Steve Ezell likes pumpkin beer, but he doesn’t like pumpkin beer that much.
Back in 2014, the former television professional was gifted a “beer of the month” subscription for his October birthday. Two months later, his six pack arrived, and every single one of them was pumpkin flavored. Ezell, a student at the University of Michigan’s MBA program at the time, figured he could come up with something better.
Thus, the idea behind CraftX was born.
“I was looking for a way out of TV, and my wife was of the impression that we could do this better,” said Ezell, the company’s co-founder and CEO. "I didn't know a thing about the alcohol industry, so the blind ignorance gave me a lot of confidence in my abilities.”
He didn’t have to wait long to test his concept. As a part of his MBA thesis, Ezell partnered with two classmates to create a business model, with the help from faculty members. The idea? Each month, subscribers would receive a 12-pack of 20 ounce cans from a number of breweries — most of which haven’t actually canned beer of their own yet — to create a truly unique experience for its subscribers.
And last week, the service officially launched.
“We don't want to put anything out that our customers can go find in their local liquor store, so everything that we package will always be exclusive to us,” said Ezell. “A big part of that is that we know we're not as cheap as going to the grocery store for a 12 pack. To get over that hurdle in the customer's mind, we have to validate the reason why they're spending $50 a month.”
While $50 a month might seem relatively pricey for 12 beers, Ezell noted that it actually works out to $4.17 per pint, which is cheaper than pints in most bars in LA. Add the fact that the beer CraftX is shipping can’t be acquired anywhere outside of a brewery’s tap room, literally, and the deal seems like more of a steal than a luxury.
It’s been a busy few weeks for the Beverly Hills-based startup. Ezell and his co-founders are in the process of fulfilling the first batch of orders while actively raising the company’s seed round of funding. By the end of the year, Ezell said he hopes the company will have partnered with a number of breweries around the U.S. to offer more beer for subscribers, but the addition of additional capital would also allow customers to start receiving beer more suited to their individual tastes.
“Eventually, we're going to build a profile for each user based on what they like,” Ezell said. “Right now, the default response from people is typically ‘I love IPAs,’ or ‘I hate IPAs.’ We want the customers to get involved in rating their beers, but do so in a way that doesn't alienate them if they don't know what an IBU (International Bitterness Units, a measurement of a beer's bitterness) or an SRM (Standard Reference Method, which references a beer's color). Part of it's education, but part of it is collecting the data we need to establish that curation.”
It might take a little time, but CraftX might be more than a way for beer lovers to get some awesome brewskis.
“There are 5,000 craft breweries in the U.S. fighting for shelf space, and Anheuser Busch is winning,” said Ezell. “Our goal is to help level the playing field just a little bit.”
Images via CraftX.
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