How Much Craft Brewery Owners Make: $70k Salary Assumption
A craft brewery owner can model $70,000 in first-year owner pay in this scenario, but that is an operating assumption, not a guaranteed salary Here’s the quick math: first-year sales are $661,000, gross profit is about $562,483 after direct COGS, payroll is $275,000, and fixed overhead is $148,800 That leaves about $138,683 before debt service, taxes, reserves, and capital spending What this estimate hides is the big cash drain: $435,000 of startup equipment and buildout costs must be funded or financed
Owner income$70kNet margin85.1%–86.2%Revenue for target pay$661k–$1.56MBusiness difficultyHard
Want to test your brewery pay?
Owner income calculator
Estimate owner take-home and the gap to target pay from revenue, gross margin, costs, reserves, and owner pay.
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Planning note: Research-based planning estimate only. Actual owner income depends on revenue, margin, payroll, taxes, debt, and reinvestment. It is not guaranteed salary, tax advice, or owner distribution advice.
Want to see what drives owner income?
1
Owner Take-Home
$562K-$1.34M
EBITDA rises from $562K in Year 1 to $1.34M in Year 5, so the owner's take-home ceiling moves with the profit pool.
2
Taproom Mix
64%-66%
Taproom pints are about two-thirds of unit volume, and shifting more volume away from wholesale keeps more margin in-house.
3
Volume Growth
61K-126K
Total units nearly double from 61,000 to 126,000, which spreads fixed costs over more sales.
4
Price Lift
+14%
Average revenue per unit rises from about $10.84 to $12.34, so small price moves add cash without many more customers.
5
COGS Yield
85%-86%
Malt, hops, yeast, waste, and card fees decide how much of each sale becomes gross profit, so small yield slips hit take-home fast.
6
Payroll Load
$275K-$500K
Payroll rises from $275K to $500K as staff and sales roles scale, while the $148.8K fixed base and $435K buildout keep cash tight.
Want to check owner income in the brewery model?
The Craft Brewery Financial Model Template shows the dashboard, income outputs, revenue forecast, COGS, staffing, fixed costs, capex, scenario tests, cash reserves, and owner income; Year 1 revenue is $661,000 and Year 5 is $1,555,000. Open the model.
Owner-income model highlights
Owner salary: $70,000
Gross profit: $562,483 to $1,340,215
Payroll and costs: $275,000 to $500,000; $148,800 fixed
Should a brewery owner take a salary or reinvest profits?
For a Craft Brewery, treat owner pay as a planned expense, not whatever cash is left. This model includes a $70,000 Owner / General Manager salary from the start if the owner also brews, runs the taproom, or handles events, so that labor is real cost, not free help. And with $435,000 in startup capex for the 10 BBL brewhouse, tanks, canning line, taproom buildout, and POS hardware, reinvestment pressure is real; this is not tax or legal advice.
Take salary on purpose
$70,000 is built in
Workload is not free
Brewing and taproom duties count
Event work takes time and pay
Protect reinvestment cash
$435,000 startup capex
10 BBL brewhouse and tanks
Canning line and taproom buildout
POS hardware needs funding
How many barrels does a brewery need to pay the owner?
A Craft Brewery needs enough volume to cover fixed costs, channel mix, pricing, and owner pay, not a set barrel count alone; for this model, What Is The Most Important Metric To Measure The Success Of Your Craft Brewery? is revenue break-even, because the data doesn’t include package ounces, flight pour size, or annual barrel output. Year 1 shows $661,000 in sales, supports a modeled $70,000 owner salary, and leaves $138,683 before debt, taxes, reserves, and capex.
Owner pay test
Use revenue, not barrels alone
Year 1 sales: $661,000
Modeled salary: $70,000
Pre-reserve cushion: $138,683
What can block pay
Startup capex: $435,000
Debt service comes first
Taxes reduce available cash
Reserves limit extra distributions
What craft brewery operating costs reduce owner income most?
For a Craft Brewery, payroll cuts owner income the most at $275,000, ahead of $148,800 in fixed costs and $98,517 in Year 1 COGS. The biggest pay item is the $75,000 head brewer, then $70,000 each for owner pay and taproom staff; for launch cost context, see What Is The Estimated Cost To Open And Launch Your Craft Brewery Business?
