welcome back to a beer in business I am
privileged this week to have Michael
petty colas with me of the Petit colas
Brewing Company here in Dallas Texas at
beer and business we love to give
entrepreneurial tips and it just so
happens we’re even getting tips today
from a guy that makes beer but first you
know what we got here coming in this is
your golden opportunity a lot so I
appreciate you noting few things I like
drinking beer more than drinking my own
beer so thanks for forming at Tom I’m
excited to be here this can be great
we’re just happy to have you and really
appreciate it and I’d like to start with
once you tell me just a little bit about
the golden opportunity and what led you
to this particular recipe and then let’s
talk about your company sure absolutely
golden opportunity so when I started the
brewery I really became known very early
on for making these high alcohol beers
that don’t necessarily come across this
high alcohol but I wanted something that
I could get to the non craft beer
drinker someone that was a Bud Miller
Coors guy something that looked like
something that they would recognize that
definitely taste a whole bunch better
and smells a little bit better or
actually a lot better as well something
that they could immediately identify
with understand hey I’ve had this before
and now let me delve into this world of
craft beer so this is kind of the
gateway beer right very delicate very
crisp very light little bit of hot
bitterness to it just a tad bit of
sweetness to it but easy drinking one of
those beers that I say you could drink
10 oh when it’s 110 degrees outside you
know what I love about what you just
said is you took an entrepreneurs
perspective to talk about the beer and
it shows you about the passion you have
to have as a product whether you’re
making beer or you’re making social
media software it doesn’t matter what
you’re doing you’ve got to have passion
for your product and then you got into
business after your mom Jackee in El
Paso first created it so what you share
with us how your mom got into it and
then your decision to take the
entrepreneurial walk with your mom and
the family brewing business yeah happy
to do that I mean I came home from
college one summer and my mom who pretty
much a chef I mean not a professional
chef but all our life I mean this this
lady could cook and brewing beer is
really an extension of of cooking but I
come home and she sits down these two
big brown bomber bottles and gets a
couple glasses and gets a bottle opener
and you know opens up this bottle and I
thought what is this and
goes well I made beer I’m like what you
made beer what do you mean you made beer
but you know she pours us out this nice
like Mexican ale and we go out on the
back porch or back porch and El Paso
where you can overlook Texas New Mexico
and Mexico and we’re drinking that beer
and you know that’s when it really hit
me tit man okay she’s made something
that tastes better than what you can get
down the street and the experience of
drinking a beer that someone I knew made
and in this case my mom that was my
first exposure to homebrew and that’s
kind of one of the things that lit this
fire about mmm a man I’ve got a passion
for beer and maybe we’ll do something
with this in the future and what led you
to take the entrepreneurial step and say
okay mom I’m gonna run the business and
I’m gonna do this well I had practice
I’m also a lawyer and I practice law for
about a decade
I came across a list of goals that I’d
put together for myself to accomplish in
the legal industry and this was about 10
years this was in 2010 and as I was
going through this list I realized I’ve
accomplished everything on that list I
had already accomplished and I’m not
someone who can just go through the
motions I really was looking for a
challenge and I have two passions in
life beer and soccer and I decided you
know what what better thing to do than
make one of my passions my job
investigated how to write a business
plan wrote the business plan all
throughout 2010 and then ultimately
built a brewery in 2011 that’s fantastic
and I noticed that the logo for the
brewery is very familiar to me but I’ll
let you tell people the inspiration for
that logo oh the logo has you know quite
a bit going on into it you know one
thing I wanted to create a mark that
didn’t exist in the marketplace right
you you see Nike swoosh and you
automatically know that’s not you see
Under Armour’s you a you know that’s
Under Armour without any reference time
recognition I think that’s right so I
wanted to create a mark that did not
exist in the marketplace so that’s
central little interlocking B and P and
C was a mark that I could identify our
brewery on its own right so that in
years we can just basically use just
that and it would say the same thing as
if we were had that central image with
pedicles Brewing Company around it but I
also again going back to my love of
soccer I wanted it to look like the
crest on a footballers Jersey and so I
kind of designed it and borrowed from
like other football organizations that
use the initials of their organization
in their logo so I definitely
incorporated that
incorporated the shape of the state of
Texas because our three corporate values
are honest friendly and down-to-earth
the state motto for Texas if you didn’t
know that as friendliness so I was also
kind of overtly putting in one of our
corporate values and it’s also roughed
up right it’s not just a blue flat navy
color on that logo it’s actually he’s
somewhat distressed and that’s delivered
as well I wanted that to recognize our
down-to-earth character right really the
biggest story in the logo is that
there’s a little Pentagon with 2010
inside of it 2010 as I mentioned is a
year I wrote the business plan for the
brewery we’re a little bit different I
built this brewery on my own I own a
hundred percent of it I don’t know
opinion to a bank or an investor or
anybody how I really look at that is
okay I own this my wife owns this and my
three kids own this so the 2010 in there
the two represents me and my wife the
one is my first Moore daughter Katherine
and then each of those zeros are the two
twins Lola and grace so I put a lot
about our family in there without being
overt again I think that’s fantastic a
lot of times when people build the logo
and the marketing identity for their
company what they really focus on is
something hips something cool a friend
who’s a graphic artist work something
logo up and your logo has a lot of
meaning do you tell that story you know
through when you gather at beer
festivals and stuff do you tell the
story of the logo yeah I mean telling
the story of our logo is telling about
our brewery and what we’re about and
every bit of that is very intentional
and I love talking about it how do you
as a leader share this vision and
passion to the people you hire and how
do you make decisions about who you keep
who have become true believers versus
people that are maybe just in for a
paycheck and there are b-minus players
so you’re like I’m gonna upgrade and
find someone who’s a believer how do you
select the people that you’re going to
allow to come in and how do you decide
who you’re gonna let stay that’s a great
question
because we handle that in a pretty
unique manner so the first year at the
brewery I worked there by myself I
brewed all the beer I carried all the
beer cellar dahl the beer I delivered
all the beer I was the only rep I did
everything one of the benefits of the
brew industry is people love it right
and I was getting these emails tweets
you know everything said hey man I’d
love to come and see what the breweries
about and I’m happy to volunteer up some
time so I started having all these
volunteers coming through and what this
ended up ultimately being was this
breeding ground of potential employees
so when it came time to hire my first
employee well I didn’t just post
something on Craigslist and say send me
a resumes I have all these great
volunteers who are coming through here
these are guys who are volunteering
their time they already either love the
product or love beer or love our brewery
and they’re there for specific reasons
so I harnessed that right and said all
right let’s utilize this pool these
