Now, you and I appreciate that every Bucketty’s Brewing Co. beer should be served in a chalice worthy of the heart and soul put into each millilitre of the good stuff. That’s why our glasses are heavy, robust. imbued with a lovely note when cheers-ing with mates, vital attributes for attaining the coveted Bucketty’s State of Mind, but let me take you back to when it all started, December 2020…
Every week we were spending mountains of cash trying to get the brewery open and figured, what’s another 5 grand on glassware? We assembled a shortlist before picking the two majestic beauties that now superbly cradle our brews, pints and half-pints, and branded them with Bucketty’s. The logic being, though it would cost an extra $2 a glass, we could sell them as merch. Sell 1 glass for every 2 that got smashed or stolen, we’d be square.
We bought 144 and filled the racks, prepared for our opening day. Everyone loved them, Instagram awash with punters savouring Bucketty’s in our epic branded glasses. But then, after a few weeks, we didn’t have enough left to get through a busy shift. Also, because the glasses are quite heavy, they hold heat from the glass washer for about half an hour. We can’t be pouring a fresh delicious Bucketty’s in a warm glass, that’d be criminal. What was going on?
“Did you guys break a heap of glasses last week?” No, maybe one or two, but not really, was the reply. Hmm…We’re missing a couple of racks of glasses, but hey ho, bigger fish to fry. I ordered 600 more glasses, $10,000 out the door – another investment, a big one.
For the next 6 months things really cranked up. It was a great feeling to see so many people sharing a beer and raising a glass (our glass) in celebration. But on a busy Saturday night, we’re 6 deep at the bar, the team filling pints at a frenetic pace, when I pick up a pint glass, ready to pour a fresh one. WARM! What the fook?! I reach to grab another, there aren’t any! Our venue manager Alex yells, “They’re all out on the floor”, while spinning between the glass washer and the bar. How are there over 400 glasses on the floor? No way, there must be more upstairs! There aren’t. Excusez mon Francais once more, what le fooook?!
At lightning pace, we collected glasses from the floor, chilled them, made it through another intense shift by the skin of our teeth. We counted the remaining glasses: 300. What? Since we opened, we’d bought 744 pint glasses, and we only have 300 left? There’s no way in hell we’ve broken that many…Could it possibly be that our awesome, loyal, customers are stealing them? Yes, and stealing Bucketty’s loads of ‘em too!
In our annual budget, we now have a $20,000 per year line item for glassware. But what are the options? Get cheaper glasses? Leave them unbranded? When we do eventually catch a thief, sever their drinking hand and mount it above the front door as a warning?
We’ve taken the view to strive to sell enough beer to counter the cost of serving them in these incredible glasses. So, next time you’re at Bucketty’s, thoughts drifting to the inevitable, “I would really like one of these beauties at home”, just go to the bar and buy one. They’re only 15 bucks and you deserve it.