"I was not expecting it all."
Greg Brandt's response to Gov. Jay Inslee's statewide shutdown last week is one that many local business owners share.
"I just went into scramble mode when we heard about it," says Brandt, co-owner of Iron Goat Brewing.
It was scramble mode, but not panic mode. He quickly started to build a delivery website for his brewery. He was still working on it as we spoke late last week.
"Before I started the brewery, I used to work building shopping websites," he says. "It was a little clunky at first, but I was able to implement a website pretty quickly."
The website is fully operational. Brandt says to-go orders and deliveries are picking up. But it's still not busy and we're still in the middle of a global crisis. Brandt estimates total sales have dropped at least 50 percent.
There's also a mass shortage of aluminum cans right now. Breweries around the region are running low on 32-ounce crowlers — which have become a popular to-go option. For that reason, Iron Goat has started to fill 22-ounce bottles on demand.
Through all this, though, Brandt remains hopeful.
"I think we'll get through this," he says. "We'll figure it out. We're all in the same spot."
