The Taproom's Love Language
What brewery taproom isn’t looking for ways to increase traffic and diversify their audience? It’s easy to say, but a lot harder to do, especially when their beer is distributed well beyond their home market. Posting hyper-local content on social media for location-specific events risks their wider fanbase becoming disengaged and the algorithm deprioritizing future posts. Using viral strategies to promote events through fun, funny, or educational Instagram reels may work once in a blue moon but can’t be relied upon for consistent reach or foot traffic. So, how does a taproom find new audiences? For the past couple of years, I’ve been involved in a particularly unique approach to crack this nut, and I’m going to share how you can either steal the concept entirely or draw inspiration from it.
In October 2019, Revolution Brewing partnered with a fascinating Chicago tech startup called INT’L CAFE who specializes in connecting people who share a common language. These opportunities are crucial for newcomers to a city seeking connections with others from similar backgrounds. Their mission resonated deeply with me because my wife’s family immigrated to the US in the late 1990s after fleeing Bosnia during the war, eventually settling in Northern California. For them, connecting with other Bosnians was vital for social acclimation in a new country, especially for the adults who lacked the structured exposure to diverse people and backgrounds that school provides.
The Premise
On the first and third Thursday of every month, members of the INT’L CAFE community arrive at our Taproom, where each table is set up with signage for a different language, based on the RSVPs. Attendees arrive, grab a drink, and sit at the table corresponding to the language they’re interested in speaking, regardless of skill level. Participants have an instant icebreaker to connect with other locals who speak their same language. Everyone is encouraged to bounce around, including to the always-busy English-speaking table.
The partnership has been a creative solution from a brewery’s perspective because:
✔️ The brewery offers a fun, social meeting space and great hospitality to an organization lacking its own brick-and-mortar location(s), transforming the space into a supportive, cultural immersion.
✔️ The organization builds and manages its own local online communities, and thus doesn’t rely on algorithms or the brewery’s social media team to attract this new and unique target audience for each bi-weekly meetup.
✔️ The mission of the organization aligns perfectly with the aspirational goal of craft breweries to introduce their beer and setting to new, diverse faces.
✔️ Events have a 70% retention rate due to the deep need for this type of multicultural offering.
Here’s founder Jess Pappalardo on our local NBC show Chicago Today breaking it all down for you:
How it Works:
Breweries pay a one-time fee to INT’L CAFE for the start-up team’s effort that goes into establishing the local community in their market, a PR push, staff training, and a kit complete with tools to host each event. An ongoing monthly fee is then paid to continue the digital marketing, community building, and promotion of each event, plus the monthly replenishment of resources used to conduct the meet-ups.
One way that I rationalize these investments is by imagining the cost of a full-time marketing individual to program a taproom, beyond the individual responsible for managing it. Some breweries have this position, while others struggle to rationalize it and put the burden on others. I would estimate the all-in costs of one year partnered with INT’L CAFE, including the one-time start-up fee, to total less than 5% of what a base salary would be, and you get 24 events each year if a bi-monthly cadence is chosen.
Success with these pop-ups doesn’t necessarily come instantly, and patience is crucial while building up a regular audience. While we currently see an average of 132 attendees for each meet-up at Revolution, with a high of 259, those numbers came gradually after more humble beginnings. Breweries have the opportunity to accelerate attendance and retention by going above and beyond to embrace the concept in their own creative ways. A taproom staff that is bought-in and enthusiastic about the mission of INT’L CAFE will leave attendees feeling unintimidated and welcome, many of whom will be first-time visitors excited to spread the word and return with new friends.
Applying The Model
I believe that breweries can still use social media effectively to publicize a big event with a long buildup and storytelling behind it. The problem is that you can usually only get away with a couple of those per year, at best. When it comes to consistent, recurring programming at a taproom each week, it’s harder than ever to break through today’s algorithm, which feeds off quick humor, news, reactions, and “did you know?” style content. Nobody logs onto social media anymore hoping to see a bulletin board of advertisements. They want to be entertained or “info-tained”.
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Being entertainers and promoters on social media on a consistent, daily basis isn’t realistic for most craft breweries. As an alternative, find community groups with an active online presence and a desire to have a regular meeting place. INT’L CAFE builds its audience strategically by targeting multilinguals, language learners, and international travelers with content that keeps members engaged and entertained between events. This approach ensures their community always has the next meetup top of mind.
Breweries can not only offer their space on a recurring basis but, if the partnership shows promise, they can embrace the group’s passion and find ways to invest back. Don’t simply take advantage of their success; spend time and effort to ensure the relationship remains a win-win for both sides by helping it expand.
One example is that this week, we invited the team from INT’L CAFE to brew a beer on our pilot system. This will allow us to introduce them to our production team, enhance their knowledge about brewing, and talk through our innovation process. They’ll participate in the brew day for a mexican-style dark lager recipe they requested, and we’ll coordinate the draft release with one of their events, giving attendees yet another reason to show up and adding a new layer to the partnership. The beer’s name: Malty Lingual 🤓.
Let’s Get To Talking
INT'L CAFE is filling a significant gap for multicultural social immersion in today's world. I briefly mentioned my positive experience as part of one of Nostradouglas’ predictions posts at the beginning of the year. This led breweries from around the country reaching out to their founder Jess and five new brewery partners, in addition to Revolution. Now that she is geared up to grow her community further across the country, Jess politely asked if I could mention them again sometime.
The more we talked through the Malty Lingual brew, the more we came to the conclusion that I could be a helpful resource given my familiarity with the industry, the challenges of running a craft brewery, and connections to you all through my blog and on social media. Moving forward, I’m going to act as an advisor to INT'L CAFE as they look to expand and add brewery partners in every market throughout the country, answering questions and providing advice whenever I can be helpful. If you’d like an introduction, don’t hesitate to reach out to me or contact Jess directly (jess@intlcafe.io). Hvala na čitanju.
This is such a clever idea! Now I got a place to practice my Yiddish and Spanish! Can't wait to try the Malty Lingual 🍻🍻🍻
This is such a cool thing. And such an awesome way of getting a bunch of people to the taproom.