What Is Untappd for Business? A Complete Guide

Posted by Grace Lee-Weitz, February 7, 2022

One of the best tools for your restaurant, brewery, brewpub, bottle shop, or beverage company, Untappd for Business is a digital platform that allows you to create print, digital, or QR code menus and share them with the world’s largest community of beer enthusiasts.

Using our database of over 3,000,000 beers, you can quickly build a menu for your establishment that you can publish to your website, digital menus, Facebook, and the Untappd app. Leveraging QR codes and well-designed custom contactless print and digital menus helps you create a safe environment for your customers and staff.

Most importantly, with Untappd for Business, you can easily track the most popular beers in your area and stay up to date with the latest beer trends. Understanding your customers’ purchase behaviors will help you make strategic customer engagement and inventory decisions.

Plus, you’ll boost your bottom line and increase your sales by maximizing your inventory visibility online to drive new customers to your venue.

With Untappd for Business, you have access to an immense world-class beer database, robust analytics, and custom digital and print menus. All in one powerful tool.

Interested in learning more? Here is the definitive guide to understanding Untappd for Business.

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7 Things to Consider When Starting a Membership Program

Posted by Grace Lee-Weitz, February 4, 2022

Looking for an edge with your brewery in 2022? Starting a membership, mug club, or bottle society for your brewery can bring a huge advantage to your business over the competition. Breweries looking to foster their own communities and provide additional perks to their consumers should consider starting one of these membership programs.

Typically, fans can purchase access to a membership, mug club, or bottle society for a yearly fee, unlocking special bottle releases, perks, discounts, merch, exclusive tastings and events, and more. A membership program not only allows brewers to give a little something back to their most devoted fans, but also helps create a loyal culture.

Are you seriously considering creating a membership, mug club, or bottle society for your brewery? Eric Thelen, co-founder of Oznr, a brand in the Next Glass family that connects craft beverage enthusiasts with the brands they love by helping breweries create membership programs, mug clubs, and bottle societies, has seven pieces of advice for you.

Overall, Thelen says the best thing you can do is: keep it simple! “We’ve spoken with countless people who have created a membership with the best intentions, only to realize… oh man, this is a pain to manage,” says Thelen.

But have no fear! Luckily, Thelen laid out the seven major factors you need to consider before creating a successful membership for your business. (This is an expanded version of a blog we’ve reposted with permission from Oznr).

Oznr’s headache-free membership platform makes it easy to create, sell, and manage a membership program. GIVE IT A WHIRL FOR 14 DAYS FOR FREE!

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The Top 5 Advantages of Untappd for Business

Posted by Grace Lee-Weitz, February 1, 2022

When searching for the best menu tool for your business, there are plenty of options out there. With so many services available to you, how do you know which is the best fit for your business?

While Untappd for Business certainly isn’t the only platform out there, it does have a few distinct advantages. Our digital tool allows you to create print, digital, or QR code menus and share them with the world’s largest community of beer enthusiasts.

Using our database of over 3,000,000 beers, you can quickly build a menu for your establishment that you can publish to your website, digital menus, Facebook, and the Untappd app. Leveraging QR codes and well-designed custom contactless print and digital menus helps you create a safe environment for your customers and staff.

Most importantly, with Untappd for Business, you can easily track the most popular beers in your area and stay up to date with the latest beer trends. Understanding your customers’ purchase behaviors will help you make strategic customer engagement and inventory decisions.

Plus, you’ll boost your bottom line and increase your sales by maximizing your inventory visibility online to drive new customers to your venue.

With Untappd for Business, you have access to an immense world-class beer database, robust analytics, and custom digital and print menus. All in one powerful tool. Let’s take a deeper look at the top five advantages of using Untappd for Business.

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How Unique RV Membership Club Harvest Hosts Is Helping Breweries Survive the Pandemic

Posted by Grace Lee-Weitz, January 22, 2022

Ever dreamed of camping out at your favorite brewery?

A unique RV membership program, Harvest Hosts gives you access to a network of breweries, wineries, farms, museums, and more, inviting RVers to visit and stay overnight.

During the global pandemic, when travel has been limited, RVing has been a great way for people to get out and live life. According to a study conducted by the global market research company Ipsos, last summer, forty six million Americans said they planned to hit the road in owned or rented RVs over the next twelve months.

Harvest Hosts gives “ members ” or self-contained campers (those that provide their own electricity, bathrooms, water, etc.) an opportunity to stay in exciting locations as opposed to big store parking lots or overcrowded campgrounds.

