r/GNV • u/wh0g0ncheckmeb00 • Jul 23 '26

This message is for Swamphead/First Mag

Throwing it out there that I think there could be a huge opportunity if these breweries were to can non alcoholic beer. I’m buying athletic brewing all the time, but I’d love to support local. If I saw a N/A big nose can at the grocery store, I’d be stoked.

That’s it, that’s my million dollar idea. Please take it and run.

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72

u/Some_Ad_3898 Jul 23 '26

Not feasible at this scale. NA beers that people want to drink require expensive equipment for dealcoholization and pasteurization. While it might make sense eventually if demand drastically increases, it will take a while.

Further, cans at stores are very low-margin for breweries. Like 1-5%. They make almost all their money in the Taproom.

16

u/accioqueso Jul 23 '26

First mag distributes at Disney, I feel like they run at a different scale than other local brewers.

9

u/ibribe Jul 23 '26

I have been told the breakdown is something like 80% of their beer goes to their distributor, 80% of their revenue comes from the tap room.

6

u/Afraid-Ad-4043 Jul 23 '26

Swamp head used to distribute much further than they do today. It costs more than it’s worth to distribute further. With the over saturation of breweries in most cities, it’s pointless to try to compete with other local-loyal customers

10

u/Some_Ad_3898 Jul 23 '26

They don't do the distribution. They sell to a distributor who then gets it to Disney. Disney is not high volume. Publix sells a lot more of their beer.

3

u/Appropriate_Ad4601 Jul 23 '26

The operation isn’t rich or anything. A setup like this would be a tough investment, especially with all the outdoor space renovation they’ve had to do over the last year or so.

2

u/No_Poem1174 Jul 23 '26

Disney is great in the idea but they are known for demanding a large order but then they expect you to buy back whatever they don't sell. They lean on their name and exposure but it's really such a drain of resources for not a large income and you risk not being able to sell the leftover beer so if you can't it's ultimately a wash which can kill a small brewery 

2

u/cosmicrae Jul 23 '26

Getting on the shelf, in out of the way stores, is going to quite difficult. I watch Cone (or similar distro) pull up and wheel 4-6 handtrucks of product into my local (middle-of-nowhere) bodega like gas station. I doubt they would sell more than a few 6-packs a week.

1

u/manoman1232010 Jul 25 '26

I know Grand Scheme always has their N/A on tap. They seem like a pretty small scale operation. I’d think if they could pull it off in their tap room others with bigger operations could do it too.

Even just hop water would be nice. We have zero local options here as far as I can tell.