Russian River co-founder Natalie Cilurzo urged craft brewers to delve into the motivation and mission behind their businesses in her keynote address to the Brewers Association’s (BA) Craft Brewers Conference (CBC) in Minneapolis on Wednesday.
“My goal is to help you to start or continue the discussion on the who, what and most importantly, why,” she said. “Finding your higher purpose as a company and as a person can be rewarding and vital to the health and well-being of yourself and your organizations and necessary for long-term stability.”
Under the leadership of Cilurzo and her husband Vinnie Cilurzo, Russian River has become a paragon of dedication to craft and community. The brewery’s offerings are praised nationwide and the annual release of its Pliny the Younger triple IPA draws fans from across the globe.
Philanthropy has been a cornerstone of Russian River’s philosophy for nearly two decades. When the Cilurzos opened their first brewpub in Santa Rosa, California, in 2004, they released a beer that raised money for the local breast cancer center to honor a friend who had died from the disease. Over the course of 12 years, Framboise for a Cure has raised more than $600,000 to benefit local cancer patients.
Unbeknownst to them at the time, the Cilurzos were only just beginning to craft Russian River’s track record of giving back to their community when need is dire.
“While it always feels good to help others, it did not really occur to us that we were already consciously engaged in our higher purpose without even knowing it,” Cilurzo said.
The Tubbs fire devastated Russian River’s hometown of Santa Rosa in the fall of 2017.
“Once we determined that our staff and breweries were OK, we knew we needed to do something big to help the thousands of residents in our community who were not OK,” Cilurzo said. “At the time, Vinnie and I were in the middle of building our new Windsor brewery. We were bleeding money. We were in no financial position to start writing checks to help fire victims.”
But, “armed with an idea and nothing more,” Cilurzo set about creating Sonoma Pride, a beer brewed to raise money for fire victims. Russian River shared the recipe and 60 more craft brewers produced their own versions to raise funds – one of the first examples of the popular open source collaboration format that has grown to include global projects such as All Together, Black Is Beautiful and Brave Noise.
In all, Russian River raised $1.1 million in aid for local residents who lost homes and belongings in the fire.
“What we accomplished in those few weeks and the difference we made for people in our community is one of the most rewarding and fulfilling experiences in my life,” Cilurzo said. “Our little brewpub in downtown Santa Rosa quickly became a gathering place for displaced members of our community who were seeking news, needing a place to charge their phones, looking for a warm meal and a cold beer.
“Being together in the midst of this tragedy brought us all the most comfort of all,” she continued. “Our employees transcended their roles of servers, bartenders and bussers to therapists, providing support and someone to listen to the many harrowing stories of evacuation and survival. We soon started to understand our role in this nightmare, as well as our purpose as a business in the community.”
One customer left Cilurzo a handwritten thank you note, which she kept and read to the audience.
“Sometimes your reason for being just smacks you in the face,” she said.
The experience inspired Cilurzo to infuse every aspect of Russian River with purpose, particularly after coming through the trauma of the fire. Craft breweries can likely empathize after two years of a pandemic that has forced them to reinvent their businesses countless times amid ominous odds.
“Let’s give ourselves some credit. We’re a tough, resilient and scrappy group of humans,” Cilurzo said. “They predicted that hundreds, maybe thousands, of breweries would become COVID casualties, but that ended up not being the case, did it?
“These past two years have also forced us to reflect, reevaluate and engage in some serious soul searching,” she continued. “You too have probably asked yourself more than a few times, what the hell are we doing? And more importantly, why?”
Defining a business’s reason for being can help with recruitment of both staff and customers. Cilurzo said she was “thrilled” the first time a candidate said Russian River’s community engagement was a driving factor behind their application. She called out New Belgium Brewing’s 3% employee turnover rate, which she described as “unheard of,” as evidence that a purpose-driven business is good for employees.
“Having a clear purpose can help to attract like-minded customers as well, [who] see your purpose as an added value to the product services or experiences we provide,” she said. “We all want to support companies whose values, ethics and morals align with our own.”
However, Cilurzo cautioned that both employees and drinkers can see through a loosely held purpose. But a strong one can serve as a business’ “north star” for making decisions that drive the business in the right direction.
“Maybe you’re on the fence about brewing that beer with donuts and peanut butter,” Cilurzo said. “So you ask yourself, ‘Does this have anything to do with our company’s purpose?’
“If your purpose is to help your customers and employees make healthier lifestyle choices, the answer is probably no. Or you could substitute the doughnuts with bananas,” she continued. “Personally, I like beer-flavored beer, but I’m old school.”