Most importantly, Harvest Hosts has been making a big impact on the small businesses that its members visit. Because Harvest Hosts kindly suggests that any visitor purchase at least $20 of goods and/or services from their host — although the average member actually spends $50 during their stay, guests help generate revenue at breweries, often during off-peak hours or seasons. And Harvest Hosts has helped drive traffic to many out-of-the-way taprooms.

As breweries continue to look for strategic ways to boost their revenue streams, joining Harvest Hosts could be a fast, easy, innovative way to add to their bottom line.

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Next Glass Team Reflects on 2021

Posted by Untappd Team, December 29, 2021

As 2021 nears its end, the team here at Next Glass, which includes our Untappd, Hop Culture, BeerAdvocate, Oznr, Ollie and FermentAble brands, are reflecting on some of the achievements and milestones we are most proud of this year.

This year saw Untappd reach its one billionth check-in, just a few months after celebrating its 10th anniversary in late-2020. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Untappd users supported their local breweries by purchasing beer to-go and checking-in through the Untappd at Home venue. Throughout the year, Untappd partnered with the Brewers Association to promote craft beer, including November’s Small Brewery Sunday, issuing a call to action to support local breweries alongside other local businesses. More than one million impressions were generated across the entire Next Glass ecosystem, helping spread the word about this important campaign.

We welcomed Angela Cearns, CEO of TrueTwins, a blockchain-based authentication platform, to our Board of Directors. Angela brings deep e-commerce experience across several verticals, including the food and beverage industry. Read more about Angela’s appointment to the Next Glass Board here.

During 2021, our LIVE! team had the opportunity to partner with some incredible sponsors to produce festivals and events. While we had to shift many events from in-person to virtual, we still produced several exciting festivals, including Beer Advocate’s Extreme Beer Fest presented by Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, and Hop Culture’s fourth annual Beers With(out) Beards presented by Yeti. Over the past four years, this celebration of women in beer has grown to attract thousands of attendees and showcase over sixty women-led breweries. We were honored to listen to the keynote conversation delivered by Mariah Calagione, and if you missed it, no worries! You can still check it out on our YouTube channel – you’ll be glad you did!

And while COVID-19 interfered with our original plans, we were still thrilled to hold Hop Culture’s inaugural Queer Beer Festival, presented by Sam Adams, virtually.

Queer Beer aims to capture the unique, vibrant, diverse, and thriving voices of the queer community in the industry. There were so many highlights during this festival, it’s hard to recount them all. Panels included “How to be an LGBTQ+ Leader in Craft Beer” and “Authenticity in Queer Spaces in Craft Beer.” If you didn’t get a chance to check out the programming, you can catch the entire event here. Please don’t miss the keynote delivered by Ren Navarro, Founder of Beer Diversity, we invite you to check it out and promise you will be inspired.

For Untappd, an important Untappd milestone was holding the community’s first in-person beer festival since the pandemic paused live events. Held at San Diego’s Petco Park, the Untappd Beer Festival saw more than 7,000 attendees enjoy conversations, connections, and incredible beer from around the country.

The amount of work that goes into putting together an event of this size and scale is tremendous, especially as attendee safety takes center stage. In addition to COVID-19 precautions, the Next Glass family of brands recently introduced enhanced safety measures built around an improved Next Glass Festival Code of Conduct, which was inspired by discussions of the many reports of sexual harassment and misconduct in the industry. This Code of Conduct will be an important staple of all future BeerAdvocate, Hop Culture, and Untappd festivals and will help ensure a safe and inclusive environment for all attendees and participating brewery staff members.

The implementation of Next Glass’s new Code of Conduct included #NotMe, a resolution-seeking reporting platform for those who’ve experienced or witnessed racism, harassment, or any type of discrimination or misconduct.

Working with input from industry stakeholders, the Next Glass events team researched best practices, vetted reporting vendors, identified gaps, built reporting infrastructure, trained staff, and integrated with venue security. This Code of Conduct is a natural extension of the work that has been done — and continues to be done — on inclusion and safety by employees of all Next Glass brands.

“As an all female identifying team who has been affected by sexism and misogyny ourselves, influencing change is something we take very seriously,” said Talia Spera, Vice President of Festivals & Live Events. “Every day we continue to prioritize ensuring a safe and inclusive festival experience. Sadly, misogyny, bias, discrimination, racism and harassment is still found in our industry, so there’s more to do. The team at Next Glass will continue to work together with industry and community stakeholders in 2022 to do our part in positively impacting the industry culture.”

