liam Dempsey: And as I understand it, Matt, a lot of liquid. 

Matt Reimold: Yeah, it is. 

Liam Dempsey: That’s amazing. And I’m so glad to hear that it gave the company the opportunity to bring some team members back. You know, I know Victory is a big employer. Sure, there might be bigger in the area, but you’re not a small company by any stretch, and that you were able to to bring more folks back on is great. And that was an impetus and a drive was great. 

But yeah. I was sharing just before we hit the record button that I rode down to the Downingtown Victory. I’m not too far from there and was chatting with the guys running the pickup. And they said that Victory had actually ran out of cans and the aluminum can manufacturer could not press the cans fast enough. Am I… Was that an accurate story that I picked up in the parking lot? 

Matt Reimold: That is, yes. That is pretty much accurate, you know, leaving out some probably fine tuned details. But, yeah. It is about accurate. You know, I think they were pretty amazed that we were already placing a reorder. And yes, unfortunately for them, they were not prepared for it. And obviously with where we are in this industry and everything going on around us, I think we all see the news of where the can and aluminum industry is now. So, I think they’re still playing catch up. I’m sure we’re not the only ones that had some success doing different things. So just a crazy time. So a lot of moving around and you learn how to change a keg very quickly. 

Liam Dempsey: Yeah. I bet you do. I bet you do. So tell me a little bit about how you and your colleagues, you and the management team at Victory Brewing Company thought about preparing for the pivot and making the pivot. And, you know, where did you get information to think about what should we do? How can we do it? You know, the growler idea was brilliant. And as a beer drinker who would much rather pay $3.33 for a Crowler than $6-12 for a crowler, I loved it. But presumably there was some thought process and some intentionality behind it. Let’s just get rid of these kegs and cover a little bit of cost. Can you talk to us about how you came to the decisions and what research might’ve been done? 

Matt Reimold: Sure, of course. I think I touched a little bit on, you know, the decision behind the draft beer and the crowler promotion and that literally was just wanting to move through inventory to have fresh beer. You know, besides that, I think it was very important for us as leadership team first got together at the beginning of this to really gather as much information. And the truth of the matter is this is first time for everyone going through this. 

So, the information was bleak. you know, everyone in this industry, you know, connects with one another. We’re all what I would call a family in a sense as operators and everyone use their resources around the industry. But the leadership team really made a great decision to really speak directly to our consumers. And I think that was probably the biggest and best decision that we made as a company to prepare us for the next steps.

So, our Chief Marketing Office officer Derek Detenber created a great survey to blast out to a lot of our email club members and a lot of guests and consumers that have really experienced Victory before to get feedback from them exactly about what they were looking for and to come back what their decision process was going to be, how they wanted to be communicated to. Just a lot of really great questions, you know. Our objective from that was really just gaining a pulse and an attitude over consumers and what their potential behaviors might be when they come back. You know the frequency and such like that as well.

So…And again in targeting our database, you know, we know it’s people that have experienced us before, so we trusted their insight, and it went over really well. It got picked up by some local publications and  and even Bill Covaleski did a nice Spot on NBC news 10 to get the word out. So we ended up with over 7,500 respondents which just provides such great value and insight into what they’re looking for and allowed us to plan properly.

Liam Dempsey: Can I ask two questions about that? Was that survey then open to folks who had never been involved? So if you’re publicizing it on the news, inevitably, you’re going to get new folks coming to the site saying I’m not on their mailing list, but I’d certainly like to share. So that’s my one question. The other question is, are you able to share how big the distribution list is generally to know what kind of return of your committed regulars completed the survey?

Matt Reimold: I don’t have the complete stats in front of me as far as you know, how many of our email club members actually responded. But yes, you are correct with your first question. Obviously, at first, our goal was to gain back from our direct consumers in a sense, you know, I think the results were positive. I , know before we really went out and got picked up by a couple other publications.we were sitting around the 4,500 number and responses. So it looks like we did get a little bit of a boost up after, you know, Bill and some other members went out there and really promoted it. So I think that it’s probably a happy medi. but probably more 70-30 leaning towards the side of, you know, our direct consumers in our area and that are loyal to Victory. So, a good shake up of both, I think. 

Liam Dempsey: Yeah. Thank you. And just for listeners who don’t know, Bill Covaleski is one of the co-founders and master brewer at Victory Brewing Company. And a leader in the local brewing and business industry for sure.

Matt Reimold: I just assume everyone knows. That’s a pretty safe bet, but just on the off chance. We’re about community here, so we want to make everybody feel welcome. 

Matt Reimold: Thank you. 

