Suburban breweries tap into takeout and delivery during COVID-19 outbreak

At Side Lot Brewery, sales were largely tied to the Wauconda taproom. But with that temporarily shuttered during the COVID-19 outbreak, owner and head brewer Phil Castello is relying on to-go sales and taking advantage of the state's order to allow small breweries to deliver to customers.

He's been seen delivering all over town behind the wheel of the 1964 pickup truck that serves as the brewery's mascot.

"If we're going to deliver," Castello said, "we're going to have fun with it."

Side Lot is just one of the breweries across the suburbs - and beyond - looking for ways to generate sales as people stay home to help stem the spread of the virus.

Side Lot only began canning beer last month so most sales are done in glass bottles filled and sealed at the taproom, including growlers or the smaller howlers and crowlers.

Monte Summers, co-owner of 2 Fools Cider in Naperville, has been delivering to customers as well. He said his wife, Cindy Summers, who owns Sugar Fixe Patisserie in Oak Park, put out the word on a local moms Facebook group that 2 Fools was delivering and more than 200 orders came in within a day or two.

"I'm out delivering it myself door to door," said Monte Summers, who estimated about half of 2 Fool's sales used to come from their taproom. "My wife had an app tracking me and she would send messages to customers saying 'Hey, the cider's on the porch.'"

Summers said sales of to-go crowlers and growlers were so swift that the company was completely out of glass just days into the shutdown. He said he received a fresh pallet of crowlers, which is good because they won't fill reusable containers people bring in.

"With corona, we don't want people bringing in containers that could be infected," Summers said.

Mike Pallen, who co-owns Mikerphone Brewing in Elk Grove Village with his wife, Lisa Pallen, said they have held off on getting into delivering beer so far.

"I'm not 100% in love with the idea of sending staff to random houses and having them potentially exposed to the virus," Mike Pallen said.

Instead, he said they are continuing to produce beer and send it to distributors as well as accommodating to-go orders. He said only two customers are allowed in the taproom to order at a time to adhere to social distancing guidelines.

Tom Korder, co-owner of Penrose Brewing Company in Geneva, said about 75 percent of the brewery's sales come from the taproom, so Penrose had to cut hours and rely on to-go orders. Korder said he hand delivers outside to customers to limit his staff's exposure.

"It's a huge concern," Korder said. "We are going through a lot of gloves and sanitizer and wiping down everything regularly."

With Mikerphone's taproom closed, Pallen said he had to let 10 of the brewery's 20 employees go. All of the tips the company receives on to-go orders during the shutdown go to the laid-off employees, who were mostly servers and bartenders.

"It was really busy Friday and Saturday before the lockdown," Pallen said. "It's crazy how many people came out to support us."

Pallen did note that the flurry of sales slowed abruptly on Sunday and Monday.

Mike Dallas, who owns Scorched Earth Brewing in Algonquin with his wife, Jennifer Dallas, said they didn't have an online store before the lockdown but got one up quickly. They too have switched to mostly filling curbside to-go orders.

Dallas said he and his wife don't know what the immediate future holds for the business. He's glad the federal government appears to be passing a stimulus package but said he wants to see what's in the bill before he and Jennifer make their plans for next week.

"We need this business to stay open," he said.

Beth May, who co-owns Roaring Table Brewing Company in Lake Zurich with her husband, Lane Fearing, said they also rushed to set up a website, began delivering to homes within five miles and started ramping up to-go orders.

May stressed how important it is for residents to keep shopping local in the coming weeks.

"It would be unfortunate for a bunch of small businesses to go under and for people to say 'oh I really miss that place, I want it to come back,'" May said.

Pallen said even with the support Mikerphone has received they don't have the margins they need.

"We're going to lose money each month this stays on," Pallen said. "If it stays too long, we're going to need to think of new routes to go down. But as long as people keep buying, we'll keep going."