Payroll hits hardest
$275,000 total payroll
$75,000 head brewer
$70,000 owner pay
$70,000 taproom staff
Other drains
$98,517 Year 1 COGS
$148,800 fixed costs
$6,000 monthly rent
Debt service is a separate input
Key Takeaways
Taproom pints drive margin, but demand must exist.
Higher volume spreads fixed costs, if margins hold.
Pricing lifts revenue, but only when customers stay.
Labor, debt, and reserves can erase accounting profit.
Scenario objective: Compare lean, base, and high-performing craft brewery owner income cases
Owner income scenarios
Owner income shifts fast with volume, pricing, staffing, and fixed overhead. The low case shows pay pressure; the base and high cases show what the model can support at Year 1 and Year 5 scale.
Compare downside, base, and upside owner income paths.
Scenario
Low CaseDownside case
Base CaseModeled case
High CaseUpside case
Launch model
Lower sales and tighter pricing keep owner pay under pressure.
This is the Year 1 operating case with owner pay built into the plan.
Stronger scale and pricing hold up owner income fast.
Typical setup
Taproom traffic stays light, to-go sales lag, and payroll plus fixed overhead absorb most cash before owner pay.
The model uses Year 1 volume and pricing, with about $661,000 revenue, $275,000 payroll, $148,800 fixed costs, a $70,000 owner salary, and $138,683 before debt, taxes, reserves, and capex.
The Year 5 path reaches about $1,555,000 revenue, with $500,000 payroll and $691,415 before debt, taxes, reserves, and capex.
Cost drivers
taproom volume
pricing pressure
payroll load
fixed overhead
waste and fees
taproom pints
4-pack mix
payroll
fixed overhead
owner salary
taproom traffic
to-go mix
pricing gains
payroll scale
lower waste
Owner income rangeBefore owner reserves
Below $70,000Below target
$138,683Base plan
$691,415Scale upside
Best fit
Use this to stress-test owner pay when volume or pricing comes in short.
Use this as the planning anchor for staffing, cash, and owner compensation.
Use this to test the upside if volume, pricing, and staffing all scale cleanly.
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Planning note: Ranges are researched planning assumptions, not guaranteed earnings, salary promises, tax advice, or distributions.
Craft Brewery Core Six Income Drivers
Taproom Versus Wholesale Mix
Taproom Mix Drives Pay
This mix is the biggest margin lever because Year 1 sales are mostly direct: pints $300,000, to-go 4-packs $180,000, flights $112,000, growlers $44,000, and merch $25,000. That totals $661,000, and pints alone are about 45% of revenue. More on-site sales usually mean better cash and a better path to owner pay.
Here’s the quick math: stated COGS is $98,517 on $661,000 of sales, so gross margin is 85.1% before labor and overhead. That margin only turns into owner income if the taproom has demand, legal permission, enough staff, and enough production capacity. Empty seats or slow service can erase the benefit fast.
Track Spend Per Guest
Measure revenue by item, then watch average spend per visitor and sales mix. If pints and flights are strong, keep the room full and speed service. If to-go 4-packs lead, protect margin with clean pickup flow and tight packaging. Margin wins only matter when guests keep buying.
Track pints, flights, growlers.
Track guests per open hour.
Track labor per 100 guests.
Track sell-through versus capacity.
Model owner pay after payroll, rent, and reserves, not on sales alone. The taproom mix helps most when each visit carries more spend without forcing overtime or waste. If demand is uneven, keep the base forecast conservative and treat events, merch, and premium pours as upside.
Pricing and Average Customer Spend
Spend per Guest
Pricing and average customer spend is the fastest revenue lever here because rent, payroll, and other fixed costs stay committed. In the model, pints rise from $750 to $850, 4-packs from $1,800 to $2,000, growlers from $2,200 to $2,400, flights from $1,400 to $1,500, and merch from $2,500 to $2,700, so small ticket gains can lift owner income quickly if demand holds.
Track Ticket Mix
Watch visitors, item mix, and spend per visit. Events, flights, premium releases, and merchandise can raise take-home cash, but only if the taproom keeps selling through. Test price changes in steps, then check conversion, repeat visits, and inventory sell-through before pushing higher. That keeps revenue quality strong instead of padding the model with wishful pricing.