people are all already in it so when it
came to hire that first guy I just hired
up one of my volunteers and we basically
continued down that same model for
five-plus years hiring up volunteers
only within the last year have we
started to kind of go outside that pool
because maybe we were a little bit more
specialized now than we were on day one
you know as day one one employee now or
30 employees but the way we started has
provided us these hugely loyal employees
that have understood what we’re about
how we operate what we want to do what
our goals are understand the vision and
are all in alignment with that right as
a result I mean we just don’t hardly
have people leave at all that’s
fantastic you know they say every
business plan is really three-year
chapters because the five to seven-year
plan now that’s good to set a vision out
there but good grief I mean the economy
changes so many things change in that
amount of time that three years is
usually is this year getting ready for
next year and then what we believe the
next year is going to be in a three year
by is usually you know pretty good as
you look out right now at your next
three years what does it look like and
what things are you doing to prepare the
brewery has changed so dramatically year
after year that it is really difficult
to say oh yeah this is what we’re gonna
be like in three years five years so you
know I’m looking at 30-day plans I’m
looking at 90-day plans I’m looking a
year I’m looking three years but there
are definitely things that I’m looking
at doing and I would say first and
foremost on that list is changing the
law I would definitely not say hey it’s
a really good idea to write a business
plan that is based on you changing the
law probably not a great idea but you
know if you’ve got the passion and the
know-how and the drive you can make it
happen we
done it on one occasion we have another
lawsuit that’s pending before the
Supreme Court hope to win something
there but where I’m really focused right
now is getting the right to sell beer on
our premises to take with you right come
into our tap room you find some beer
that you like buy it to take with you
Texas is the only state in the United
States where you can’t walk into a
brewery and buy some beer to take with
you I’m talking about open container in
my truck you’re talking about just going
to Napa and buy a case of wine and leave
the winery that’s what people do right
you go to Napa you try these great wines
anything I was fantastic I want to take
some home here’s a case that’s right
there’s a huge tourism draw right and so
we got people still everyday hey man I’d
like to buy this beer and take it home
can you do that no you can’t do that but
we do have a legislative session
starting in 2019 right so we’re putting
our strategies together for that I’m
involved with the legislative committee
for the Texas Craft Brewers Guild and
I’m you know putting a lot of time and
effort into trying to get that law
change because if there’s one thing that
I wish one write that I wish we had that
we do not it’s that beer to go wow you
know what depending on the industry and
you may have to change the law speaking
of change early on when you get out of
college and you come home to the dream
my mom is now making beer you know the
dream that most I don’t know people have
that dream but that that certainly would
be something that would have lit me up
in a positive way when you first stepped
into it you’re a trained lawyer you’ve
done all these things and then you say
wow I’m gonna have to learn this in this
so you were packing you were
distributing you were brewing you’re
doing a lot of things but what things
did you say I have to add this skill to
my repertoire how did you do it in the
midst of being all employees of your
little starting brain company you write
everything well first and foremost you
almost have to go and reverse a little
bit I mean job one beer quality beer
world-class beer right I mean I was
brewing beer at home in the backyard and
that was one of the kind of the seeds
for this entire brewery that has now
come to fruition with my mom’s recipe no
no by that time I was doing my own stuff
and people were saying oh man this is
awesome I’m loving this you know this is
great but brewing at home in your
backyard is still quite a bit different
operating a commercial brewery so skill
number one man mastering the brew
process I went to brew school I enrolled
with the American Brewers Guild and took
their intensive brewing science and
engineering program so that I could
figure out how to scale up five gallon
batches I was doing in my back yard you
know 500 gallons at a time because you
know the brew master who I learned from
said man the best thing you could do is
make a great beer great every time the
next best thing you could do is make a
terrible beer that’s terrible every time
the worst thing you could do is make a
beer that is sometimes good and
sometimes bad and that really struck a
chord with me because I thought yeah
that’s true Budweiser it’s the same if
I’m in Chicago or Boston or LA New York
it doesn’t matter it’s always the same
and so yes how do you make that beer so
it’s same every single time right you
know that’s key I don’t like those beers
those big Brewers beers but obviously
there’s a market for it it’s still 90%
of the market right so for any product
any product you make when you start
working with subcontractors to make your
product to scale your business you want
to make sure it’s made the same
everywhere where there’s everywhere or
you know other food products or it could
be clothing you want it to be the same
yeah so that was number one quality beer
and what I’ve told my guys for you know
five years man it’s all about the beer
it’s all about the beer it’s all about
the beer now I should say that last year
I changed it to now it’s actually all
about the people because it was just me
early on right and I was talking about
me but man it’s putting together that
crew finding a team that is really going
to share in your vision because it is
about the people it’s no longer me I’m
one of 30 people who are operating this
thing so you’ve got to get good people
right and you’ve got to be someone who
can find good people and understand how
it cultivate good people and you know
let them grow their wings and let them
fly give them some space you know so
that that’s another big thing you know
and then when you talk about what do you
have to master I knew I had to master
everything that had to do with the law
right because that was a strength for me
so you want to utilize your strengths
and minimize your weaknesses so I was
utilizing that strength of the law where
I had a big weakness was marketing and
that was an area that I did not have um
the acumen that I might have now but
it’s it’s just one of those other things
it’s on that to-do list get better in
this area identify what those areas are
get better at so that’s something that
oh yeah we’ve had to grow
beeps and browns from when we started to
where we are now who are the mentors in
your life that taught you some of these
important skills that you’re calling on
pulling them out of the backpack when
you started this I mean the easy answer
and the most obvious answer are you know
both of my parents they raised all three
of their kids me my brother and sister
in such a manner as to be very
independent and so that served me well
because when you have you know a
relatively successful law firm and you
tell people oh yeah I’m gonna open up
this micro brewery and in a time where
people are like I don’t even really know
what that is what are you doing you’ve
got a you know aren’t you doing okay as
a lawyer here you know it takes a little
bit of a leap of faith to make that jump
but to have that can-do gotta do I’m
gonna do this and to grow that
confidence it’s something that they
conveyed to me very early on in my life
that you know is a big part of who I am
today that’s number one and then number
two I went to University of Texas at
Dallas and there was a professor there
named dr. champagne
I never liked school all through grade
school middle school high school my
first foray into college I didn’t care
for school I didn’t like school well dr.
