Breweries in California opening with a slew of safety measures

Breweries in California are now re-opening while taking an assortment of precautions to protect the health and safety of both their customers and their staff, following an extended closure to prevent the spread of COVID-19. 

Pioneered more than 40 years ago by such operations as Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. in Chico, Sonoma County’s New Albion Brewing Co., and San Francisco’s Anchor Brewing Co., California’s craft beer community has grown to more than 1,000 breweries covering every corner of the state from the Humble Farmer Brewing Company near the Mexican border in the Imperial Valley to SeaQuake Brewing, located almost 1,000 miles to the north in Crescent City.

“California makes up a significant percentage of the breweries in the entire country,” said Leia Bailey, Associate Executive Director of the California Craft Brewers Association. “These breweries are primarily small businesses —family owned and family run,” she added.

To cope with the COVID-19 induced shutdown, Leia informed that brewers in California practically had to reinvent their business models overnight  increasing shipping and delivery directly to consumers. “We have seen people find ways to bring beer to their communities,” Leia noted while pointing out there have been some fun and creative ways that breweries have introduced in this regard, and consumers seem to really enjoy it.

The safety measures introduced by some breweries in California are quite comprehensive in nature. For example, for Sacramento’s Urban Roots Brewing & Smokehouse, the new regulations have meant major changes to a hyper-social business model centered around gathering at large communal tables. While there is a spacious outdoor patio to maintain social distancing indoors, just four people can sit at the 12-foot-long tables of the brewery. Instead of having long lines of customers drawn to Urban Roots for its live-fire smoked meats and diverse beer selection, the brewery now takes reservations and a host greets walk-in customers. Urban Roots is now operating at 30 percent capacity.

Escondido-based Stone Brewing Co., one of the US’s largest craft brewers, has also had to employ a reservation system at its locations in San Diego County, Pasadena, and Napa. Even before the pandemic, Stone Brewing Co. began to implement a contactless ordering system that now facilitates to minimise direct customer interaction with wait staff.

The precautions extend behind the scenes too. Workers in Stone Brewing Co. receive thorough safety training and undergo temperature checks, while dishwashers are outfitted with extensive personal protective equipment. “We are doing our best to protect the team,” says Gregg Frazer, Stone Brewing’s Vice President of Hospitality.

According to Peter Hoey, Co-founder and Brewmaster at Urban Roots Brewing & Smokehouse, their menu lists the promises the brewery staff makes to ensure the health of patrons, including wearing masks, cleaning bathrooms every hour, and constantly changing gloves during service. Everything at tables at Urban Roots Brewing & Smokehouse is for one time use.

At the same time, Urban Roots also asks its customers to make promises of their own, such as refraining from wandering around the outlet and mingling with other guests, and to remain at the table as much as possible. “That sort of partnership with our guests rather than an adversarial dictating of rules allows us to be in compliance and for them to have a good time,” observed Hoey.

Stone Brewing Co. has put up signage reminding customers of such precautions as wearing masks while stepping away from the table and encourages parents to keep their kids from running around without supervision. The brewery also installed convenient sanitation stations and employs such measures as single-use menus and paper covers over beverage glasses as an added layer of protection.