A big part of brewing scene
Quality Tank Solutions got ahead of craft brewery wave
Troy Kasmar works on part of a brewery tank for Quality Tank Solutions.
CITY OF OCONOMOWOC – Earlier this decade, Jimmi-Jean Sukys saw the progress of local breweries around the country, and before that movement came to Wisconsin she capitalized on an important part of the brewing process: the beer tanks.
Sukys and her business partner and fiancé, Chad Sprinkman, have worked in the food, beverage and dairy stainless steel industry for their entire careers.
Sukys formerly managed the floor of a plant that cleaned dairy stainless steel tanks. Sprinkman was in the food and beverage tank industry.
Sukys knew she always wanted to have her own business, and with the newer market of local breweries growing, she took advantage of the growing industry.
When she and Sprinkman opened Quality Tank Solutions in 2012, most of their customers were breweries in Michigan.
“Wisconsin’s craft (beer) industry in 2012 was light; they were not on the front edge of doing installs. Meanwhile, Michigan was on fire,” she said. “We could see that coming, being in this industry as long as we had.”
But, she said, that all changed around 2015 when the local brewing trend hit Milwaukee and Wisconsin.
“That was the year everyone seemed to say, ‘It’s time,’ and the market just broke free,” she said. “There was a period between 2015 and 2016 when we helped build at least 11 breweries in 12 months.”
Many customers
QTS provides tanks for practically everyone in the brewing industry in
Wisconsin, and for many other big names around the Midwest as well.
Its dozens of customers include Wisconsin-based Lakefront, MKE, Good City, City Lights, Third Space and Ale Asylum; Michigan’s Bell’s and Dogfish; and Minnesota’s Surly.
QTS helps its customers with everything from helping to design the layout to installation, and then continually helps them in the aftermarket.
City Lights, which is in two historic buildings in the Menomonee Valley, faced a major challenge: to connect piping between the two buildings while maintaining the historical architecture.
“The installation that they did here was incredibly difficult as we are in two different buildings, and we are piping beer from one building to the next,” explained City Lights Brewmaster Robin Gohsman. “We were named one of the top craft breweries in a historic building by Draft magazine, and we could do that thanks to Jimmi and her team.”
Sukys said the key to her company’s success is treating her entire team like they are her family; a handful of them actually are her nieces and nephews, and other family members work there.
“Our employees are first and then serving our customers,” she said.
All about customer service
Their service focus applies to employees and to customers.
“If we don’t give our customers great service they’re going to go somewhere else, then it becomes just about the money,” she said.
She said another major factor behind Quality Tank Solutions’ success is that it locally sources as much material as it can, which she thinks local breweries appreciate.
The tanks are made of stainless steel, most of which is made in the U.S. Because most of the materials are domestic, QTS has not been significantly affected by recent tariffs levied on steel and aluminum.
The company’s products are not limited to the beer industry; it also serves the beverage, food, dairy and pharmaceutical industries.
QTS is based in Oconomowoc and also has a plant in Marshfield. It employs 75 people.