champagne sat down in his course and a
light turned on for me it was the first
time that I started to enjoy education
and really understand the value of any
education and I was interning for
senator kay Bailey Hutchison and the
secretary there told me one day she goes
you know you can lose everything in life
you could lose your home you could lose
your spouse or your kids you could lose
your car but there’s one thing you can’t
lose that’s your education once you earn
it you’ve got it and that hit me also
and I’m like it is about education and
that’s when I really started to realize
oh man I can not only enjoy this but
excel at it and it’s what allowed me to
get through school or undergraduate with
grades where I guess good enough to get
into law school and then to you know
excel in law school as well so now
you’re coming up 2010/2011 is it what
we’re coming up seven eight years now
for pedicle espresso i brewed the very
first beer on December 30th of 2011 so
that’s the start date that we use so we
will have our seven-year anniversary on
December 30th of 28
team this year now we’re gonna talk
about something a little more sensitive
it that’s okay
every entrepreneur that is watching is
fearful of two things making a mistake
or not making mistake and the market
just doesn’t accept it you did
everything right there was nothing wrong
with what you did the market just
doesn’t accept it talk about what
mistake did you make
early on that you learned from and
you’re stronger for it minimizing those
mistakes and not as writing that
business plan right you got to write
that business plan before you ever get
started because it’s gonna really make
you think about the most difficult
decisions and make you really think hey
is this gonna work or is this not gonna
work right or I thought about this and I
planned for it yeah that’s exactly right
if you haven’t planned for it you’re
gonna have a tough go right I mean you
can come up with this idea and think oh
man I’ve got this great idea it’s good
it’s good and if all you think about is
the good stuff and don’t really think
about some of the threats you’re doing
yourself a big disservice I mean I can
remember saying all right
there’s no brewery in Dallas because a
either no one sees the opportunity or B
there’s just no market for it and I
think you’re exactly right you need to
think about before you ever start you
really need to think about is there
actually a market for it that’s huge and
that was something that ultimately I did
my homework and thought all right I’ve
done the research I put it in the time
to write this plan and my result is yes
there is a market for it what about an
operational or people mistake that you
made in those first three four years
when you go from these volunteers
knocking on the door and say I love what
you’re doing I’d love to help out and
have the volunteers that were becoming
employees not an operational or people
mistake you made in that zone and how
that’s made you stronger or what you
learned from it I welcome mistakes I
tell my crew make mistakes don’t be
afraid of making mistakes because we’re
gonna learn more from the mistakes than
from the successes in a lot of cases I
make plenty of mistakes go out there
make mistakes you’re free to make
mistakes
go make mistakes we’re gonna learn from
them and mistakes are made
but what I’ve always said is it’s not
what happened it’s not the result of
that mistake it’s how do you respond to
it it’s not what happened to you it’s
like now what do you do that’s the more
important ask
don’t worry about that mistake what are
we gonna do to fix it that’s what’s more
important because that has much more
longevity to it what about an individual
that makes repetitive mistakes or it’s
just clear that it’s time to say goodbye
what advice can you give to an emerging
entrepreneur of how to say goodbye and
how to process through that decision
that’s a tough one for me personally
again I do things a little bit
differently than I think the normal
entrepreneur says don’t become
personally connected with your employees
I’ve done just the opposite I’m I’ve
become great friends with my employees
I’ve been to their weddings I was out
last Saturday my Brewer and I we got
together with our wives and went to
dinner so I become very heavily invested
in my guys I have a long rope that leash
is long you can make mistakes and if the
mistakes are repetitive and repetitive
it’s like well we’ve grown now we’ve got
other departments is there another
department that you might be a better
fit in if you can’t pull it here would
you be better off over here do you have
the skills to do that so for us I want
to utilize the maximum skill that my
guys have and if some guy shows a
deficiency in one area but a benefit
that we could use in another area well
let’s just move them over to that part
of the organization and that’s worked
for us now that doesn’t mean we have
gotten rid of one employee it’s happened
if you have something that just doesn’t
work and doesn’t work I mean you’ve got
to cut it you’ve got to let it go now I
probably let it drag on six months too
long because I have this now we can
rehabilitate we can do better we can do
better but what a lot of intrapreneurs
would tell you is the first time you
think about firing someone fire them
don’t wait any longer
I’ve never really been of that mindset
but I can see why a lot of people would
say that because if you just try to make
something work and it doesn’t and you do
that and do that and do that at some
point you know you’re failing and you’ve
got to make the change when you look at
business cycles you’ve got multiple
business cycles happen you know life
stages go come and go for a company yeah
but luck sometimes also plays a part and
I kind of refer to it as luck and
unintended consequences that I took
advantage of can you give an example of
just some luck or unintended
consequences that happen but you were
prepared to take advantage of it and
that’s why it turned out well you know a
lot of our overall success I still
attribute to luck right we’ve some
people say you make your own luck right
you put yourself in that position to get
lucky I open up a brewery at a time
where there wasn’t any other breweries
in Dallas there were only two in North
Texas and ultimately I opened up I was
the second brewery in Dallas but really
only by a month someone else opened
right before me but it was lucky that I
did open when I did because now fast
forward to today there’s like 50
breweries in North Texas and starting
brewery when I did is much different and
trying to start one today so I was lucky
in terms of being able to identify all
right here’s a good time for this to
happen because if you wait now when
people call me up saying hey I’m looking
at opening up a brewery I’m like okay
that’s cool and all but we’re really
saturated now and it’s not going to be
the same for you as it is you know the
people who are opening up five years ago
I mean especially ten years ago you know
it sounds like you really have an
amazing culture you talked about only
actually letting one person go in so
many years about carefully establishing
yourself early on you became a magnet
for people actually wanted to volunteer
so they came in and became part of what
Michael was building how do you
establish that great culture today or
better yet how did you establish it and
how do you maintain it today goes back
