The Perrin Brewing Company is one of the largest breweries in Grand Rapids. It is a production-scale brewery that can produce up to 20,000 barrels of beer a year. This scale makes them one of the most productive breweries in west Michigan, only behind a few big players like Bell’s and Founders.
The Perrin Brewing Company is such a big business that it’s easy to assume that their founder comes from a brewing background. It may come to your surprise that he does not.
Randy Perrin, the founder of the aptly named Perrin Brewing Company in the greater Grand Rapids area, has started with an entirely different business.
Perrin has not had the opportunity to finish his education. Though he has attended high school, he doesn’t have a high school diploma, let alone a college degree.
At the age of 17, he got into the garments industry by landing a job in a small athletic company in Grand Rapids. This eventually led him to establish his own screen-printing shop. The shop was so successful that it ended up becoming a large-scale operation, similar to what his brewing company eventually became.
Perrin established the brewery back in 2011, in a 23,000 square-feet facility. The original plan was to launch a 12,000 square-feet microbrewery, but it changed quickly. Perrin was so used to large-scale operations because of his garment business Perrin Sportswear. So, he wasn’t willing to settle down to a smaller scale operation in a 12,000 square-feet microbrewery. A 23,000 square-feet facility in Comstock Park, in the Grand Rapids metropolitan area, was the more attractive option.
But how did the garment businessman suddenly become interested in the beer industry? It all started with his half-brother Dan Perrin. Dan became the bridge between Randy Perrin and his eventual business partner Jarred Sper.
One day, when Dan was on Jarred’s house to help him and his family with some errands, Jarred slightly mentioned to Dan how he wanted to establish his own brewery. It was nothing but a simple remark. Jarred described it as a “cocktail conversation.” He was so surprised when Dan gave him a call the next day, suggesting that Jarred should meet with his brother Randy to further discuss the business opportunity.
The business venture in the brewing industry eventually took off. Jarred Sper, who was as surprised as anybody, even became a minority investor.
As mentioned earlier, Randy Perrin was someone used to large-scale operations. In his own words, he wanted to “go big or go home.” Of course, he brought this mentality with him in establishing the Perrin Brewing Company.
He started brainstorming and researching for the right beer products that could be viable for a large-scale production. He really wanted to emphasize on uniqueness and marketability. His plan was to create beers that would be unique and interesting enough for beer enthusiasts. But he also wanted the beers to be able to cater to consumers that the beer industry had failed to reach in large quantities.
He finally found a hole in the demand chain. He found out that the beer industry was continuing to fail to reach domestic light beer drinkers and women. So, he knew what to do. He would focus on unique and interesting beers that would cater to both beer enthusiasts and to these marginalized drinkers.
To cater to the beer enthusiasts, Perrin and Sper decided to go old school. They put their beers in flat top cans, which was a practice back in the days before 1962. These flat top cans required a churnkey to open. It was easy to think that the churnkey feature could be nothing but a barrier and a hindrance. But the feature was received well.
Perrin and Sper also wanted to cater to the more serious beer enthusiasts. Gimmicky beer names were a huge thing in the beer industry. But the business partners didn’t want to ride the hype train. They gave their beers simple names and wanted drinkers to take their brand more seriously.
So, they got the beer enthusiasts covered. But what about the light beer drinkers and women? It was an easy decision for Perrin and Sper. They decided to make their beers not to be bold-tasting. There were enough bold-tasting and strong beers out there. There was no need to put all their eggs onto that basket.
They now feature beers such as the Perrin Black Ale, which the company describes as a “beer that is dark as night but drinks like a summer afternoon.” It’s light-bodied yet flavorful and has hints of chocolate and coffee.
Other staples of the Perrin Brewing Company include the Passion Fruit Gose, Blackberry IPA, and the Grapefruit IPA. It’s easy to imagine how these fruit flavors can be very attractive to light drinkers and women. It also helps that they have an ABV hovering around 4 to 5%.
The Perrin Brewing Company has successfully created a brand that can cater to both beer enthusiasts and light drinkers. It’s truly an impressive feat, considering that not many brewing companies become successful with such a combination of traits.
The business has been successful enough to attract buyers that are also big players in the beer business, such as Oskar Blues.
Dale Katechis, the founder of Oskar Blues, has decided he wanted to buy the Perrin Brewing Company, after seeing its large facility in action. He has eventually succeeded in 2015 and has put the large Grand Rapids brewery under his wings.
Randy Perrin has proven himself to be a great businessman in large-scale operations. And he has at least two large businesses to show off. First, there is his garments business Perrin Sportswear. It is a company that has seen up to 50 million dollars of sales a year. Second, there is his brewing business the Perrin Brewing Company. It is a company that has produced thousands of barrels of beer and has distributed awesome flavors throughout Michigan.
Perrin doesn’t need to worry about the Perrin Brewing Company’s future. It is surely in the good hands of a fellow businessman who has an impressive portfolio himself.