Running a weekly operations meeting in a brewery
A short weekly operations meeting keeps the brewhouse, the taproom and the kitchen working from the same plan. The trick is a fixed agenda, the right four or five people and an action log that someone actually reads.
Thirty minutes, same day, same time
Most small breweries run on hallway conversations and WhatsApp messages. That works until two people order the same malt, the taproom runs out of the best seller or a chiller service gets forgotten in April. A weekly operations meeting fixes that by putting every part of the business in one room for half an hour.
Pick a slot that suits the rhythm of your week. For many brewpubs Tuesday late morning works: the weekend sales are counted, the brewhouse is between brew days and the evening rush is hours away. Keep it to 30 minutes and start on time even if someone is late. A meeting that starts whenever everyone arrives soon starts never.
Who sits at the table
Keep it small. Four to six people is right:
- The head brewer.
- The taproom or floor manager.
- The kitchen lead, if you run food.
- Whoever handles purchasing and accounts.
- The founder or general manager, who chairs.
Others join when there is a reason: the maintenance contractor before a shutdown, the marketing lead before a launch. A meeting with ten people turns into a briefing where most sit and wait for their item.
A fixed agenda that never changes
Use the same agenda every week so people come prepared without being asked:
- Last week's numbers, 5 minutes: litres brewed, litres sold, beer loss, food cost and anything unusual.
- Tank plan, 8 minutes: what is in each fermenter and bright tank, what gets brewed and packaged in the next three weeks.
- Stock and purchasing, 5 minutes: malt, hops, yeast, CO2, kegs, food and packaging, with lead times.
- Maintenance and safety, 4 minutes: faults, near misses, upcoming services.
- People, 3 minutes: rosters, leave, hiring, training.
- Action log review, 5 minutes.
The tank board is the heart of it
In a brewery, the tank plan decides almost everything else. Put it on a whiteboard or a shared sheet: each fermenter and bright tank, what is in it, its brew date and when it should be free.
Walk through it every week. An ale typically needs two to three weeks from brew day to bright tank, while a lager can hold a fermenter for four to six. If your best selling lager is due to run dry in three weeks and the next batch needs five, you already have a problem. Tuesday is the day to see it. The board also shows the gaps where a seasonal beer or a pilot batch can fit.
Write actions with an owner and a date
A meeting without an action log is a chat. Keep a simple table with four columns: action, owner, due date and status. One person writes it during the meeting, in the room. They share it the same day.
Review open actions at the end of every meeting. Anything overdue twice needs a decision: do it now, give it to someone else or drop it. Actions should be specific. "Look into the CO2 supply" will still be open in March. "Get a second quote for CO2 from another supplier by Friday" gets done. Our guide to keeping a brewery running when a key supplier fails lists what to have ready.
What to keep out of the room
Protect the 30 minutes. Long technical debates, a disciplinary issue, a recipe argument or a new idea that needs an hour of discussion all go to a separate meeting with only the people involved. Note them on the action log and move on.
Keep blame out as well. If beer loss jumped last week, the question is what happened and what changes now, not whose fault it was. Individual performance belongs in one-to-one conversations. Our guide to running performance reviews covers those.
Let the meeting run without you
A well run weekly meeting is one of the first things that lets a founder step back. Once the agenda, the tank board and the action log are a habit, the general manager or head brewer can chair it and the founder can read the notes instead of sitting through the meeting.
Choosing which numbers go on that first agenda item is where most breweries need help, because the right five figures depend on how your business makes money. Your first step: print the agenda above, book a 30 minute slot for next week and bring last week's litres brewed, litres sold and beer loss.
Common questions
How long should a brewery operations meeting be?
Thirty minutes is enough with a fixed agenda. Longer discussions move to separate meetings with only the people involved.
Who should attend a weekly brewery operations meeting?
The head brewer, taproom manager, kitchen lead, whoever handles purchasing and the founder or general manager. Four to six people is ideal.
What is a tank board?
A list or whiteboard showing every fermenter and bright tank, what it holds, when it was brewed and when it will be free. It drives brewing and stock decisions.
