Home delivery helping to keep this brewery’s beer sales stout
In working hard to stay afloat in the swirling, ever-changing waters of COVID-19, East End Brewing Co. has found deliverance in ... delivery.
As soon as the state shut down bars, restaurants and nonessential businesses in mid-March, the Larimer brewery announced that it was going to “touchless takeout” — to-go and curbside sales — and was working on a plan to deliver beer to customers’ homes, a service it hadn’t previously offered.
Before the end of the month, it launched a test version of online ordering and Saturday delivery within about a 15-mile radius. That went so well that on April 3, owner Scott Smith posted on social media a warm thank-you to customers for making it possible for the brewery to keep all 14 of its full- and part-time staff who stayed on.
That included part-timer Al Stiehl, 40, of Forest Hills, who, despite his conservative whitecollar day job, has the nicknames of “Chainsaw” and “Saw,” thanks to his last name sounding like the power-tool brand Stihl. He was given his nicknames about 20 years ago by
Nordy Siljander, who now happens to be East End Brewing’s director of operations. Mr. Stiehl has worked part-time for the brewery for about a decade, mostly as a weekend bartender — at least, pre-COVID-19.
Even when allowed to open the taproom to customers again in the green phase of the state’s plan the first week of June, East End Brewing chose not to, for the sake of the safety of its customers and employees.
In mid-June, it reopened with precaution protocols and stopped delivery. Then it had to close again by the end of the month and reintroduce delivery,
which continued to keep staff fully employed.
“Scott and Nordy, they were ahead of the curve,” says Mr. Stiehl. He’s one of three bartenders who use their own cars to deliver beer.
Customers place their orders by 11:59 p.m. Friday. The drivers load up Saturday morning and head out on planned routes, texting customers when they’re about to arrive. They wear masks and gloves to make their contactless deliveries to porches and stoops, checking IDs though windows and screen doors.
“You get to see so much of [Allegheny] County — places I would never go to,” says Mr. Stiehl. And even beyond. By special order, he says, “I’ve had to go to Mars.”
Orders range from a couple of four-packs to three or four cases of beer, even soda and glassware and other merchandise. There is a $40 minimum order and a $10 delivery fee, which goes to the drivers, for available ZIP codes within about 20 minutes of the brewery. East End experimented with offering free delivery on Aug. 1. The brewery doesn’t deliver food from its in-house restaurant, Larder, but it is offering takeout as well.
“Everyone has been so nice,” Mr. Stiehl says of customers. “It’s a Saturday; they’re getting beer. It’s a very good thing.”
He believes that many customers might want home delivery for the convenience and time savings, even when they can return to drinking at the brewery.
But it’s not just the liquid that people like, as many enjoy seeing Mr. Stiehl as a human representative of East End. Some just wave or give a thumbs-up. Some will even text or call him later in the day.
“You get to connect with people,” says Mr. Stiehl. Even if they’re strangers, they share being stuck at home. “Why not talk and have a beer?”