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Just dropping by: Copper State Brewing Company

Brewery recently earned title of Best Business Success Story in state

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June 1, 2023

DdKA1JoeHIMGREEN BAY – Beer, food and coffee, oh my!

Those three words have spelled success for one such business in Downtown Green Bay – Copper State Brewing Company, located at 313 Dousman St.

In the second edition of Just dropping by, I visited Copper State – located just steps from the Fox River and Neville Public Museum.

Housed in a historic downtown building originally built to house a meat-packing plant in 1919 – the same year the Green Bay Packers were formed – Copper State owners Jon and Melissa Martens began their own operations there in 2017.

Despite not considering myself a beer drinker, I’ve become the brewery “expert” on The Business News staff.

In many of the brewery stories I’ve had the pleasure of writing, operations typically began as a hobby in a basement or garage – but that’s not the case with Copper State.

“Our story is completely different,” Melissa laughed. “Neither my husband nor I had any previous knowledge of beer or restauranteering. It was more about a crazy opportunity that arose. We were living in the Twin Cities where my husband was a mechanical engineer. My husband had brewed approximately zero batches of beer in his life.”

Melissa said that’s when the downtown building came up for sale.

“Hinterland (now located in the Titletown District across from Lambeau Field) had been in this space before us for 20-plus years and was busting at the seams,” she said. “They had the opportunity to move near Lambeau, so this building was being sold with all the equipment, restaurant, everything.”

Martens said that’s where the coffee part of the equation also came into play.

“My brother-in-law and sister own (two) Copper Rock Coffee Company (locations) in Appleton,” she said. “They saw this building first as a potential coffee shop. At the time, they said, ‘Oh man, this building is so cool, but we can’t do it alone if it’s going to be a brewery, coffee shop and a restaurant all in one.’”

Then came the call from Jon’s brother.

“He said, ‘Jon, you should become a brewmaster,’” Melissa laughed. “It sounded like fun and something we thought we could do. We bought the whole building before (Jon) ever brewed a single batch of beer.”

Melissa said, “it turns out engineers make pretty good beer.”

“It’s all process-driven, and he loves spreadsheets – it fits right into his wheelhouse,” she said. “He had experience with pumps, valves, heating and cooling, etc. at his previous engineering job – a lot of that knowledge transferred over to this job. He gets to use his creativity with brewing beers.”

Melissa said Hinterland “was extremely helpful in teaching Jon how to brew beer.”

“We were super flexible about Hinterland’s move-out date – they needed space to brew beer until the day they moved out,” she said. “When we bought the building, we rented it out to them because they still needed to brew. Hinterland basically gave Jon an apprenticeship with their brewers.”
 
Not just beer
Unlike some other breweries that focus mainly on beer and might also have a limited – or no – food menu, Copper State does it all – beer, food and even coffee.

Melissa said having three viable options for customers allows for the entire building to be utilized better all day long.

“Hinterland didn’t open until 4 p.m., so having three good options allows us to be open earlier in the day (for coffee) and later in the day (for food and beer),” she said. “My brother-in-law roasts all the coffee beans for his Appleton shops. We were going to run separate businesses in this one downtown location, but it was too confusing to have it set up that way. We ended up kind of buying out Copper Rock within our building – we still serve their coffee, but now we’re a wholesale account for them.”

Melissa said although many people think of Copper State – which produced about 1,100 barrels of beer in 2022 – for its brews, it’s hard to focus solely on that segment of the business.

“We can’t put all our eggs in one basket,” she said. “We’ve grown significantly since we’ve started, and we have the capacity to brew more – it’s a balancing act.”

Melissa said the coffee and restaurant side of things also brings in lots of people.

“It’s been a successful business model, but I think we could definitely improve more on the beer side of things – that’s the plan.”
Melissa said Copper State has about 40 employees, but only a couple of those are in the beer-making process.
“That would be my husband and one other person,” she said.

As many other businesses have struggled to find and retain employees, Melissa said Copper State has as well.

“We need more servers, hosts, bartenders, etc.,” she said.

Melissa said the NFL Draft coming to Green Bay in less than two years also has her excited about the possibilities.

“I expect it to be crazy when the draft comes to town,” she laughed. “Packers weekends are already off the charts – we’re busy from open to close. I’m picturing that for about six consecutive days.”
 
Best Business Success Story
Copper State recently earned the title of Best Business Success Story in the State of Wisconsin.

It earned the award at the 2023 Wisconsin Main Street Awards hosted by the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC).

“On Broadway, Inc., which helps downtown Green Bay businesses on this side of the river, does awesome things for the city,” Melissa said. “(Alderman) Brian Johnson is a leader there – they have a great staff. They come (to Copper State) all the time, and they nominated us for the award. From there, somehow the WEDC chose us. Part of it is what value you’re bringing to the city, etc.”

Melissa said you can “do a lot of fun things with beer regarding donations.”

“We did a cool thing to raise awareness toward domestic violence,” she said. “We sold an IPA (India Pale Ale) called One in Four – one in four women will experience domestic violence in their lifetime.”

Melissa said all the proceeds raised from the One in Four beer went to the Golden House, a domestic violence program and shelter in Green Bay.

“You can really help your community in that way,” she said. “Sometimes, Jon and I will say to each other, ‘We still have no idea what we’re actually doing.’ We’re simply trying to connect people, create experiences and be a place for that to happen.”

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