Owning a craft brewery was nowhere on John Doyle’s professional radar while he was working on Wall Street. He admits, “I got involved because I love great beer.” Now co-owner of New Park Brewing with Alex Dee and Tom Atkins, the trio is growing their brewery based on a shared passion. Here’s how a Connecticut Small Business Boost Fund loan and Pursuit’s Business Advisory Services have helped their business thrive.
A love of craft beer and a desire to share it
The trio formed their LLC in 2015 and officially opened New Park in West Hartford in 2017. Today, they employ about 20 staff members at their taproom and event space. New Park’s flagship brew is Cloudscape, a classic New England-style hazy IPA. Among other popular brews are the Double Cloud and the lagers, as well as seasonal specialties.
“Alex is Head of Brewing Operations,” John explains, “and Tom handles the financials. I do whatever else needs to be done. The rest of our team is steadily growing, too.”
Pandemic-related changes lead to new revenue streams
“When we started, we had a simple operation,” John says. “We made beer and sold beer and we had food trucks come by. When the pandemic hit, we had to close onsite operations for a while, but that gave us the opportunity to build our distribution, including home deliveries. When we reopened, there were new requirements for food to be served along with alcohol, so we added a kitchen for homemade pizzas.”
John says that as onsite operations expanded – adding the kitchen and an event space along with the taproom – the team also focused on increasing distribution of their beer throughout Connecticut and beyond.
“Our onsite location is terrific for building our brand and customer base locally,” he says, “and expanding our distribution is helping to take our brand and beer to a new level.”
New opportunities present a need for financing
While they took advantage of excellent opportunities to grow revenue, expanding New Park’s onsite operations and distribution also meant additional expenses.
“Everyone in the industry was trying to figure out how to make things work in a changed environment. For New Park, we had added delivery trucks already, and we expanded the taproom and added kitchen operations. Then we realized that we could do even more, including offering live music, if we created a space for events. All of these things are capital-intensive,” John explains.
As they considered financing options, they received an email from Kristen Gorski of the West Hartford Economic Development Agency. It detailed the Connecticut Small Business Boost Fund and the New Park team knew it was a great opportunity.
“New Park had evolved to a point in which we really had three businesses to operate – our onsite taproom, our event space, and our beer distribution. We wanted to invest in the business and the Boost Fund offered a loan with a good rate, so we went for it,” John says.
He says that in just a few clicks, the process was underway. “We were instantly connected with Pursuit, which turned out to be really great for us,” John says. “Our loan team, led by Jim Bilotta, was terrific about guiding the process and getting us to the finish line. They were so much more helpful than we’d anticipated – that wasn’t at all what we’d have expected from a lender.”
Soon, the New Park team was approved for financing – but that’s only part of the success story.
Pursuit’s Business Advisory Services have a tremendous positive impact
“The loan process made us realize that we had to get our financial management and planning in better shape,” John admits.
He and the New Park team learned that along with financing, they were also eligible for Pursuit’s Business Advisory Services (BAS). These services are provided at no cost to eligible borrowers to help business owners focus on key areas including financial management, human resources, and marketing to strengthen operations and position them for long-term success.
“The advisory services have been a game-changer,” John says. “When you’re running a business, the day-to-day work takes up so much time and energy that you don’t realize what’s not in place and what needs improvement. We worked with Irene Dominguez at Pursuit and she helped us clarify our priority areas.”
Irene explains, “We put John and his team in touch with Alek Marfisi from Upwind Strategies. They began working to develop a cash-flow projection for two years and, in doing so, they realized that the business’s books needed some clean-up. Alek worked with them on integrating QuickBooks for past and current transactions.”
John says, “Alek forced us to look at our numbers and get real, then he helped us get organized and create systems. We reviewed growth and profitability opportunities and learned where expenses were getting away from us. And now, we’re making much better business decisions.”
Looking ahead, the New Park team is focusing on growing distribution further, as well as offering non-alcoholic beverages and other new products.
Pursuit supports small business success with financing and more
“Business success comes down to securing financing and recruiting great people. If you can do those two things well, you’ll be successful. We’ve got a great team, so there are a lot of opportunities we can leverage. And we’ve learned so much from our experience with Pursuit. We’re stronger as a business and as a team,” John says.
Pursuit is a leading small business lender throughout New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Illinois, and Nevada. We have a line of credit and loan options that can help you finance business needs and support growth. Contact us to learn more.
