On the Scene: How Market Garden Brewery built its business block in Ohio City

Welcome to CBB On the Scene, a series where craft breweries of all shapes and sizes explain how they build business plans to succeed within one super saturated craft beer region: Cleveland. In episode 1, we explored the steady expansion of regional giant Fat Heads. In episode 2, we went in-depth on the visionary business model (and perfect timing) of Platform Beer Co.

Here in episode 3, contributor Kathie Zipp ventures down the road from Platform to Market Garden Brewery’s cluster of facilities, which includes a sizeable brewpub, a production brewing facility and tasting room and even a niche nanobrewery solely for experimental beers (aptly named Nano Brew). This minor fiefdom sits directly across the street from Great Lakes Brewing Co., which was the 20th biggest craft brewery in the United States in 2018 by beer sales volume, and the two have come to anchor the Ohio City brewing district like the Guardians of Transportation (Cleveland landmarks, duh) that adorn Market Garden’s logo.

We sat down with Cofounder Mike Foran and Director of Brewing Patrick Daniels to learn just how this budding empire got its start and how they plan to maintain their position in an ever-crowding northeast Ohio beer scene.

Part 1 with Mike Foran, cofounder

• 2:00 Mike discusses how Market Garden started, its early relationship with Great Lakes Brewing and the thinking behind its Ohio City expansion (with its pilot system Nano Brew, down the street).
• 4:00 On-premise and off-premise strategy — getting that balance of street sales versus store sales right.
• 5:10 Differentiating the brand with so many other breweries nearby, and why he’s not into just defining their brewery as “local.”
• 6:40 What they get out of offering brewery tours, and how that builds the brand connection.
• 9:00 How to bring the brewpub love out to the market.
• 10:00 How does competition among breweries play out with so many in walking distance?
• 11:00 Distribution strategy talk. How do they choose where to go? And do they plan on opening up more locations to spread the brand that way?
• 13:00 How are they standing out on the shelf, and why are they doing both cans and bottles?
• 16:00 What’s next for Market Garden?

Part 2 with Patrick Daniels, director of brewing

• 1:00 Market Garden focuses on a mix of styles, switching between ales and lagers. Patrick explains how their brewhouse was selected and built for that.
• 4:00 How the brewery team and the chef work together on both the beer and food offering (and even the ingredients used in the food).
• 6:00 The Market Garden solution for standing out with its beer in a crowded brewery market.
• 7:11 Some insight into their quality control investments and protocols.