Yapping with...James Brown, Retail Director of BrewDog
“The brilliant thing about beer is that every country drinks it. It’s a universal currency”
This week we caught up - over a beer, of course - with James Brown (more economically known as “JB”) the Retail Director of craft beer pioneer BrewDog. With a wealth of hospitality experience tucked under his belt, JB understands the intricacies and nuances involved in scaling a business for rapid growth. Since he joined the company four years ago, BrewDog has gone from 21 bars to 100, with a quarter of these located internationally. So, what sets the scaling stage for success?
A solid understanding of the industry you’re working in is always a good place to start. At 14 years old JB bagged a job peeling potatoes at his local chippie, and his efficiency led to him being quickly promoted to dishwasher. Fast-forward a few years - and a few ladders - and he became the Head of Operations at G1 Group, Scotland’s largest and most diversified hospitality group. His expanding skill set paved the way for a successful stint at Wasabi as Director of Operations, and now JB is one of the big dogs at BrewDog.
“We’d be wrong to suggest that the culture in Aberdeen fits the culture in Tokyo.”
With 20 international sites, including the Sao Paolo, Tokyo and Brisbane, one of the key areas JB is responsible for is culture. “Translating our culture is one of our biggest challenges,” he admits, “because culture is not the same in every location, even though it looks like it might be.” That’s why BrewDog provide their teams with a framework - who BrewDog are, what matters to them, what they stand for - which they can use as a starting point to build unique site cultures. “[Each team] shapes it for their own location and language [because] we’d be wrong to suggest that the culture in Aberdeen fits the culture in Tokyo.”
“There’s no brand strategy saying they have to ‘shape it this way’,” says JB. “A truly global business needs to be flexible, and acknowledge that markets and staff will differ.” This flexibility is reflected in the thinking behind the BrewDog Foundation, which sees ¼ of profits donated to charities voted on by staff. “Again, it would be wrong to prescribe a charity to each business because what matters to each will be different.” And these differences are often informed by local economies and priorities.
There seems to be a clever irony in what BrewDog has set out to achieve. The freedom they offer their teams - in terms of building a culture that reflects who they are - has in fact resulted in the creation of one of the world's most unified and recognisable hospitality brands. Ensuring their staff have freedom of speech, and the platform to voice their opinions is the BrewDog culture. And the fact that Yapster is playing a part in that makes us beyond proud.
“[Before Yapster] we’d email PDFs of information to managers, who’d print them out and stick them on a notice board. Not very 2020 at all,” says JB. “Yapster has revolutionised the way we communicate with our teams.”
Ultimately, everyone who visits a BrewDog bar is doing so for the liquid in the glass, so it’s up to the staff to make sure that the customer gets as close to that story as possible.
Aside from having instant and direct access to the entire global team, Yapster is being utilised as a platform to educate. Gone are the days of PDFs and noticeboards; it’s all about state-of-the-art training channel, Guide Dog TV. Here, staff are encouraged to submit their own training videos, with rewards handed out to those whose videos are used. “Now, staff get a passionate explanation about each new beer directly from the person who made it,” says JB. While a knowledge of beer isn’t necessary to secure a job at BrewDog, a passion for it is. But now, via channels like Guide Dog TV, passion and knowledge merge.
“We’ve seen a huge level of engagement [in Guide Dog TV] and this has a great knock-on effect in terms of connecting the customer.” Ultimately, everyone who visits a BrewDog bar is doing so for the liquid in the glass, so it’s up to the staff to make sure that the customer gets as close to that story as possible. “That’s the brilliant thing about beer,” JB says, “every country’s drinking it, so it’s become a sort of universal currency.”
As well as educating, Yapster has become a way for BrewDog to share their achievements across continents. Last year, BrewDog’s 100th site launched at an iconic site in Dublin and “being able to share that video with teams in Brisbane and Tokyo was amazing. It bridged that geographical gap.”
“You can’t copy and paste CULTURE. It’s something that’s developed when a team of people are on a journey. And we’re still on that journey.”
Bridging geographical gaps has certainly resulted in a more unified sense of community at BrewDog. And having a presence in more countries means their teams are given the opportunity to explore new places. “Staff might fly to Berlin for a holiday and end up staying a few extra days to work in a BrewDog bar.” The intersection of different cultures that comes with this is priceless, and adds to the staff - and the teams’ - real-world learning and development.
After all, culture isn’t something that just happens. “You can’t copy and paste [it]. It’s something that’s developed when a team of people are on a journey. And [BrewDog are] still on that journey.” BrewDog are always recalibrating their business to reflect the night-time demands of young people. That’s why their bars vary; one in the US features a full on beer museum, Berlin bars are having swimming pools installed, and Tower Hill houses its very own shuffleboard. A couple of weeks ago, they even launched their first non-alcoholic and vegan bars in East London. But it’s not just their customers their catering for, they’re also catering for local communities, and by doing so, bringing them together.
“We have the world’s biggest cycling club made up of 180 clubs that go by the name of Chain Gang.” It’s a community-based activity which involves cycling, and stopping off for refreshments at BrewDog bars along the way. Genius. “We want to be a part of a community - not just take from it. By doing this we’re able to connect with the local area, which in turn means people will have a much better understanding of us, and what we stand for.”
It seems fitting that BrewDog doesn’t really have a fixed home. They sort of belong to everyone, everywhere, so in some way, the entire world can be considered their home. JB - nomadic in the best possible way - spends most of his days out and about. You’ll likely find him in a bar having meetings, or on the frontline alongside his team. “Why? Because that’s where I can be more effective,” he says. “And because that’s where the magic happens.”
