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DE PERE – Craft beer lovers can test 36 brews, most of them from Wisconsin, by visiting a new business in De Pere. Josh Smits and Steve Beckett, who have a friendship that spans 30 plus years, are pursuing a dream that rose from facing great life challenges.
Beckett, who has survived colon cancer and lymphoma, and Smits, a recent survivor of Hodgkin’s lymphoma, decided that life is too short not to do something you love. Their friendship began when they worked at Shopko in De Pere. They discovered that they had common interests; among those was a love for craft beer.
“We just started hanging out together and enjoyed trying different beers,” Smits said.
When visiting a brewery in Eau Claire, Beckett tossed out the idea that starting a brewery might be something that would be fun to do.
“Before that, I don’t know if I ever thought in my life, I would own my own business,” Beckett commented. “But as a cancer survivor, you start thinking about things differently.”
“He talked me into it,” Smits laughed.
From there, they had serious talks about making that a reality. They enjoyed the idea of serving beer, but adjusted the plan.
“We both agreed that neither of us wanted the brewery experience,” Beckett explained. “We wanted to be a tap room to support the breweries in the area.”
With that goal in mind, the planning began. Their wives supported the idea, and together, they embarked to Asheville, North Carolina to do serious research.
Smits related, “When we went to Asheville, we hit 30 breweries in three days. We would ask about facilities, take in ideas from each, talk to bartenders, brewers, and owners to see what they liked, disliked, or would recommend doing differently. We took all of that into consideration when designing our space.”
It was about a year ago when they started to look for a location.
“When Steve and I first started talking about this with our wives, I was working for Foth (located on the Fox River Trail) and brought my bike to work,” Smits noted. “I said, ‘Let’s put it on the trail or as close as we can get,’ and that started us looking.”
Beckett added, “We had two previous locations we looked at before the one we’re currently in, but those fell apart due to the amount of work that would need to be done.”
Then, last October, they walked into a space that had been formerly leased by a church, and thought it was perfect. It was on the trail, and although they knew they would need to budget for a cooler and tap system and other equipment, the space itself required small modifications.
“When we walked into the space, we looked at each other and had the ‘ah, ha’ moment. It just felt like home,” Smits said.
With the expertise of Smit’s wife, Brenda, and Beckett’s wife, Janelle, they came up with ideas on how to design the space. The wives began taping parts of the floor and drawing up plans that would create a comfortable and relaxing atmosphere.
The design incorporated the name selected for the business, “Cycling Brews Taproom.” The name tied in Beckett’s and Smit’s love of bicycling and the location on the trail that is frequented by bikers.
“It took a bit to come up with a name; eventually, Steve texted us with the name, ‘Cycling Brews,’ and we thought it was perfect,” Smits explained.
“Also, we’ll be cycling through inventory,” Beckett added.
Once they had a name, they formed an LLC, wrote a business plan, obtained a liquor license, met numerous business regulations, and secured financing. As they worked through the details, Smits and Beckett contacted the Green Bay SCORE Chapter for help with licensing questions. They also benefitted greatly from the mentoring provided by David Malcolm, owner of Zambaldi Beer in Allouez.
Smits noted, “We were able to ask him a lot of questions throughout the process. He guided us as we moved ahead. He was a great mentor for us and always willing to help.”
Once their business plan was approved by their lender, Smits and Beckett visited all 11 local breweries to tell them what they were planning to do. Each stop was met with enthusiasm and all but one of them has their beer featured on tap (the only one not on tap is brewing in too small of a quantity).
A map on the wall of the taproom shows the location of each of the local breweries. In addition to those, the 36 craft beers on tap come mostly from Wisconsin. To keep each fresh, they order smaller kegs and carefully monitor dates. Selling while fresh hasn’t been an issue since they opened a few months ago.
“We didn’t realize how fast we would go through the beer we had,” Beckett said. “At first, we didn’t have enough on hand and are learning from our mistakes.”
The taproom doesn’t have a kitchen, but snacks are sold and customers are welcome to bring in their own food. They have been in contact with members of the Green Bay Food Truck Coalition and plan on having food trucks available on a regular basis. Details can be found on their website, cyclingbrews.com. They also have canned cocktails and other drinks available.
As they get established, the business will be a family affair. Along with their wives, Smits and Beckett will be the only employees. Brenda and Janelle, who they say have been essential in starting the business, play a number of roles. They schedule food trucks and entertainment and also work whenever needed. All four post on social media and Beckett updates the website.
Although Cycling Beer Taproom has only opened recently, the positive response has them encouraged that they made the right choice. They say their goals are to keep finding ways for people to have fun, and of course, to stay in business. The ingredients for success are in place.
“This is a fun and relaxing place to be,” they echoed. “Nothing really beats sitting down over a couple of beers and just talking about anything and everything.”
Tina Dettman-Bielefeldt is co-owner of DB Commercial Real Estate in Green Bay and past district director for SCORE, Wisconsin.
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