Liam Dempsey: So, I wonder If there were some insights from that survey, 7,500 is a lot. There’s a lot of data in there. And were there some insights that surprised you and your colleagues? Like, oh, we never even thought about this or that. Or that many people care about this aspect over here is really interesting. We never would have staked much money on that, but maybe we need to know.

Matt Reimold: You know, I don’t know if it was one thing jumped out. I would say that there were probably you know, I think the things that we expected to see. We saw, you know, most people wanted to see masks, that they expected the six foot distancing, and some of those general comments, some of the other ones that made us pivot a little bit more and change up some of our operations were probably people did have concerned about lines. 

And you know, what other guests kind of how they would act within the walls. So obviously some are, you know, for all the restrictions and some may fight it. And that’s, you know, our challenge operators currently, I’m sure. So for us, one of the things we did is we looked at those results really. And we went to a reservation system, which we never had before Victory and really tried to pivot that way to provide our guests a safe, friendly way to, you know, make their reservation, and know as soon as they walk in the door, they’re going to have an opportunity to sit right down and get into what, you know, we’ll call, their “safe space” with their, you know, what we have a seven foot distancing and allow them to enjoy us and then hopefully, feeling safe. So, those were the quick learning from that. 

The other big takeaway was really communication. We have a pretty active social media I would say with Victory Beer. As you kind of alluded to earlier, we are a slightly larger company than maybe some in this area. And for us, we have a couple of different platforms, and our taproom platform is probably one that, you know, we’re still growing as we move along. And for us, we’ve seen a lot of engagement on our social media platform since this pandemic started, because people want to stay up to date. And they want, you know, pure, honest, open, concise communication about what we’re doing. And people have really responded to that as well. 

I think those were the two main pivots that we made right away was It’s the reservation system, getting that set up, and then really figuring out our communication template and one information the guests really wanted to hear. And, you know, I think it worked out great for us. 

Liam Dempsey:  Matt, that open communication I think is so important. You’re probably the fourth or fifth guest who has talked about that kind of communication. And even communication that might be the government regulations are changing. Here’s what we’re doing this week. We may not be doing this next week, but really just being as transparent as you can. Here’s what we know. And here’s what we’re doing because of what we know. And that’s so, so important. And I’m so delighted to hear that Victory has embraced that. And it sounds like it’s getting real value from it too. You’re finding real engagement with your community and with your customers because of your transparent communication.

Matt Reimold: Sure. And if I could add one, you know segment to that comment as well…

Liam Dempsey: Please do!

Matt Reimold: It really adds support to our management teams as well. Again, I go back to the last comment I made, you know, about all the operators dealing with the ups and the downs of, you know, how the community is kind of reacting to everything. And, you know, one of my biggest job is, you know, supporting our GM’s and our management teams to be, you know, ready to handle these situations and to feel empowered. And for us to get the word out, you know, as we all know, the, you have to purchase food mandate with the alcohol just came out. And it was very important for us to blast that out on social. So, you know, we could reference it to our guests if they wanted to read more details as we’re seating them and such like that to just help and support the teams as well. So, yeah. It’s a huge value for everyone across the board, for our guests, and even for our own team members. 

Liam Dempsey: No parts restaurateur, but that’s really interesting. And it’s something I hadn’t really just taken the time to think about is managing expectations of both staff, but more importantly, customers coming in is what is the management, you know, the folks at the dining guests, the taproom guests don’t see the senior managers of C suites. What are they expecting of their customers to make the general managers and the hosts and the frontline staff know that exactly what the senior leadership wants. But also know that the senior leadership will support them when folks are not following the safety rules and are putting both the team at VCictory and potentially other customers at risk. That’s such an important communication. And I imagine your general managers all the way down to your line staff really value that because they know that. And I don’t even know the names of all the senior managers, Mary and Tom and Henry are looking out for the folks on the front line. And the folks on the front line can see that Mary and Henry and Tom signatures on that communication. And that it’s the ninth time it’s gone out, and on social media or on the website in the last couple weeks.

Matt Reimold: Yeah. You gotta hit the nail on the head. it’s super important and at the same time the hope is you know, The staff picks up on it kind of like you alluded to and they know how serious we are about keeping them Just as safe as we want to keep our guests as well. So, it really goes full circle. and it’s been, like you said, if four other of your guests have mentioned it and you know, it’s a highlight for us. So, I’m sure it’s the same for everyone. It’s super important right now. 

Liam Dempsey: Yeah, absolutely. I mean good communication is always important. But it’s even more so in a time of real chaos. And to your point, constant flux and change. We don’t do that. We just started doing it 30 seconds ago. I know, but we don’t do it anymore. 

