Water Lessons from a
Microbrewery Bar Stool
By Blair Corning
ROCKY MOUNTAIN WATER JULY 2019 | 29
MANAGEMENT PIPELINE
THERE’S A MICROBREWERY NEAR MY HOUSE THAT
I visit on occasion. It’s called Someplace Else, and when
I need to get out of the house for a beer, it’s often the
“someplace else” to which I go. Microbreweries are much
different than water utilities. They have intense competition
from other microbreweries, bars, and restaurants. On the
other hand, and although we don’t like to actually say it,
utilities usually have a monopoly on the services we provide.
Because of this, we must be unremitting in our focus on
customer service and engagement.
The owners of Someplace Else are Tori Miller and Ryan Parker.
They built the Arvada-based business from the ground up. I
asked Tori if she had any lessons that could be gleaned from
the operation of her brewery. She provided a list of five things
that she feels makes Someplace Else successful. In looking at
these lessons, I found that they could also easily be applied
to what makes a utility successful. Although the drink is
different, many rules for success are the same.
1. When brewing, you can never use enough sanitizer.
“Clean, Clean, Clean” is Ryan’s brewing motto.
In brewing, as in the water and wastewater business,
cleanliness and safety of the final product is the highest
priority. Nothing else we do matters if the water received
by people at their homes is not safe. The first priority in
caring for customers is not losing their trust or violating the
covenant that we will always consider their health and safety
above all else.
/rosedaleproducts.com