Looking forward to 2022, the team continues to expand upon the Code of Conduct ahead of what is turning out to be an incredible festival lineup. These improvements include festival staff training as well as an enhanced vetting process and participation criteria.

The Next Glass commitment to diversity, inclusion and community service extends beyond festivals and events. Throughout 2021 we were able to work with and support some truly incredible organizations.

"
Our team at Next Glass has prided itself on our philanthropic commitments and corporate social responsibility efforts
- Trace Smith | CEO, Next Glass

“At Hop Culture, it’s important to us that we’re creating the type of beer community in which we want to participate,” says Hop Culture founder and Next Glass Creative Director Kenny Gould. “Last year, we worked with Brewers Association Equity and Inclusion Partner Dr. J Jackson-Beckham to help codify our mission and values, and those are things we continue to discuss internally.”

As part of our 2021 festivals, Next Glass companies made donations supporting ALES for ALS, the Pink Boots Society, the Transgender Law Center, Wildlife Waystation, the pediatric abdominal transplant unit at the UPMC Children’s Hospital, and the Last Prisoner Project, among others. Additionally, our CEO, Trace Smith, personally matched all employee donations to 100 Black Men of America, Black Girls Code, and the It Gets Better Project, continuing financial commitments he and Next Glass made in 2020 to those organizations.

“Our team at Next Glass has prided itself on our philanthropic commitments and corporate social responsibility efforts,” said Trace Smith, CEO of Next Glass. “Our brands each have a long history of rallying their respective audiences to support causes committed to bettering both the bev-alc and tech industries. We will continue to commit resources – both time and money – to driving continued change.”

That work includes working on a local level. In the past, Next Glass has supported workplace training initiatives in the Wilmington area, home to one of Next Glass’s offices, including the TRU Colors training program. This program was designed to give gang members an opportunity to develop professional workforce skills. This year, we were also happy to have sponsored an intern in collaboration with Beer Kulture — our inaugural intern spent eight weeks with the Next Glass team getting hands-on experience and mentorship. This past summer, Untappd provided a full tuition scholarship to Appalachian State’s Summer Brewing Short Course to an individual who otherwise might not have had the opportunity to attend. Hop Culture’s Grace Weitz asked 20 questions of the recipient of the scholarship and wrote about it here!

And, lastly, Next Glass’s Marketing department is helping to provide opportunities in partnership with COOP Careers, a program designed to overcome underemployment amongst the BIPOC community by providing career and networking opportunities in marketing. If you are a business looking to hire marketing staff, please check out the link below in our resources section.

As 2021 comes to a close, we know we’re not done. We recognize that effecting real change is an ongoing journey, and in 2022 we’ll continue to work with others in the industry and our community to productively explore ways to put our values into action both in our day-to-day work and in the festivals and events we produce.

For those interested in learning more about the magnificent organizations Next Glass has partnered with and/or supported philanthropically, please check out the following resources:

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How Drive-Thru Alcohol Helped Breweries During the Pandemic

Posted by Grace Lee-Weitz, November 15, 2021

When the COVID-19 pandemic forced many breweries, restaurants, and bars to close their doors to the public, business owners had to come up with creative solutions to continue generating revenue.

Many beefed up their ecommerce platforms, started using QR codes, or leaned heavily into direct-to-consumer delivery. Another handful thought even further outside the box, instituting drive-thru alcohol programs that provided a safe, contactless, efficient way for customers to purchase alcohol.

While very successful during lockdowns, drive-thru alcohol is less practical, especially now that taprooms have reopened to the public. However, if the past year and half has taught entrepreneurs anything, it’s that it can’t hurt to always be prepared.

It might be helpful to take a look at a couple successful drive-thru alcohol models. Just to keep this tactic in your backpocket. Here are the top considerations if you ever need to create a drive-thru alcohol initiative.

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Partner Spotlight: HopCat

Posted by Grace Lee-Weitz, November 15, 2021

With nine locations across Michigan, Indiana, and Nebraska, HopCat operates on one specific mission: Be a great place to find great local craft beer.

Operating nine establishments, each with their own unique identity, design, and taplists, poses its own unique set of challenges. Mainly, each location constantly rotates new beers across forty different taps that need to be maintained across a variety of print menus. Furthermore, each establishment strives to connect with its local community, finding new, engaging ways to serve its specific city or neighborhood.