Matt, tell me a little bit about what is Victory Brewing Company? What are you and your colleagues doing to prepare the taprooms, to welcome folks back? And I know we’re welcoming them back, but it’s we’re certainly seeing mixed results of around the country of states that have opened areas that have opened, and are now struggling with the coronavirus. And you’ve talked about reservation systems. You’ve talked about very clear communication, consistent communication, regular communication. What else has Victory done, and is Victory doing to make sure that not only you and your colleagues are safe, but that me and my friends and family are going to be safe when we come in? 

Matt Reimold: Sure. Yeah. I mean, honestly, the show isn’t long enough to probably list everything.

Liam Dempsey:  Sure. Sure. 

Matt Reimold: You know, again, I think, you know, for the most part we’re following all the CDC and PA health guidelines. There’s no doubt about that, you know. And probably going even farther past those  expectations that they put in, you know. 

We’re big on minimizing contact points. We have just specific drink runners, just specific food runners, just specific service. Those types of mentalities as well. So we’re doing a lot of great things, I think, you know, coming out of the survey as well. You know, one of the other big things we learned that we shifted on was outdoor seating was important I think with, you know, how things are ever changing with the information about the COVID is at the time outdoor seating, you know, was. And being outdoor was a huge aspect for everyone. So we, at all three of our facilities really, Kenneth Square has a very small patio, but Parkesburg and Downingtown really had no outdoor seating. What we shifted, we, you know, created big tent areas and made sure we had the opportunity to give guests the option to sit outdoors. And it’s been appreciated by a lot of our consumers to at least have the option, you know, whether someone’s in more of a you know, maybe an older age, and just feels more comfortable out there. Or it’s a beautiful day and they just want to be out there. 

So, that was a great shift that we made. And we’re continuing that process even as we open up the indoors. So, you know, it’s created some staffing challenges, but it’s something that we think is important and our consumers have definitely wanted. So, we’re fighting hard to keep that alive. 

You know, besides that, we really wanted to kind of go above and beyond. We wanted to, as I think I’ve been alluding to, we wanted to be known as, you know, a place that we wanted to, you know, kind of set the bar in a sense of what the expectations were. And again, leadership made a great decision. I think they worked with a company called Global Plasma Solutions based out of Charlotte, and had at all of our facilities for Victory. And at all of our brands, they installed an ionized,  bipolar, or not bipolar, (I apologize)  NBTI product for air purification. So, basically it attaches on to pathogens and kills diseases within the air. And it’s something that they utilize at airports and medical facilities and things like. So, it’s just an extra element now where our air on the inside is actually cleaner and fresher than it’s ever been before. So even though we have that seven foot distancing and all the minimal contact points and sanitation going on, and all these other things, it’s just that extra element.

And again, it went two fold, you know. We actually installed this and at one of our facilities down in Charlotte first. And before we opened up in Philadelphia at the end. And I passed along the press release to our teams and the excitement from our management team and our staff again, knowing that our company was taking that step, you know, really took the weight off of them a little bit because they’re the ones working inside every day and dealing with the guests.

And again, it was just another step of showing that the company is committed to not only the guest safety, but our team safety as well. So it’s kind of goes hand in hand. It allows our guests to get a better experience from our people because now they’re more comfortable, I believe, as well. So, it was another incredible shift that I think is, again, we don’t talk about it enough probably because of all the great things that it could do for us. But it’s something that I think that is appreciated across the board. 

Liam Dempsey: Yeah. So two points, And on that, one is just clarifying that this is basically just a really fancy air cleaner and I’m grossly oversimplifying. And I’m no part scientist, but what it’s doing is it’s making the indoor air less likely to allow for the spread of COVID-19. Is that correct?

Matt Reimold: Correct. Yeah. So, you know, yep.

Liam Dempsey: Yep. And then that can’t be an inexpensive system. I’m not looking to ask you to let me know how much it costs, but it strikes me as that’s not a small line item cost, and it speaks volumes to Victory Brewing Company’s willingness to invest to make sure that its customers and its staff are safe. This is not just come on back in and drink some beer and make us some money. But, you know, hey, we’re putting real money into this as well because we want you to to be around for the long term and you know, both from a human side and from a customer side.

Matt Reimold: Yeah. You got it. And obviously, yes I don’t even have the dollar figures to share with you.

Liam Dempsey: But It’s not important. But right, you know. New air conditioning for something like the Downingtown taproom would be an astronomical cost for a business my size, a And to think about that. So, i’m delighted to to see Victory’s really commitment to that. And you said, one other thing that I just wanted to double check, you mentioned seven foot spacing instead of six foot spacing. Is that, was that an accurate speak or did you misspeak? And if it wasn’t, is that just Victory going the extra foot, if you will, to really address those spacing concerns that you probably picked up on in the survey?