to that business plan if you’ve done a
proper business plan you’ve got you know
when I talked to you about our logo
honest friendly down-to-earth it’s in
there but those are our corporate values
right it was easy for me very genuine my
family when I was thinking about what
should the values of this company be I
want her to be a very genuine thing and
I started thinking what are the values
for my family and that’s really what I
came up with I mean it’s about being
honest I don’t care if you made a
mistake tell me about it it’s fine I
would rather you not lie about it and
let’s deal with the repercussions and
what happened and lie about it and find
out so and being friendly that’s a big
part I’ve always been friendly all my
life I love talking to people and
down-to-earth that’s just who I am you
know I don’t try to be real showy I
don’t really care about any of that
stuff so for me developing those genuine
values we’re a great place to start
right because you then can tell anyone
else who’s coming in here yeah this is
what we’re about it was easy on for me
to you know
convey what our culture was and it was
me just kind of one-on-one and I was
finding those guys those early
volunteers those early employees that
shared my values and were able to bring
them aboard they shared our values I
sure shared the vision of the company
and then they slowly started imparting
those same values to the next generation
of employees that were coming on so it’s
very important I think culture maybe you
know I mentioned earlier that it was
initially all about the beer all about
the beer all about the beer and then
finally I’m like no it’s all about the
people and culture is a huge part of it
right you want this to be a great place
to work you know when we started on day
one you’re the benefits for free beer
you know so that was it it’s like I
listened to my guys alright so when it
came time to get a health insurance plan
we didn’t get some rinky-dink plan right
we’ve got a plan a plan it was good and
the brewery pays 2/3 of the premium we
still have the free beer so you’ve got
that we have a 401 K and we’ll match
100% of your contribution up to 5% of
your salary you want to make sure you’re
building a place that people want to
work and will continue to want to work
and are surrounded by other people that
they enjoy that have like interest you
know we it’s kind of easier for us
because we’re all enjoying beer you know
daily but we have other interests as
well and it’s about you know when
someone says hey I’ve got a best friend
who’s looking for a job I’m thinking
perfect he’ll come in and want to make
sure that you know you’re gonna look
good for referring someone he’s gonna be
working harder you’re gonna want to only
refer people who are really gonna be a
fit for us and it works culture is you
know probably the single most important
thing at any organization Michael what
makes petty Cola so special what I’ve
always told people is what we deliver
what we brew is world-class passionate
in a glass and the reason I use the term
world-class
is I can remember a brewery he came out
and said hey we’ve got the best IPA in
Texas and I thought well says who we use
the term world-class passion in a glass
world class is specific because the
great American Beer Festival if you’re
an actor you want to win an Oscar if
you’re a Brewers you want to win a gold
medal to Great American Beer Festival
because what that denotes is that you
were making world-class beer and we’ve
not only won that once we’ve won it
twice
fantastic so that is the Academy Award
in the brewing industry that’s it and
you’ve got to
well here’s Texas Hills Anasuya so and
the best supporting actor I suppose
that’s right Cheers
so Michael people wanted to check it out
maybe it wasn’t on a tap handle at their
favorite brewery how can they come check
you out your company and sample some of
this great beer yeah
so the brewery that we built is right in
the Dallas Design District just right
off of downtown we’ve got a tap room
connected to the brewery you can see the
brewery we pour 18 beers on tap come on
in check out our brewery you’ll have a
ball if you visit Dallas or live here
come pay us a visit
Michael this has really been a lot of
fun I’m gonna ask you one more question
and that is coming up to your seventh
year eighth year you’re in seventh year
anniversary in December then you’re
gonna be you’re you’re going into your
eighth ninth year as you look forward
what are you looking at differently now
than when you built that first business
plan the first business plan was it’s
all about the beer get the product right
get some early distribution partners etc
what kind of things are you looking at
right now as the 10-year anniversary is
just three years out yeah you know
you’re always looking for ways to grow
your business whether you’re adding
products or another line altogether I
mean we opened up a retail tap room our
goal has never really changed and what
I’ve told people from day one is we
don’t want to be big we want to be great
that’s what it’s about I think that’s
fantastic well I thank you very much for
coming and sitting with us on a beer in
business we hope you’ve enjoyed this I
hope you took some notes and got
something out of it and I’m Tom Mel’s
with the biz doc and I hope I lived you
better than I found you thanks for
watching this episode I hope you like
the new beer and business set because
we’re listening to you and we want to
make it better every week I also want to
know who do you think should be sitting
in the chair next to me to be
interviewed to bring kernels of wisdoms
to entrepreneurs around the world you
can reach out to me in the comments
below or Facebook Instagram Twitter they
all just showed up on screen until next
time I’m Thomas with the biz doc I hope
I left you better than I found you and I’m always listening
privileged this week to have Michael
petty colas with me of the Petit colas
Brewing Company here in Dallas Texas at
beer and business we love to give
entrepreneurial tips and it just so
happens we’re even getting tips today
from a guy that makes beer but first you
know what we got here coming in this is
your golden opportunity a lot so I
appreciate you noting few things I like
drinking beer more than drinking my own
beer so thanks for forming at Tom I’m
excited to be here this can be great
we’re just happy to have you and really
appreciate it and I’d like to start with
once you tell me just a little bit about
the golden opportunity and what led you
to this particular recipe and then let’s
talk about your company sure absolutely
golden opportunity so when I started the
brewery I really became known very early
on for making these high alcohol beers
that don’t necessarily come across this
high alcohol but I wanted something that
I could get to the non craft beer
drinker someone that was a Bud Miller
Coors guy something that looked like
something that they would recognize that
definitely taste a whole bunch better
and smells a little bit better or
actually a lot better as well something
that they could immediately identify
with understand hey I’ve had this before
and now let me delve into this world of
craft beer so this is kind of the
gateway beer right very delicate very
crisp very light little bit of hot
bitterness to it just a tad bit of
sweetness to it but easy drinking one of
those beers that I say you could drink
10 oh when it’s 110 degrees outside you
