3Cross founder purposefully stays small
Sam Bonacci
Dave Howland's approach to his brewery 3Cross is more small business than big brewing.
In 2014, Dave Howland took his home brewing passion and made the leap to his own brewery and tasting room. Since that time, Howland has been slowly expanding 3Cross Brewery on word of mouth and the strength of his varied selection of beer.
In his first two years, he ran into his own challenges familiar to many small business owners and are faced by the smaller brewers throughout Massachusetts. Chief among these challenges is the need to handle all aspects of the business. These various roles of distribution and finances weren’t always something that came easily to Howland.
“If I had thought about it more thoroughly, I probably would have realized that I had a lot to learn,” said Howland, who relied on other small business owners and brewers.
Howland has found these new areas can be sustaining as well as challenging.
“It’s my taproom hours that keep me motivated – when talking to people about the beer. There is something about being able to share the experience of the beer with someone who is enjoying it. It’s fulfilling,” he said.
What is success?
Unlike the larger breweries in Central Massachusetts that measure their output in thousands of barrels, Howland measures his by the tens – moving 100 barrels of beer last year. That’s not only just fine by him but actually preferable.
“I’d be perfectly happy if my beer was never sold outside of Worcester. I don’t want a team of 20 people working for me … it’s a very different business model,” said Howland.
He doesn’t have his sights set on pure growth, but rather on a measure of success that is more small business than big brew. He wants to contribute to the Main South community surrounding his brewery while making a good living and brewing great beer.
While none of this is strictly anti-growth, it means that Howland’s success can’t be summed up in barrels per year.
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