Matt Reimold: Yes. Without a doubt. And I think it kind of went into and it was not a misspeak is kind of where we wanted to start. And, you know, part of that, you know, references back to earlier in the conversation in regards to one of the big takeaways was about the consumers being a little bit nervous about what other consumers would do within the walls. And for us, you know, being a part of our community for such a long time, you know, you can sit down in Downingtown taproom and watch as 19 different tables probably know somebody at a table that knows somebody and everybody wants to get up and walk around and do all this stuff. And obviously we’re trying to alleviate that currently to keep it safe. But with that, there comes a lot of movement and shift in a chair sometimes that we don’t want to see. And so we wanted to kind of get ahead of that a little bit. And in case, something like that did happen, you know, don’t get me wrong. We approached that guest. Again, our managers are empowered to have those conversations and ask them to sit back down. But yeah. I mean, we knew that our guests from the surveys wanted to be able to walk into our space and see it and know it, and feel that they were in a good spot to enjoy themselves. And so far, our consumer feedback has been pretty incredible. I can’t be happier with all the teams and everything they do. Obviously, again, from an oversight role for myself, you know, we put the plan together. We teach and train. But the execution on the ground from the GM’s and the chefs, even in the kitchen with the sanitation practices has been great. And you could tell by our guest feedback everywhere that it’s been appreciated. And that feels even better for the team. So, yeah. We’re really in a great spot. 

Liam Dempsey: Yeah. I’m delighted to hear all of that, and that the work that you’re putting in is making the connection with your target audience, with your customers, with your community that you expected.  And as we’ve been chatting for these 20-25 minutes, man, it really sounds like you and your colleagues are taking not a what’s the least we can do to prepare but what’s the most we can do. And ultimately I get it. It comes down to money. You can’t do everything. You can’t hire everybody. You can’t try every plan. Nobody can but you’re you’re really going zs far as you possibly can to make sure that the community is safe. And that’s great beer and food.

Matt Reimold: There you go. That’s the easy part during all this. Unfortunately, the great beer and food has always been consistent. But yes, you without a doubt and I appreciate you picking up on that again you know. We wanted to be seen and known as a place that took it seriously, the safety of our team and the guests that come in. And you know, and that’s our goal every day. I’m again, I could list everything that we’re doing from hourly hand washing to restroom attendance that are only there to wash, you know, restroom, high touch points and, you know, things like that. So just a lot of great things that the leadership is committed to. 

And financially, I mean, obviously, we’re all in a place where every month, every week is going to be…every day is going to be a battle. But right now, our goal is, you know, we want to stay open. We want to contribute to the community to be a place that is doing the right thing. So we don’t contribute to anything negative, you know, from a positivity rate standpoint. And hopefully, it keeps our business open and all the other businesses around us. And that’s really our goal and the hop we want to keep our people employed, and keep our great beer flowing for all of our guests. So that’s kind of where, what our mindset is, you know. 

On the other side of that, the other side of that as well is, you know, we just don’t know what will happen in the future. And I think, you know, part of the, you know, installing the air filtration system is that in the future we want to be prepared. So the investment now, you know, speaks to a situation and unfortunate pandemic we’re in now. But if something ever popped up two years from now, you know, some of that sort, hopefully, you know, we’re more prepared and we learned from the last time. And I think that’s the other way that the leadership looked at that investment as well.

So, yeah. I think we’re in a great place. And again, I think if you haven’t come in to enjoy us yet, the beer is even better right out of the draft and out of that 32oz can. So come and see us. 

Liam Dempsey: Matt, I feel like I could talk Victory Brewing all day long, probably too many days in a row. 

We are coming up to our time. Before I thank you again for joining us on the show and wish you a great day, tell us where people can find you and find Victory Brewing online, please. 

Matt Reimold: Sure. I mean, pretty simple. [victorybeer.com] is the best place to find us. You know, from a taproom perspective, right up at the top of the page, you can click on any taproom that’s closest to your area and find out of all of our offerings, make a reservation to make it smooth and seamless, kind of like I mentioned as well. And even take you to some shopping at our store and all the different things that we got. So,  yeah. Easiest place to find us. 

Liam Dempsey: Excellent. Thank you so much for joining me on the show today, Matt. Really appreciate it.

Matt Reimold:  I appreciate it. Thank you for having me.

Liam Dempsey:  Folks, that’s a wrap here from me. Thanks for listening. 

Until the next time, stay safe out there.