Interview with Natalie Yoder & Tyler Olpin owners of Stodgy Brewing Company. Be sure to follow @stodgybrewing on Facebook & Instagram.
What do you think makes our Fort Collins business community so special?
Fort Collins is in a serious growth stage as a community and it’s a special opportunity to grow small businesses and choose the direction we want to see the city go.
What advice would you give to community members who are looking for ways to support our local businesses?
The best was to support local businesses is to shop/buy/visit them!
What’s one thing that would surprise people about your business?
Since we have a strong background in Agriculture, we support local ag businesses and purchase 100% local grain and 90% local hops for our beer ingredients.
How does owning a local business keep you connected to the community?
I’ve met so many great neighbors, business owners and city employees just by being a spot that they like to come hang out after work!
What do you love most about running a business in Fort Collins?
Having control over how our business supports local and being able to be the change we want to see in the city.
Do you have any special events, promotions, products upcoming you would like to share with the community?
Stodgy Brewing Co is in its first summer of operation. Come check us out any day for a rotating beer tap list.
How has the pandemic and challenges of the last year changed the way you do business?
Superficially it changed a few things about our daily operations like purchasing a customer facing screen for our cash register, mitigating the direction of traffic in our brewery, and enforcing masks. It also drastically changed the way we schedule bartenders (the pandemic made our daily customer numbers extremely volatile and mostly weather driven), or even how many bartenders we hired initially knowing we were going into a COVID winter.
What has the past year taught you about our Fort Collins community?
That many of the people who work for the city really love this place and want to make it better. I’ve been so honored some employees regularly ask for my feedback as a small business owner in Fort Collins.
