Customer Story

How Hybrid Work has Changed Taproom Habits

The “happy hour crowd” used to be a main source of revenue for bars and breweries.

In a post-pandemic world with the rise of remote and hybrid work, that post-work drink crowd has become smaller. Downtown businesses that once relied on commuters and local offices now need to make an active effort in fostering their own community of patrons while finding a new crowd of regulars.

Jagged Mountain Brewery has navigated this new landscape and repositioned itself as “the friendly face of craft brewing” in downtown Denver.

Here is a map of their success.

Successful businesses understand the importance of optimizing every dollar spent—something that’s become even more of a priority post-pandemic. Jagged Mountain has been operating out of their one location in downtown Denver for just over ten years. Rather than expanding to new locations, the team decided to maximize profits from one location by expanding both their products and business hours.

Jagged Mountain partnered with a local roasthouse and opened Slackline Coffee, a coffee shop on premises. The shop serves a full line of coffee beverages, along with food from local vendors. It’s one of the many ways they maintain close ties with other local businesses. Having coffee on premise allows them to tap into a completely different client base, while also opening the brewery space up to customers for an extra four hours a day.

Programming is a key factor when it comes to maintaining your brand; a well-crafted schedule of events can be the difference between having customers and having a community. 

Jagged Mountain uses their events in two distinct ways: 

• Reach new audiences
• Keep their current patrons engaged 

Weekly trivia nights with Geeks Who Drink are the cornerstone of Jagged Mountain’s events and their most successful program. It’s consistent, low effort to set up, and gives regular customers something to return to each week. That reliability gives the Jagged Mountain team room to be creative and inventive with their other events.

“Geeks is the best and most well-run trivia organization out there. We’ve tried other ones…and it just doesn’t have the same draw. We can always count on a busy night with Geeks Who Drink”.
-Jagged Mountain GM

Social media and digital marketing are a huge focus for modern businesses, but a major aspect of Jagged Mountain’s marketing strategy is tried and true tactics. They make a point to be familiar with other venues and local businesses, even if that means walking in to say hello.

Through these interactions, they’re able to leverage creative and often overlooked promotional channels such as hotel brochures, activity books, or residential newsletters. They collaborate with local hotels and Airbnbs to tap into Denver’s thriving tourism industry, distributing flyers, coupons, and product samples to guests at local establishments.

About 50% of their sales come from tourists, partially due to Jagged Mountain’s proximity to the train station. When those tourists visit the brewery, they’re met with a friendly staff that’s truly plugged into the community and can act as tour guides to the Denver brewing scene. That kind of hospitality goes far with their patrons while simultaneously fostering loyalty from fellow businesses.

For Jagged Mountain Craft Brewing, cultivating and extending their presence within the Denver community has been a key to their success. Rather than solely fixating on expanding their footprint, they prioritize cultivating a diverse network of connections across various industries, and actively engaging with new customers wherever they may be.