Finding Founders

A mere six months into their home-brewing escapades, Dave Engbers and Mike Stevens knew they wanted to pursue careers in large-scale beer production. So the college buddies opened a brewery. That was ten years ago. Today they have seized a niche in beer making so distinct and popular their business recently executed a remarkable relocation and expansion project that will enable them to churn out approximately 11,000 barrels of brew in 2008, more than double the output of the previous year.

“It was a pipe dream, and it worked,” says Engbers, co-owner of Founders Brewing Company.

And what works for Founder's, it seems, works for the campaign to invigorate struggling neighborhood business hubs in downtown Grand Rapids. And with its latest move the brewery is looking to cement a reputation for giving old places new energy. Not to mention tasty suds.

Founders first opened shop in 1997 in the then-lifeless Monroe North district. At the time, the historic Brassworks building had sat vacant for 15 years, rent was $8 a square foot, and the government was offering tax breaks to lure new ventures. With just three employees, they were attracted to the area for one unpretentious reason: cost.

“It was cheap,” Stevens admits. The 'Available for Lease' signs soon came down and a recipe for success began brewing both within and all around the once decrepit space.

Inside the upstart beer house, entrepreneurs Engbers and Stevens began with a simple strategy: “We were just making basic microbrew products,” Stevens says.

But faced early on with a lack of profit and looming bankruptcy, the men sensed it was time to kick the business plan to high gear or face losing the entire operation. “We didn’t have an exit door, so we had to fight harder,” Stevens says.

So the brew masters got creative and focused on ways to make their beers stand out. Steadily introducing new and evermore creative brews, the business and customers came slowly but surely. Breaking away from the more traditional pale ales and wheat flavors found at typical microbreweries, Founder's introduced specialty offerings like the Kentucky Breakfast Stout and the Dirty Bastard, both of which quickly became favorites among Grand Rapids most discerning drinkers. The brewery began to build a loyal following.

Meanwhile, change was happening outside the brew house in the surrounding neighborhood as well. With affordable rent, readily-available warehouse space, public investment in a new riverfront park, and close proximity to the central city, other businesses began to recognize the opportunity in the underdeveloped district along the Grand River. In short fashion, several art galleries, boutiques, additional bars, business suites, and condo projects took root in the area.

The district to this day remains blighted by abandoned property and expansive surface parking lots. But, overall, most agree it's pointed in a promising direction. An area once dominated by auto repair shops and manufacturing plants is taking on more metropolitan sensibilities. Looking back, it was the perfect place to establish an upstart brewery.

“We lucked out in [site] selection,” Engbers says.

The Founders business plan brought good fortune, too. The company's gourmet beers began collecting national awards, sales skyrocketed, and demand continues to rise in Michigan and across the Midwest. Put simply, people today want more beer than Founders could produce in the cozy confines of the Brassworks building.

“Our biggest issue quickly became growth potential,” says Stevens.

That led the brewers to search for new space to house their booming business, and it wasn’t long before they pinpointed a location on Grandville Avenue in a building and a neighborhood with attributes surprisingly similar to their first address. They chose a vacant and rundown old truck dock in an often overlooked business district with a ton of potential.

Developers began an extensive renovation of the former transfer station in June 2007. They also built an 11,000 square foot production facility at 235 Grandville Avenue. The total project cost approximately $4.8 million and joins a wave of other investment in the rapidly redeveloping business corridor.

In the past several years, the area has seen the construction of a state-of-the-art facility for the Grand Rapids Ballet Company, relocation of the popular Intersection music lounge, and the opening of Rapid Central Station, the regional public transportation hub.

The new Founders also is located kitty corner from Hopson Flats, a housing complex full of students eager to see the brewery start pouring drinks in the neighborhood. One window in the building conspicuously displayed a sign urging the construction crew at Founders to “Hurry Up – We’re Thirsty!”

“That’s definitely a benefit: 150 college kids across the street,” Stevens says.

Now completed, and opened for business on November 17, 2007, Founder's new location is a non-smoking facility complete with an outside deck that’s actually larger than the former taproom at North Monroe. With outdoor heaters and two giant garage-style glass doors opening to the deck, the covered patio is sure to be a popular spot no matter what the season.

Handsome dark timbers – reclaimed from the building's ceiling joists to cut down on landfilled material – cover the interior walls of the taproom. A lengthy, curved bar counter enables a greater number of patrons to belly. The ever-popular pool table and jukebox remain staples at the new location. Plans are made for a shuffleboard table. And a larger stage and high-tech sound system will rock Grandville Avenue—both indoors and out—as speakers surround the joint. They serve food now, too, a welcome departure for customers who ordered up pizzas for delivery to the old place. 

Still, the genius of the location is its future potential. “One thing we did at this facility was really focus on infrastructure,” Stevens says. With plans to increase production by 100 percent its first year and about 30 to 40 percent each year thereafter, the move to Grandville Avenue is expected to put Grand Rapids’ own Founders Brewing Company on the national map and keep it there.

“We are set up for expansion,” says Stevens, explaining how, built out at full capacity, the location will be able to produce about 40,000 barrels of beloved Founders beer each year – eight times the amount produced at the Brassworks building.

Leaving the North Monroe location and ten years of Founders history behind was hard for many regulars who felt at home in the old complex. Bartender and patron Alisha Avila saw firsthand many of those nervous reactions. She was also skeptical herself until she ventured into the new facility before the grand re-opening.

“I really think Founders is going to do great things around here,” Avila says, predicting that the brewery will help spur new businesses in the neighborhood. "This part of town is really coming alive again!”

Photos:

Dave Engbers and Mike Stevens - Beer Gurus

Want someone else's beer?  Forget about it

Mash in the production area

Huge, new tanks in the production area

Dave Engbers and Mike Stevens (still Beer Gurus)

The menu board by the kitchen

Photographs by Brian Kelly - All Rights Reserved