“Anyone thinking we will return to business as usual anytime soon, if at all, is in for a rude awakening.”  – Monday Night CEO Jeff Heck.

If breweries are expecting their fans to immediately return to their taprooms once the lockdowns are lifted, a new Monday Night Brewing survey suggests caution.

The Atlanta-based craft brewery solicited responses from customers with an online survey fielded April 23-26.

And out of the 743 respondents, almost 75 percent of respondents indicated that they will not return to a taproom until June at the earliest. And when they do return 28 percent reported that they will visit less frequently.

Yikes…

The survey also revealed that customers will demand greatly increased sanitation measures, smaller crowds and enforcement of social distancing guidelines.

“Anyone thinking we will return to business as usual anytime soon — if at all — is in for a rude awakening,” said  Monday Night Brewing CEO Jeff Heck.“The COVID-19 pandemic has completely changed the way we do business, and will significantly impact how we run our taprooms going forward.”

And in spite of an April 27^th relaxation of shelter-in-place and social distancing restrictions in Georgia, Heck is in no hurry to open Monday Night’s two Atlanta taprooms. Both will remain closed for now, with its West Midtown location continuing to offer takeaway service…

“One of the more interesting things to come out of the economic hardship brought on by COVID-19 has been the popularity of our to-go program.”

“Sales have exceeded expectations, and we were able to hire back several furloughed team members because of the strength of the program. We expect to keep to-go sales even after our taprooms re-open, which this survey also confirms.”

“We hope this research will help our friends in the craft beverage and hospitality industries. The world is changing quickly right now, so our take is that every bit of real-time data helps people make better decisions”

The full survey results can be found here.