know what I love about what you just
said is you took an entrepreneurs
perspective to talk about the beer and
it shows you about the passion you have
to have as a product whether you’re
making beer or you’re making social
media software it doesn’t matter what
you’re doing you’ve got to have passion
for your product and then you got into
business after your mom Jackee in El
Paso first created it so what you share
with us how your mom got into it and
then your decision to take the
entrepreneurial walk with your mom and
the family brewing business yeah happy
to do that I mean I came home from
college one summer and my mom who pretty
much a chef I mean not a professional
chef but all our life I mean this this
lady could cook and brewing beer is
really an extension of of cooking but I
come home and she sits down these two
big brown bomber bottles and gets a
couple glasses and gets a bottle opener
and you know opens up this bottle and I
thought what is this and
goes well I made beer I’m like what you
made beer what do you mean you made beer
but you know she pours us out this nice
like Mexican ale and we go out on the
back porch or back porch and El Paso
where you can overlook Texas New Mexico
and Mexico and we’re drinking that beer
and you know that’s when it really hit
me tit man okay she’s made something
that tastes better than what you can get
down the street and the experience of
drinking a beer that someone I knew made
and in this case my mom that was my
first exposure to homebrew and that’s
kind of one of the things that lit this
fire about mmm a man I’ve got a passion
for beer and maybe we’ll do something
with this in the future and what led you
to take the entrepreneurial step and say
okay mom I’m gonna run the business and
I’m gonna do this well I had practice
I’m also a lawyer and I practice law for
about a decade
I came across a list of goals that I’d
put together for myself to accomplish in
the legal industry and this was about 10
years this was in 2010 and as I was
going through this list I realized I’ve
accomplished everything on that list I
had already accomplished and I’m not
someone who can just go through the
motions I really was looking for a
challenge and I have two passions in
life beer and soccer and I decided you
know what what better thing to do than
make one of my passions my job
investigated how to write a business
plan wrote the business plan all
throughout 2010 and then ultimately
built a brewery in 2011 that’s fantastic
and I noticed that the logo for the
brewery is very familiar to me but I’ll
let you tell people the inspiration for
that logo oh the logo has you know quite
a bit going on into it you know one
thing I wanted to create a mark that
didn’t exist in the marketplace right
you you see Nike swoosh and you
automatically know that’s not you see
Under Armour’s you a you know that’s
Under Armour without any reference time
recognition I think that’s right so I
wanted to create a mark that did not
exist in the marketplace so that’s
central little interlocking B and P and
C was a mark that I could identify our
brewery on its own right so that in
years we can just basically use just
that and it would say the same thing as
if we were had that central image with
pedicles Brewing Company around it but I
also again going back to my love of
soccer I wanted it to look like the
crest on a footballers Jersey and so I
kind of designed it and borrowed from
like other football organizations that
use the initials of their organization
in their logo so I definitely
incorporated that
incorporated the shape of the state of
Texas because our three corporate values
are honest friendly and down-to-earth
the state motto for Texas if you didn’t
know that as friendliness so I was also
kind of overtly putting in one of our
corporate values and it’s also roughed
up right it’s not just a blue flat navy
color on that logo it’s actually he’s
somewhat distressed and that’s delivered
as well I wanted that to recognize our
down-to-earth character right really the
biggest story in the logo is that
there’s a little Pentagon with 2010
inside of it 2010 as I mentioned is a
year I wrote the business plan for the
brewery we’re a little bit different I
built this brewery on my own I own a
hundred percent of it I don’t know
opinion to a bank or an investor or
anybody how I really look at that is
okay I own this my wife owns this and my
three kids own this so the 2010 in there
the two represents me and my wife the
one is my first Moore daughter Katherine
and then each of those zeros are the two
twins Lola and grace so I put a lot
about our family in there without being
overt again I think that’s fantastic a
lot of times when people build the logo
and the marketing identity for their
company what they really focus on is
something hips something cool a friend
who’s a graphic artist work something
logo up and your logo has a lot of
meaning do you tell that story you know
through when you gather at beer
festivals and stuff do you tell the
story of the logo yeah I mean telling
the story of our logo is telling about
our brewery and what we’re about and
every bit of that is very intentional
and I love talking about it how do you
as a leader share this vision and
passion to the people you hire and how
do you make decisions about who you keep
who have become true believers versus
people that are maybe just in for a
paycheck and there are b-minus players
so you’re like I’m gonna upgrade and
find someone who’s a believer how do you
select the people that you’re going to
allow to come in and how do you decide
who you’re gonna let stay that’s a great
question
because we handle that in a pretty
unique manner so the first year at the
brewery I worked there by myself I
brewed all the beer I carried all the
beer cellar dahl the beer I delivered
all the beer I was the only rep I did
everything one of the benefits of the
brew industry is people love it right
and I was getting these emails tweets
you know everything said hey man I’d
love to come and see what the breweries
about and I’m happy to volunteer up some
time so I started having all these
volunteers coming through and what this
ended up ultimately being was this
breeding ground of potential employees
so when it came time to hire my first
employee well I didn’t just post
something on Craigslist and say send me
a resumes I have all these great
volunteers who are coming through here
these are guys who are volunteering
their time they already either love the
product or love beer or love our brewery
and they’re there for specific reasons
so I harnessed that right and said all
right let’s utilize this pool these
people are all already in it so when it
came to hire that first guy I just hired
up one of my volunteers and we basically
continued down that same model for
five-plus years hiring up volunteers
only within the last year have we
started to kind of go outside that pool
because maybe we were a little bit more
specialized now than we were on day one
you know as day one one employee now or
30 employees but the way we started has
provided us these hugely loyal employees
that have understood what we’re about
how we operate what we want to do what
our goals are understand the vision and
are all in alignment with that right as
a result I mean we just don’t hardly
have people leave at all that’s
fantastic you know they say every
business plan is really three-year
chapters because the five to seven-year
