Opinion piece written by Chadd Balbi, co-owner of Breweries In PA. NSFW language warning.

Let’s start off that the following is 100% opinion. There will be more speculation than there is reporting. If you want to see reporting on this matter, you can due so here.

Shame on Imprint. What they did to their employees should cause them embarrassment and force them to issue a public apology. By now you are most likely aware of the situation, so no need to rehash it, but once again you can click here to read about it. (That’s now two chances to read actual reporting. Moving forward you are just getting 100% raw emotion).

For context; I am admittedly biased. My issues with Imprint go as far back as the days of them selling crowlers out of the back of their car. I’ll keep it short, but in the early days (before “schmoojee” was a word) Breweries In PA was a big supporter. It’s the reason the main image of this article was selected. BIPA has reviewed their beer before a taproom existed. Somewhere along the lines that relationship soured. We started to hear from other brewery owners how Imprint was telling them to stay away from us and that we were no good to work with. I am not totally sure why, but this became our reality.

It would appear that shitty ownership will find a way to continue to be shitty, just to more people. Which brings us to where we are at today.

But why should Imprint be embarrassed? Admittedly I do not have access to their financials. So, who am I to say what they can and cannot afford. But let’s start off with their statement. In their statement they refer to how sales “continue to climb briskly.” Yet despite that they couldn’t afford to let staff work another 20 days until the Christmas holiday. I understand that in the restaurant industry you avoid giving too much notice when laying staff off. This is because word will start to leak and you as a business can no longer control the narrative. But you are less than 3 weeks from Christmas with “briskly climbing” sales and you cannot afford to keep the staff that long and be a decent human being?

However, if you read many of the stories coming out from former employees, none of this should come as a surprise. This thread on Facebook is a good place to start. The other accusations made by former employees are claims of owing one employee several thousands of dollars and ownership closing another business in the same manner (limited notice to staff). According to former staff they are even being blocked by the business from interacting with them on social media. They have truly “cut bait and run” on people that were dependent on their business for their livelihood.

You might think to yourself “this is a business, not a family. They don’t owe them anything.” And while you may be right, that goes against the spirit of craft beer. You can’t prop up craft beer and small businesses as a tight knit/ scrappy community only to then see one of those businesses treat their employees like machines that can just be turned off with a switch. For fucks sake you are asking us to pay increased prices vs macro beer alternatives all in the name of “supporting local.” If I have to pay $7 for a glass of pilsner when I could get a Miller Lite for $3, there should be an expectation of you not implementing shitty business practices. Just look at Broken Goblet if you want to see what it’s like to understand the sprit of this industry.

Next (and this one is a free tip for ownership) do you know how easy it would have been to win the court of public opinion on this matter? The issue stems from “supposed” government greed and overreach. In the court of public opinion small business wins over government 100 out of 100 times. At the first sight of an increased tax bill, it would not have been difficult to make this public. And to warn the public that if the rates continue to increase, they will have no choice but to begin layoffs. I am not suggesting a public battle keeps you out of this situation. But if you do end up getting to the layoff point, people were at least warned and now the public has your sympathy. Rather than having to shut off comments to every social media post because you fear backlash of your own stupidity. A win in the court of public opinion may not turn things around, but it will flood people to your taproom in support to help offset those costs.

While I am on the topic of government entities… where the hell has the Brewers of Pennsylvania been on this? For those not familiar the Brewers of Pennsylvania (BOP) is a trade organization that promotes “increas[ing] your [Brewery] potential for excellence.” Breweries pay yearly membership fees to be a part of the organization and according to the BOP website Imprint is an active member. In return for those membership fees they promote how they get involved at the legislative level. Well, where was the BOP when one of their members was having government issues?

Much like in the past when Tired Hands was caught at the center of misogynistic and racist allegations the BOP sits this one out. At a time where they should be leading the charge “for excellence” they just watch their members operate with terrible business practices so long as their membership fees cash. All while justifying their existence by putting on a few quarterly conference calls and yearly membership get togethers.

I’m not one to cancel any business. Hell, if Tired hands can be a national embarrassment yet still continue to open new locations, it’s a safe assumption that no one is going out of business because of these blemishes. But Imprint should take a hard look in the mirror. They have been a business mired in terrible ownership since before they even had a taproom. It is no surprise that after all these years the bridges they have burned have just gotten bigger. Unless significant change occurs, the Imprint ownership team should be ashamed and embarrassed to show their faces within the craft beer industry going forward.