Since 2018, HopCat has been leveraging Untappd for Business’ integrated digital menus and print menus to help organize and implement each location’s individual taplists. Additionally, the craft beer bar has partnered with Untappd for Business to create local and sponsored badges to cultivate community and tap into the gamification of the Untappd app. Partnering with Untappd has provided an all-inclusive, one-stop-shop for HopCat to efficiently maintain the huge, constantly rotating draft lists at each location and to connect with each location’s respective consumers.

Photography courtesy of HopCat

Overall, the Untappd for Business software has saved valuable labor hours that used to be spent updating menus and helped HopCat culturally connect with its customers.

We sat down with Justin Pollock, Beverage Manager at Project Barfly, to chat about how HopCat has evolved in a constantly changing craft beer industry, the importance of leveraging Untappd for Business’ print menus, and how Untappd’s local and sponsored badges help tap into HopCat’s unique identity.

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7 Tips for Taking Your Homebrewing Hobby to the Professional Level

Posted by Grace Lee-Weitz, November 1, 2021

Do you dream of becoming a professional brewer? Of moving the carboys, stainless steel pots, auto-siphons, and pH meters from your garage or basement to an actual production warehouse or taproom? You’re not the first. In fact, many of the almost 9,000 breweries in the United States are owned by people who started as homebrewers and turned their hobby and passion into a professional career.

If you’re serious about going from a homebrewing hobby to professional brewing, you need to understand how to open a brewery. Here are some things to consider to help make your dream a reality.

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The Advantages of Adding Mocktails to Your Menu

Posted by Tom Lyon, October 21, 2021

The latest buzz in craft beverages, whether beer, wine, or spirits, is the rapidly growing “better for you” category of drinks. Consumers want tasty choices when they go out for a drink. But that doesn’t always mean they are looking for the alcohol to go along with the flavor.

According to research done by FiorMarkets, non-alcoholic drinks are expected to grow at about eight percent per year, globally, through 2028. That means huge opportunity for non-alcoholic producers and plenty of room for exciting new brands to get in on the game.

Especially when it comes to cocktails, the health-conscious trend has led to lower-calorie and low- or no-alcohol refreshments.

Often dubbed “mocktails,” these alcohol-free drinks are simply cocktails without the alcohol. They can run the gamut from mimicking a classic cocktail like an Old Fashioned (minus the whiskey) or be a completely from-scratch recipe. Either way, the mocktail has opened new creative doors to bartenders all over the country and helped business owners boost their bottom lines.

In the past, non-alcoholic drinks have been an oft-maligned category, dismissed as flavorless, bland beverages. Drinking booze-free used to mean sacrificing flavor and enjoyment. But in the midst of the craft beverage revolution we find breweries and bars proving that notion entirely wrong. Today, bars, restaurants, and breweries across America have developed flavorful, inventive, and attractive mocktail menus that cater to everyone.

These sober drinks are something that you should consider adding to your menu to attract a variety of consumers.

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Webinar: How to Take Your Beverage Sales to the Next Level

Posted by Untappd Team, October 19, 2021

Wondering how to improve your beverage menu? Interested in improving your beverage sales? Curious about the benefits of Untappd for Business? Looking for advice on how to maximize your Untappd for Business account?

Join PourMyBeerthe self-pour technology that’s helping operators boost beverage sales, for an exclusive webinar on How to Take Your Beverage Sales to the Next Level.

On Tuesday, Oct. 26th, at 2pm CT, PourMyBeer will welcome Tessa Young, VP of Inside Sales at Untappd, and Austin Capps, Inside Sales Manager at Untappd, to share tips and strategies on how Untappd can help you boost your bottom line and bring your beverage business to that next level.

SAVE YOUR SPOT NOW!

This webinar will feature:

Tessa Young, VP of Inside Sales at Untappd – Tessa has led a sales team dedicated to advancing the global beverage industry through innovative technology since May of 2016. She carries out this mission by growing sales reps and managers that are thoughtful, intentional, and absolute rockstars at challenging and changing the way people do business.

Austin Capps, Inside Sales Manager at Untappd – Austin has been with Untappd for Business since 2018, first as an SDR, then an Account Executive, and now in Management. He has worked with thousands of businesses to help them grow, save time, and engage with their customer base through our unique technology. As an Inside Sales Manager, he leads a team of amazing salespeople as they learn the needs of the hospitality industry and show how we can help meet those needs.

TUNE INTO THE WEBINAR ON TUESDAY, OCT. 26th, at 2PM CT

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