Indeed Brewing Company has appointed Ryan Bandy, former director of experience, as the Minneapolis, Minnesota-based craft brewery’s new chief business officer.
With Bandy’s appointment, Indeed co-founder and former CEO Tom Whisenand will begin to step away from day-to-day operations at the 11-year-old craft brewery, and instead serve in an advisory role while pursuing a career as an airline pilot, according to a press release.
“The people of Minneapolis and Milwaukee and our neighborhoods have been good to us,” Whisenand said in the release. “We want to make great beer and provide good jobs. We’ve built a business that allows us to give back to employee-chosen nonprofits. We’ve navigated a pandemic. And over the past several years we’ve built a professional management structure that’s allowing me to step away from the typical brewery model where the owner/founders run everything.
“I’m stoked for Ryan to lead us into the next era and look forward to transitioning into an advising role and Indeed beer drinker,” he continued.
Bandy has worked for Indeed for more than a decade, moving up in the company to become director of experiences in early 2022. His new c-suite title will be effective November 20.
“I’d be hard-pressed to find someone who cares as deeply about all things Indeed than Ryan – its people, its products, the experiences it creates and shares, its staying power,” Indeed chief operating officer Kelly Moritz said in the release. “We’re all going to benefit from his depth of experience, knowledge, and passion for what we do as a company, and after nine years of working side by side in so many different ways, I’m excited to embark on this new chapter together.”
Indeed leadership came under scrutiny in 2021 after co-founder Rachel Anderson shared her experiences of toxicity at the company in an essay titled “I am a Craft Beer Casualty.” Anderson detailed alleged intimidation and gaslighting by fellow co-founders Whisenand and Nathan Berndt that allegedly resulted in her being terminated in October 2015.
Anderson’s essay followed Indeed being named several times by anonymous women during a call for stories on Instagram by then-Notch Brewing production manager Brienne Allen (@ratmagnet). Following the anonymous stories, Moritz published an open letter to the public asking how the company could do better.
Whisenand published a second letter from the company following Anderson’s essay.
“Rachel’s account of founding, working, and being terminated from Indeed is an example of gut-wrenching and imperfect decisions that exist within personal and business relationships,” Whisenand wrote. “As in life, there are countless things I’d wish we’d done better, things we’d learned quicker, and things we still need to learn. Rachel’s work set our brand on a positive course, is forever baked into our DNA and we are grateful for that.”
The statement “rang pretty hollow,” Anderson wrote in an email to Brewbound in May 2021.
Bandy told Brewbound via email that Whisenand’s departure does “not at all” have to do with the 2021 scrutiny, writing:
“It goes without saying that the 2021 Me Too movement in our industry was a sweeping wakeup call with an unprecedented volume of criticism that touched so many breweries, ours included. It was painful, but it gave us an opportunity to truly and deeply self-reflect, and examine any and all of the grievances we received during that time. Over the past two years Tom has worked within the business and empowered others to work on making sure Indeed lives up to its values.
“Indeed has become a more people-centric company, using the third party audit findings along with our own internal vision for the brewery, to fuel a genuine desire to make Indeed a stable, professional workplace where people can build a career if they choose to, or use their experience here to go on and do other things that fill their cups, like Tom is doing now as he takes the next step in his pilot career.
“As CEO, Tom has been both a steward of this change and a catalyst for others to step up and employ their leadership abilities in new ways to work toward this vision for Indeed. He’s helped build a business he’s proud of, and now he’s stoked to pass the torch and see where this next era of Indeed will take all of us.”
Indeed produced more than 20,000 barrels of beer in 2022, a +9% increase versus 2023, and is on track to produce a similar amount in 2023. The company continues to expand its beyond beer portfolio, including the addition of THC-infused seltzers. THC products make up about 4% of Indeed’s volume right now, “still a lot of volume for a product, especially at higher dollars, but not even close to beer,” Bandy told Brewbound.
This company also expanded its core beer offerings this year, including the addition of Modern Age Session IPA (3.8% ABV) to its year-round lineup.
Indeed’s No. 1 offering is Pistachio Cream Ale (5.5% ABV), which launched in the brewery’s taprooms in 2020. The beer became Indeed’s best selling beer this year and accounts for 30% of Indeed’s volume. Indeed will expand the offering with Imperial Pistachio Cream Ale in 19.2 oz. single-serve cans in 2024.
Indeed is not planning on making any other leadership changes in the near future, Bandy said.
“Our leadership team is as strong as it’s been since I’ve worked at Indeed,” Bandy said. “It’s one of the main reasons Tom is comfortable with the current handoff. Not because he can put a dork like me in charge, but because our leadership team is so great.”
Bandy sang the praises of Moritz, “one of the most holistic, kind, and dogged people I’ve worked with,” Ellen Farnham, director of business services, who “could be running multiple other companies but she chooses to run the background of our systems,” and Angie Hibbs, director of people and communities, who “has been a huge addition to the people side of our business.”
Indeed also brought on director of beer Dayton Coffey last year.
“We’re very fortunate that someone of his caliber moved halfway around the world from Australia to run our beer department last winter – brewing, packaging, warehouse, etc.,” Bandy said. “It has been a seismic shift for our team and company at large.”
“If there’s a leadership change, it’ll definitely be me getting asked nicely to let all these professionals do their thing,” he continued.
This story was updated at 3:45 p.m. ET to include comments from Bandy.