HAPEVILLE, Ga. — Georgia residents can still drink local and support a small business, while still staying six feet apart. Arches Brewing in Hapeville is filling the need for craft beer by offering curbside pick up during the coronavirus pandemic.
During a time when Americans everywhere are coping with a new normal, head brewer Justin Ramirez told 11Alive that a quick shift in their business model was essential to staying afloat.
“I'm just hoping we can make ends meet until this whole thing kind of dies down and we can reopen the tasting room. But that's just kind of how we're rolling through this,” said Ramirez.
He also expressed concerns that are likely shared amongst craft beer drinkers amidst the coronavirus.
“It’s unfortunate when people have a brewery in the neighborhood and they can't go right down the street and go pick up beer,” said Ramirez.
As the famous saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention. Arches Brewing began offering online orders for their beer.
“They prepay for it. There's no worrying about somebody exchanging cards or cash or anything like that. We've got sanitizer here. There's Clorox wipes," Ramirez said. "We've been wiping it down constantly and just trying to make sure everything is nice and sanitized and everybody stays healthy."
Their model makes it possible for employees and customers to maintain a six-foot distance.
Once an order is placed online, their team preps it with a label. People then arrange a time to pick up their order right from the brewery.
“We set up a little outpost on here right outside of the tasting room,” said Ramirez.
Although this system is working for the brewery, Ramirez does not know what is on tap for the future.
“There's a lot of people in the service industry and food and beverage who are really deeply affected by this … I really hope that we can all get through this and then be back full swing when all this is over,” Ramirez said.
In the meantime, “(This is) what we're doing to kind of raise spirits and make sure you can still, still get the beer that they enjoy and still come out and support a local business,” he said.
Arches Brewing is open daily from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m., and orders can be placed straight from their website. Georgia state law limits to purchase of 288 oz. (one case) of beer per customer per day.
The Arches Brewing website also includes a GoFundMe link to raise money for the staff who have been affected by the outbreak.
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