Father Goose
Mr. Hall says the article "hit me like lightening" as the answer to his search for a business he could love. He had traveled often to Europe for work and had always appreciated the variety of beer found in local pubs there. At the time, he felt that most U.S. beers were pretty much alike, so he saw an opportunity to establish a new brew quickly. There was just one problem with this eureka moment: "I didn't know anything about the beer business," he says. He was 44 years old and had spent his career rising through the ranks at Container Corp. of America. He called trade associations to talk shop and quickly realized that creating a new brew and trying to sell it wholesale was a recipe for almost certain failure. Big distributors were not likely to pick up a new brand without a following, and without a place to buy it, there was no way to build a following. A brew pub suddenly made perfect sense. Today, Goose Island runs two food-heavy brew pubs, in Lincoln Park and near Wrigley Field, and a bottling plant on Fulton Street. It brews about 50 beers, some of which have won international beer awards, as well as root beer and cream sodas. Earlier this year, Goose Island signed a distribution agreement with Anheuser-Busch Co. that Mr. Hall expects will put Goose Island into even more bars. Mr. Hall won't disclose the details of that arrangement or Goose Island's sales. He does say that 2006 is shaping up as Goose Island's best year yet, with sales running about 30% higher than last year. Some 175 employees work for the company, including his son Greg, who started as an assistant brewer when it opened and now works as brewmaster. Mr. Hall credits Goose Island's success to experienced employees who were able to run the business well before he completely understood it. It's the one thing he wishes he had done differently: "I would have turned more responsibility over to people sooner." ©2006 by Crain Communications Inc.
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