plan now that’s good to set a vision out
there but good grief I mean the economy
changes so many things change in that
amount of time that three years is
usually is this year getting ready for
next year and then what we believe the
next year is going to be in a three year
by is usually you know pretty good as
you look out right now at your next
three years what does it look like and
what things are you doing to prepare the
brewery has changed so dramatically year
after year that it is really difficult
to say oh yeah this is what we’re gonna
be like in three years five years so you
know I’m looking at 30-day plans I’m
looking at 90-day plans I’m looking a
year I’m looking three years but there
are definitely things that I’m looking
at doing and I would say first and
foremost on that list is changing the
law I would definitely not say hey it’s
a really good idea to write a business
plan that is based on you changing the
law probably not a great idea but you
know if you’ve got the passion and the
know-how and the drive you can make it
happen we
done it on one occasion we have another
lawsuit that’s pending before the
Supreme Court hope to win something
there but where I’m really focused right
now is getting the right to sell beer on
our premises to take with you right come
into our tap room you find some beer
that you like buy it to take with you
Texas is the only state in the United
States where you can’t walk into a
brewery and buy some beer to take with
you I’m talking about open container in
my truck you’re talking about just going
to Napa and buy a case of wine and leave
the winery that’s what people do right
you go to Napa you try these great wines
anything I was fantastic I want to take
some home here’s a case that’s right
there’s a huge tourism draw right and so
we got people still everyday hey man I’d
like to buy this beer and take it home
can you do that no you can’t do that but
we do have a legislative session
starting in 2019 right so we’re putting
our strategies together for that I’m
involved with the legislative committee
for the Texas Craft Brewers Guild and
I’m you know putting a lot of time and
effort into trying to get that law
change because if there’s one thing that
I wish one write that I wish we had that
we do not it’s that beer to go wow you
know what depending on the industry and
you may have to change the law speaking
of change early on when you get out of
college and you come home to the dream
my mom is now making beer you know the
dream that most I don’t know people have
that dream but that that certainly would
be something that would have lit me up
in a positive way when you first stepped
into it you’re a trained lawyer you’ve
done all these things and then you say
wow I’m gonna have to learn this in this
so you were packing you were
distributing you were brewing you’re
doing a lot of things but what things
did you say I have to add this skill to
my repertoire how did you do it in the
midst of being all employees of your
little starting brain company you write
everything well first and foremost you
almost have to go and reverse a little
bit I mean job one beer quality beer
world-class beer right I mean I was
brewing beer at home in the backyard and
that was one of the kind of the seeds
for this entire brewery that has now
come to fruition with my mom’s recipe no
no by that time I was doing my own stuff
and people were saying oh man this is
awesome I’m loving this you know this is
great but brewing at home in your
backyard is still quite a bit different
operating a commercial brewery so skill
number one man mastering the brew
process I went to brew school I enrolled
with the American Brewers Guild and took
their intensive brewing science and
engineering program so that I could
figure out how to scale up five gallon
batches I was doing in my back yard you
know 500 gallons at a time because you
know the brew master who I learned from
said man the best thing you could do is
make a great beer great every time the
next best thing you could do is make a
terrible beer that’s terrible every time
the worst thing you could do is make a
beer that is sometimes good and
sometimes bad and that really struck a
chord with me because I thought yeah
that’s true Budweiser it’s the same if
I’m in Chicago or Boston or LA New York
it doesn’t matter it’s always the same
and so yes how do you make that beer so
it’s same every single time right you
know that’s key I don’t like those beers
those big Brewers beers but obviously
there’s a market for it it’s still 90%
of the market right so for any product
any product you make when you start
working with subcontractors to make your
product to scale your business you want
to make sure it’s made the same
everywhere where there’s everywhere or
you know other food products or it could
be clothing you want it to be the same
yeah so that was number one quality beer
and what I’ve told my guys for you know
five years man it’s all about the beer
it’s all about the beer it’s all about
the beer now I should say that last year
I changed it to now it’s actually all
about the people because it was just me
early on right and I was talking about
me but man it’s putting together that
crew finding a team that is really going
to share in your vision because it is
about the people it’s no longer me I’m
one of 30 people who are operating this
thing so you’ve got to get good people
right and you’ve got to be someone who
can find good people and understand how
it cultivate good people and you know
let them grow their wings and let them
fly give them some space you know so
that that’s another big thing you know
and then when you talk about what do you
have to master I knew I had to master
everything that had to do with the law
right because that was a strength for me
so you want to utilize your strengths
and minimize your weaknesses so I was
utilizing that strength of the law where
I had a big weakness was marketing and
that was an area that I did not have um
the acumen that I might have now but
it’s it’s just one of those other things
it’s on that to-do list get better in
this area identify what those areas are
get better at so that’s something that
oh yeah we’ve had to grow
beeps and browns from when we started to
where we are now who are the mentors in
your life that taught you some of these
important skills that you’re calling on
pulling them out of the backpack when
you started this I mean the easy answer
and the most obvious answer are you know
both of my parents they raised all three
of their kids me my brother and sister
in such a manner as to be very
independent and so that served me well
because when you have you know a
relatively successful law firm and you
tell people oh yeah I’m gonna open up
this micro brewery and in a time where
people are like I don’t even really know
what that is what are you doing you’ve
got a you know aren’t you doing okay as
a lawyer here you know it takes a little
bit of a leap of faith to make that jump
but to have that can-do gotta do I’m
gonna do this and to grow that
confidence it’s something that they
conveyed to me very early on in my life
that you know is a big part of who I am
today that’s number one and then number
two I went to University of Texas at
Dallas and there was a professor there
named dr. champagne
I never liked school all through grade
school middle school high school my
first foray into college I didn’t care
for school I didn’t like school well dr.
