Chris Cianfarini

Professor Rosenberg
BM-490-05
February 14, 2013
Case 3: BrickHouse Brewery
Stuart Rosenberg captures the attention of his audience by identifying the major aspects
of the Brickhouse Brewery through the eyes of the general manager, Cynthia Gannon (Cindy)
Rosenberg incorporates interesting dialogue between the three owners of the brewery and !s
Gannon, helping the reader understand the culture of the business "he dialogue e#change Cindy
has with the managers throughout the study engages the reader and helps inform them of the
positi$e ideas the owners ha$e incorporated into the business while also identifying the
weaknesses the company must try to impro$e upon
"he Brickhouse Brewery has se$eral uni%ue %ualities that gi$e the restaurant a
competiti$e edge o$er other similar businesses in the area Compared to other companies located
around the south shores of &ong 'sland, Brickhouse Brewery has a competiti$e edge o$er other
businesses in the area due to se$eral attractions including a functioning brewery ("he tanks that
contained the beer that the restaurant produced were displayed through four large windows in the
front of the restaurant) (Rosenberg *) appealing to customers who enjoyed the atmosphere and
the personali+ed brews the Brickhouse produced for it,s customers !any other restaurants were
able to sell li%uor, but did not ha$e the setup that the Brickhouse could pro$ide the consumer
Some other strengths that set the Brickhouse apart from its competition were it,s di$ersification
of entertainment, a larger menu, a larger seating capacity than other restaurants, and it,s ability to
capture a regular customer base "he brewery was also able to di$ersify it,s age groups by
strategically recruiting different styled artists to perform different days of the week "hese factors
allowed the brewery to operate successfully without worrying about other restaurants coming in
to steal their business
-ne weaknesses that the Brickhouse must address to stay competiti$e is their pricing
strategy Because there are (do+ens of restaurants that customers could choose from within a
fifteen minute dri$e of the Brickhouse) (Rosenberg .) it is crucial that they look to change their
method of raising the prices of their meals on the weekend Because the census data in the article
showed that the demographics around the restaurant were changing and that the income was
decreasing, it would help the Brickhouse to keep consistent prices By doing this the Brickhouse
would be able to keep some of the business other restaurant chains would steal on the weekends
"his is important for the Brickhouse to consider because /01 of its business is from food sales
-ne opportunity that the Brickhouse should consider is the idea of opening another type
of restaurant close to the Brickhouse Brewery Because the owner,s (would not $iew a new
restaurant in town as a threat 2but3 instead would $iew it as an opportunity) (Rosenberg 40) they
should create a new restaurant close by to push customers towards the Brickhouse as well -ne
threat they must watch out for in this market howe$er is to make sure that the Brickhouse can
continue to sur$i$e in this area Because the demographics are slowly changing and are mo$ing
business closer to the shopping malls, the Brickhouse must make sure that consumers are still
willing to make the trip out to the restaurant to eat rather than dining closer to the malls at some
of the chains mentioned earlier
"he promotional idea, ali$e after fi$e, could be an opportunity for the Brickhouse to
ad$ertise their business and make a larger profit 5$en though it may be a lucrati$e idea, it is
important that the owner,s take into consideration the pressure this opportunity may put on the
stakeholders who play a large role in their company Some stakeholders who would be affected
by this decision include the part6time college workers, the new people Brickhouse would ha$e to
hire, the security teams and local police, businesses close by, and indi$iduals within the town,
and their $alued general manager, Cindy 5$en though this idea would bring in a fun, friendly
en$ironment for the town and could bring in potential business for the restaurants in the area it is
a large burden for the workers at the brewery 't would be $ery difficult for Cindy to coordinate
the workers and hire on new staff for an outdoor e#tra$agan+a that may not be profitable "he
possibility of the ali$e after fi$e program succeeding is not worth upsetting the entire chemistry
of Brickhouse Brewery,s staff and should be considered before upsetting the culture that they
already ha$e established and upsetting $alued staff members like Cindy
Because Cindy is such a large role in the success of the Brickhouse Brewery and the
owners trust her opinion it may be a good idea for her to address her concerns about the project
up front with her bosses 5$en if they do not agree with her outlook, Cindy may still be able to
compromise with her bosses -ne way that she could please the managers without fully
committing to their idea is by renting the e%uipment and obtaining temporary passes for a (trial
run) to see if the program is plausible and profitable 'f the program is not successful and is not
something that helps the business it may be better to not continue with the idea 'f the idea is
successful, the owners may consider gi$ing Cindy a commission from the program,s profits due
to the e#tra coordination effort she must e#ert to get the project up and running Cindy is a
$alued member of the Brickhouse Brewery and the owners would consider her input when
making a decision that could affect their business