Fixed Costs, Debt, and Reserves
Fixed Costs and Cash Drain
For a craft brewery, fixed costs run $148,800 a year, or about $12,400 a month. That includes $72,000 rent, $14,400 insurance, $18,000 utilities, $24,000 marketing, $6,000 software, $4,800 licenses, and $9,600 professional services. These costs hit even when sales slow, so they set the floor for how much profit the owner must earn before paying themselves.
Positive operating profit still does not equal owner cash. Debt service is not provided here, so keep it editable, and remember taxes, repairs, working capital, and reserve targets come after accounting profit. With $435,000 of startup capex in the background, the real question is cash after all commitments, not just operating profit on paper.
Track Cash After Fixed Costs
Track fixed costs as a monthly run rate and compare them to gross profit each month. The key test is simple: if gross profit does not cover $12,400 a month plus debt, taxes, and reserves, owner pay gets squeezed fast. One clean rule: profit is not cash.
Model debt service as an editable line, then set a reserve target for repairs and slow months. Watch rent, marketing, and professional services closely, because those are recurring cash drains. If sales rise but cash stays tight, the fix is usually lower overhead, not more volume alone.
Labor and Owner Role
Labor and Owner Role
In a craft brewery, labor is usually the largest recurring pressure after gross profit. Here, payroll rises from $275,000 in Year 1 to $500,000 in Year 5, and the owner is modeled as a paid $70,000 General Manager, not free labor. So owner income only grows if sales cover staff before draw.
Adding an assistant brewer in Year 2 and sales/events support in Year 3 can support more beer and more taproom business, but it also uses cash before the extra revenue fully lands. Cash savings from unpaid owner labor are not the same as a sustainable workload. If labor rises faster than gross profit, owner pay gets squeezed.
Track Labor Before It Eats Owner Pay
Measure labor as a share of sales, plus labor per barrel, per taproom shift, and per event. The key inputs are production volume, taproom traffic, event count, wage rates, overtime, and owner hours. Here’s the quick test: if a new hire does not lift output or sales enough to cover wage cost, it lowers take-home income.
Build staffing in steps and keep the owner salary in the model at $70,000 so the business does not depend on unpaid work. Add headcount only when the bottleneck is clear: brewing capacity, taproom service, or events support. What this hides is workload risk; cutting owner pay too hard may look efficient, but it can hurt quality, sales, and compliance.
Production Volume and Capacity Use
Production Volume and Capacity Use
More volume helps owner income only when each extra sale clears beer, packaging, and taproom costs. Revenue rises from $661,000 in Year 1 to $1,555,000 in Year 5 while fixed costs stay at $148,800 a year, so fixed costs fall from about 22.5% of sales to 9.6%. The upside is real, but only if 4-packs, growlers, and seasonal beer sell at profitable margins.
Track Sell-Through, Not Just Brewed Volume
Measure gallons brewed, units sold, average selling price, and gross margin by SKU. If inventory sits too long, cash gets tied up and spoilage risk rises. Keep batch size tied to demand, especially for 4-packs, growlers, and seasonal releases, so higher volume turns into cash for owner pay instead of unsold stock.
Track sell-through by product.
Compare output to taproom demand.
Watch inventory days on hand.
Protect margin before scaling batches.
COGS, Yield, and Brewing Efficiency
Brewing COGS and Yield
COGS here includes malt, hops, yeast, water, utilities, chemicals, packaging, spoilage, card fees, and damaged goods. In Year 1, COGS is $98,517 on $661,000 of sales, so gross margin is about 85.1%. That looks strong, but owner pay still comes after COGS, payroll, rent, debt, taxes, reserves, and reinvestment.
Small yield losses matter fast. To-go 4-packs carry $3.00 unit COGS plus 16% of revenue, while taproom pints carry $0.75 unit COGS plus 17%. Here’s the quick math: if waste, overfill, or damaged goods creep up, gross profit falls before fixed costs are covered, and that cuts the cash left for owner income.
Track Loss by Batch and Channel
Measure COGS by batch, then split it by taproom and to-go. Track package loss, spoilage, and card fees each month, and compare actual yield to recipe yield. If pints stay near $0.75 unit COGS and 4-packs stay near $3.00, you protect margin without raising prices.
Watch the gap between brewed volume and sold volume. If a seasonal run sells slower, the cost sits in inventory and cash gets tight. Tight portion control, clean packaging runs, and better breakage logs help keep the 85.1% gross margin from drifting down before payroll and owner draw.
