With locations in Portland and Beaverton, Lazy Days Brewing has quickly become a go-to spot for locals to partake in Oregon's vibrant craft beer culture.
The early days of Lazy Days
When successful Oregon-based brewery Ex Novo moved its operations to New Mexico, Ryan Still jumped at the opportunity to acquire the business' Portland and Beaverton locations. Rebranding to Lazy Days Brewing, Still's new brewpubs opened for business in December 2023. Serving Detroit-style pizza and tasty craft beers and hosting weekly community events like chess night, Lazy Days Brewing has quickly become a neighborhood staple in Portland and Beaverton.
Identifying entrepreneurial challenges
From critical kitchen machinery and permits to experienced staff, acquiring an existing business offered Lazy Days countless benefits. However, the acquisition also came with a unique set of challenges for Still and his team to solve. First, there was the burden of differentiating Lazy Days Brewing from Ex Novo.
"There are benefits to taking over spaces that have already existed — like you don't have to worry about installing a bunch of equipment in the kitchen. The challenge ends up being that people always associate you with the other brand."
Additionally, Still had to figure out how to make the point of sale (POS) system he inherited through the acquisition fit Lazy Days' needs. Because the staff was already familiar with the existing POS system, Still kept the technology in place. Unfortunately, with its poor customer experience and unreliable product service, Still realized early on that the POS system was not a match for his growing business. Nevertheless, he needed to find a way to make it work for Lazy Days — all while trying to turn a profit.
DoorDash is Lazy Days Brewing's go-to third-party delivery app
From the get-go, Still knew that third-party delivery apps like DoorDash would be integral to building Lazy Days' brand and boosting sales. But he wasn't expecting how important they would be to the business' overall success.
"I didn't realize how important to the bottom line third-party delivery apps were going to be. It ended up being, for the first couple of months, the difference between us being profitable and being unprofitable."
By listing their business on the DoorDash Marketplace, Lazy Days can sell items like their "Shmokin' BBQ Chicken" pizza and "Mother of all Cheesy Bread" to delivery and pickup customers who may otherwise be unfamiliar with Lazy Days — helping them to build the brand while increasing sales. Lazy Days Brewing also uses Online Ordering to set up commission-free online ordering and enable customers to place orders directly through the brewpub's site.
Using the DoorDash Merchant Portal, Still can track sales, respond to customer reviews, and view customer experience metrics, helping him to keep close tabs on DoorDash's impact on earnings. And, the impact is noticeable — from May to March 2024, Lazy Days saw a 40% month-over-month increase in DoorDash orders and a 65% month-over-month growth in DoorDash page clicks, helping them reach more customers and achieve monthly profitability.
40%
month-over-month increase in DoorDash orders
65%
month-over-month rise in DoorDash page clicks
"I can go through financials on DoorDash. I can see customer reviews really easily and respond. It does what I need it to. The integrations haven't broken. We can fulfill orders through our POS."
Out of all the third-party delivery platforms Still uses, DoorDash has been the only one to offer the seamless POS integration he needs. Still integrated DoorDash with Lazy Days' middleware provider, Checkmate, enabling the team to receive DoorDash orders directly on their existing POS and streamline delivery operations.
"DoorDash is the only third-party delivery platform that we didn't have issues with related to integrations breaking, where money was supposed to go, or anything else. So thank you."
Cheers to the future
With so much early success, Still and his team are excited to expand the business. They've recently acquired another brewpub, Bethany Public House, which uses a different POS system than Lazy Days' other locations. With a fresh set of challenges ahead, Still is looking forward to leveraging DoorDash once again to get his newest location up and running.