champagne sat down in his course and a
light turned on for me it was the first
time that I started to enjoy education
and really understand the value of any
education and I was interning for
senator kay Bailey Hutchison and the
secretary there told me one day she goes
you know you can lose everything in life
you could lose your home you could lose
your spouse or your kids you could lose
your car but there’s one thing you can’t
lose that’s your education once you earn
it you’ve got it and that hit me also
and I’m like it is about education and
that’s when I really started to realize
oh man I can not only enjoy this but
excel at it and it’s what allowed me to
get through school or undergraduate with
grades where I guess good enough to get
into law school and then to you know
excel in law school as well so now
you’re coming up 2010/2011 is it what
we’re coming up seven eight years now
for pedicle espresso i brewed the very
first beer on December 30th of 2011 so
that’s the start date that we use so we
will have our seven-year anniversary on
December 30th of 28
team this year now we’re gonna talk
about something a little more sensitive
it that’s okay
every entrepreneur that is watching is
fearful of two things making a mistake
or not making mistake and the market
just doesn’t accept it you did
everything right there was nothing wrong
with what you did the market just
doesn’t accept it talk about what
mistake did you make
early on that you learned from and
you’re stronger for it minimizing those
mistakes and not as writing that
business plan right you got to write
that business plan before you ever get
started because it’s gonna really make
you think about the most difficult
decisions and make you really think hey
is this gonna work or is this not gonna
work right or I thought about this and I
planned for it yeah that’s exactly right
if you haven’t planned for it you’re
gonna have a tough go right I mean you
can come up with this idea and think oh
man I’ve got this great idea it’s good
it’s good and if all you think about is
the good stuff and don’t really think
about some of the threats you’re doing
yourself a big disservice I mean I can
remember saying all right
there’s no brewery in Dallas because a
either no one sees the opportunity or B
there’s just no market for it and I
think you’re exactly right you need to
think about before you ever start you
really need to think about is there
actually a market for it that’s huge and
that was something that ultimately I did
my homework and thought all right I’ve
done the research I put it in the time
to write this plan and my result is yes
there is a market for it what about an
operational or people mistake that you
made in those first three four years
when you go from these volunteers
knocking on the door and say I love what
you’re doing I’d love to help out and
have the volunteers that were becoming
employees not an operational or people
mistake you made in that zone and how
that’s made you stronger or what you
learned from it I welcome mistakes I
tell my crew make mistakes don’t be
afraid of making mistakes because we’re
gonna learn more from the mistakes than
from the successes in a lot of cases I
make plenty of mistakes go out there
make mistakes you’re free to make
mistakes
go make mistakes we’re gonna learn from
them and mistakes are made
but what I’ve always said is it’s not
what happened it’s not the result of
that mistake it’s how do you respond to
it it’s not what happened to you it’s
like now what do you do that’s the more
important ask
don’t worry about that mistake what are
we gonna do to fix it that’s what’s more
important because that has much more
longevity to it what about an individual
that makes repetitive mistakes or it’s
just clear that it’s time to say goodbye
what advice can you give to an emerging
entrepreneur of how to say goodbye and
how to process through that decision
that’s a tough one for me personally
again I do things a little bit
differently than I think the normal
entrepreneur says don’t become
personally connected with your employees
I’ve done just the opposite I’m I’ve
become great friends with my employees
I’ve been to their weddings I was out
last Saturday my Brewer and I we got
together with our wives and went to
dinner so I become very heavily invested
in my guys I have a long rope that leash
is long you can make mistakes and if the
mistakes are repetitive and repetitive
it’s like well we’ve grown now we’ve got
other departments is there another
department that you might be a better
fit in if you can’t pull it here would
you be better off over here do you have
the skills to do that so for us I want
to utilize the maximum skill that my
guys have and if some guy shows a
deficiency in one area but a benefit
that we could use in another area well
let’s just move them over to that part
of the organization and that’s worked
for us now that doesn’t mean we have
gotten rid of one employee it’s happened
if you have something that just doesn’t
work and doesn’t work I mean you’ve got
to cut it you’ve got to let it go now I
probably let it drag on six months too
long because I have this now we can
rehabilitate we can do better we can do
better but what a lot of intrapreneurs
would tell you is the first time you
think about firing someone fire them
don’t wait any longer
I’ve never really been of that mindset
but I can see why a lot of people would
say that because if you just try to make
something work and it doesn’t and you do
that and do that and do that at some
point you know you’re failing and you’ve
got to make the change when you look at
business cycles you’ve got multiple
business cycles happen you know life
stages go come and go for a company yeah
but luck sometimes also plays a part and
I kind of refer to it as luck and
unintended consequences that I took
advantage of can you give an example of
just some luck or unintended
consequences that happen but you were
prepared to take advantage of it and
that’s why it turned out well you know a
lot of our overall success I still
attribute to luck right we’ve some
people say you make your own luck right
you put yourself in that position to get
lucky I open up a brewery at a time
where there wasn’t any other breweries
in Dallas there were only two in North
Texas and ultimately I opened up I was
the second brewery in Dallas but really
only by a month someone else opened
right before me but it was lucky that I
did open when I did because now fast
forward to today there’s like 50
breweries in North Texas and starting
brewery when I did is much different and
trying to start one today so I was lucky
in terms of being able to identify all
