Megan Greenwood is the owner of Greenwood Brewing. The brewery is located in downtown Phoenix in a brand new building on Roosevelt St. Greenwood Brewing is a woman owned and operated brewery, which you will learn why that is so huge throughout the conversation we have with Megan. 

Megan began her career in engineering, with a focus on renewable energy. She was gifted a home brewing kit by her roommate at the time and loved the process of making a product that someone could enjoy. After that experience, she created a microbrewery in her garage and began brewing every week. 

Since she started brewing beer, she couldn’t shake the feeling that women were extremely underrepresented in the beer industry. She spent almost a year doing market research to see if this was truly the case or if it was only her feeling that way. She surveyed and had conversations with 200 women and over half of the women agreed - they felt underrepresented. 

Megan describing her goal when she began distributing her beer:

“My only goal was to get beer into the hands of consumers and see if they liked it. Did they like the concept? Did they like the fact that I was a woman? Or did that even matter?”

Only 2% of breweries in the country are owned solely by women. In a predominantly male-focused industry, Megan made it her goal to ensure women felt included in the craft beer world and wanted to create a space that felt inviting to them. 

How Covid has affected her business:

“My goal was to get distribution to a point where once we open our brewery, we’re smooth sailing. We already have a customer base. If we don’t sell a single beer over our counter, we still have our distribution to fall back on. It was wonderful in theory until 2020 happened… The whole business actually ended up flip-flopping, where all my business was now on premise.” Distributions of Megan’s beer began falling one by one because shut down orders caused bars to close in the state, removing the need for distribution. She opened up the doors to her new facility in July of 2020, and sales were solely in-store. 

Megan talks growing culture:

“That’s a very real problem when you are starting a business. How am I going to foster an environment that is the culture I envision for this brand, for this business, and for my people? How do I keep them feeling like they want to come and show up every day? Because in the end, we’re all spending our lives together.”

Greenwood Brewing’s brand pillars:

“Our brand pillars are empowerment, confidence, and inclusivity, and they have made decisions for me.” When she is faced with making decisions about her business, she asks herself if it meets the three pillars. If she feels it meets all three, then she feels like she can move forward with making that decision. Having a mission is so important when you want to make sure your company is moving in a way that you want it to. 

Additional Links:

Follow along with Greenwood Brewing: https://www.instagram.com/greenwoodbrewing/

Check out their website: https://www.greenwoodbrews.com/

Visit the location: 425 E Roosevelt St, Phoenix, AZ 85004