🍻 A Round With Urban South's Jacob Landry

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Operating in a tourist-heavy city such as New Orleans can be a gold mine for hospitality businesses, but comes with its own challenges and hurdles, as COVID-19 taught business owners. 

Urban South founder and CEO Jacob Landry shares what it’s like to run a brewery in the city in the latest edition of Brewbound’s Insider-exclusive Q&A series A Round With. 

Below are excerpts from the Q&A: 

The challenges of operating in New Orleans came to the forefront with the news that Faubourg was being auctioned off. What are the biggest challenges for Urban South in operating in the city?

Jacob: New Orleans is a special place. It’s referred to as “The city that care forgot.” There’s a laissez-faire way about the city that both contributes to its charm and sometimes makes it challenging to get things done. 

We wrestle with this juxtaposition operating here – welcoming a huge number of visitors to the city that allows us to punch outside of our weight in terms of population and beer sales, and dealing with an aging infrastructure and sinking city. We’ve dealt with multiple hurricanes that have shut down operations for more than a week, a random freeze that busted the city’s aging pipes and deprived us of water for a week, and multiple employees’ cars being stolen during spikes in citywide crime. 

On the flipside, what opportunities do you see operating there?

Jacob: There’s no other American city with such a distinct and organic cultural fabric. This is what keeps folks here and keeps visitors coming back. The unique melange of cultures layered over more than 300 years has created incredible music, architecture, food and hospitality that is unrivaled.

Brewbound Insiders can go deeper into Urban South’s business, including the performance of its hard tea collab with Juvenile, lessons learned from launching a THC-infused seltzer, expansion into Florida, the closure of its Houston taproom and opportunities for the remainder of 2024. 

Brewers Association (BA) chief economist and VP of strategy Bart Watson provides insights into the state of the craft brewing industry, while senior director of federal affairs Katie Marisic gives an overview of the trade group’s government affairs work on the latest edition of the Brewbound Podcast.

The conversations were recorded on the BrewExpo floor of the Craft Brewers Conference in Las Vegas. 

But first, Justin and Zoe discuss craft’s bumpy April and rough overall shipment numbers in March. 

And Justin plays Another Round or Tabbing Out with the Voodoo Ranger and Tombstone collaboration IPizzaA IPA. 

Listen here or on your podcast platform of choice.

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The Brewbound Live business conference returns December 11 and 12 in Marina del Rey, California.

Brewbound Live will feature beverage-alcohol industry leaders taking part in business-focused conversations, data presentations, networking and much more across two days at the Marina del Rey Marriott.

Brewbound announced the first speakers for this year’s conference. They include:

• Russian River co-owner Natalie Cilurzo;
• Deschutes Brewery CEO Peter Skrbek;
• National Beer Wholesalers Association chief economist and VP of analytics Lester Jones;
• Draftline Technologies founder and president Jennifer Hauke.

Additional speakers will be announced in the coming weeks.

Register for Brewbound Live 2024.

At Brewbound Live in Marina del Rey, CA on December 11 + 12, beer and beverage-alcohol brands can participate in retailer one-to-ones. Leaders from Whole Foods Market will be available for private, pre-scheduled meetings. Brands will be selected at each retailers’ discretion.

As the world’s leader in natural and organic foods, with a vast network spanning over 500 stores, Whole Foods holds substantial influence in the market. These meetings present a unique opportunity for beer and beverage-alcohol brands aspiring to excel in retail channels focusing on natural and organic products. 

Participating brands can gain invaluable insights and strategic guidance tailored towards facilitating growth within these specialized retail environments.

You must be registered for Brewbound Live to be considered for a retailer meeting. Once you register for the event, you will receive an email with instructions for signing up.

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