right here’s a good time for this to
happen because if you wait now when
people call me up saying hey I’m looking
at opening up a brewery I’m like okay
that’s cool and all but we’re really
saturated now and it’s not going to be
the same for you as it is you know the
people who are opening up five years ago
I mean especially ten years ago you know
it sounds like you really have an
amazing culture you talked about only
actually letting one person go in so
many years about carefully establishing
yourself early on you became a magnet
for people actually wanted to volunteer
so they came in and became part of what
Michael was building how do you
establish that great culture today or
better yet how did you establish it and
how do you maintain it today goes back
to that business plan if you’ve done a
proper business plan you’ve got you know
when I talked to you about our logo
honest friendly down-to-earth it’s in
there but those are our corporate values
right it was easy for me very genuine my
family when I was thinking about what
should the values of this company be I
want her to be a very genuine thing and
I started thinking what are the values
for my family and that’s really what I
came up with I mean it’s about being
honest I don’t care if you made a
mistake tell me about it it’s fine I
would rather you not lie about it and
let’s deal with the repercussions and
what happened and lie about it and find
out so and being friendly that’s a big
part I’ve always been friendly all my
life I love talking to people and
down-to-earth that’s just who I am you
know I don’t try to be real showy I
don’t really care about any of that
stuff so for me developing those genuine
values we’re a great place to start
right because you then can tell anyone
else who’s coming in here yeah this is
what we’re about it was easy on for me
to you know
convey what our culture was and it was
me just kind of one-on-one and I was
finding those guys those early
volunteers those early employees that
shared my values and were able to bring
them aboard they shared our values I
sure shared the vision of the company
and then they slowly started imparting
those same values to the next generation
of employees that were coming on so it’s
very important I think culture maybe you
know I mentioned earlier that it was
initially all about the beer all about
the beer all about the beer and then
finally I’m like no it’s all about the
people and culture is a huge part of it
right you want this to be a great place
to work you know when we started on day
one you’re the benefits for free beer
you know so that was it it’s like I
listened to my guys alright so when it
came time to get a health insurance plan
we didn’t get some rinky-dink plan right
we’ve got a plan a plan it was good and
the brewery pays 2/3 of the premium we
still have the free beer so you’ve got
that we have a 401 K and we’ll match
100% of your contribution up to 5% of
your salary you want to make sure you’re
building a place that people want to
work and will continue to want to work
and are surrounded by other people that
they enjoy that have like interest you
know we it’s kind of easier for us
because we’re all enjoying beer you know
daily but we have other interests as
well and it’s about you know when
someone says hey I’ve got a best friend
who’s looking for a job I’m thinking
perfect he’ll come in and want to make
sure that you know you’re gonna look
good for referring someone he’s gonna be
working harder you’re gonna want to only
refer people who are really gonna be a
fit for us and it works culture is you
know probably the single most important
thing at any organization Michael what
makes petty Cola so special what I’ve
always told people is what we deliver
what we brew is world-class passionate
in a glass and the reason I use the term
world-class
is I can remember a brewery he came out
and said hey we’ve got the best IPA in
Texas and I thought well says who we use
the term world-class passion in a glass
world class is specific because the
great American Beer Festival if you’re
an actor you want to win an Oscar if
you’re a Brewers you want to win a gold
medal to Great American Beer Festival
because what that denotes is that you
were making world-class beer and we’ve
not only won that once we’ve won it
twice
fantastic so that is the Academy Award
in the brewing industry that’s it and
you’ve got to
well here’s Texas Hills Anasuya so and
the best supporting actor I suppose
that’s right Cheers
so Michael people wanted to check it out
maybe it wasn’t on a tap handle at their
favorite brewery how can they come check
you out your company and sample some of
this great beer yeah
so the brewery that we built is right in
the Dallas Design District just right
off of downtown we’ve got a tap room
connected to the brewery you can see the
brewery we pour 18 beers on tap come on
in check out our brewery you’ll have a
ball if you visit Dallas or live here
come pay us a visit
Michael this has really been a lot of
fun I’m gonna ask you one more question
and that is coming up to your seventh
year eighth year you’re in seventh year
anniversary in December then you’re
gonna be you’re you’re going into your
eighth ninth year as you look forward
what are you looking at differently now
than when you built that first business
plan the first business plan was it’s
all about the beer get the product right
get some early distribution partners etc
what kind of things are you looking at
right now as the 10-year anniversary is
just three years out yeah you know
you’re always looking for ways to grow
your business whether you’re adding
products or another line altogether I
mean we opened up a retail tap room our
goal has never really changed and what
I’ve told people from day one is we
don’t want to be big we want to be great
that’s what it’s about I think that’s
fantastic well I thank you very much for
coming and sitting with us on a beer in
business we hope you’ve enjoyed this I
hope you took some notes and got
something out of it and I’m Tom Mel’s
with the biz doc and I hope I lived you
better than I found you thanks for
watching this episode I hope you like
the new beer and business set because
we’re listening to you and we want to
make it better every week I also want to
know who do you think should be sitting
in the chair next to me to be
interviewed to bring kernels of wisdoms
to entrepreneurs around the world you
can reach out to me in the comments
below or Facebook Instagram Twitter they
all just showed up on screen until next
time I’m Thomas with the biz doc I hope
I left you better than I found you and I’m always listening
Please follow and like us: