Last week, Flowcrete Americas participated for the first time at the Craft Brewers Conference & BrewExpo America event, which is hosted by the Brewers Association annually in a different location each year across the U.S.
BrewExpo America, part of the Craft Brewers’ Conference, is the largest brewing trade show in the US with more than 800 suppliers together in one location.
This year’s event in Philadelphia, PA saw 13,600 brewers from all over the globe descend on the city in search of information to fuel investment decisions regarding new brewing, canning and keg-cleaning machines as well as building materials for maintenance, expansion and new-build projects.
Flowcrete Americas – a supplier member of the Brewer’s Association – has enjoyed a significant uptake in flooring projects over the last 12 – 18 months in the growing craft beer industry with brands including Pale Fire, Brassneck, Alamo, Live Oak and Florida Beer Company amongst the company’s roll-call of craft brew clients.
Brian Campbell and Tyler Larsen scored the lucky job of working Flowcrete Americas’ booth at the show, where they were promoting our Flowfresh cementitious urethane line for back end brewing areas and high gloss metallic finish, Flowtallics UV, for front-end tasting lounges.
Alongside this, both Brian and Tyler were educating brewery owners and representatives about the benefits of choosing flooring materials that come with HACCP International certification.
Food Safety Management was of topical importance, as the craft brewing industry along with other food and beverage producers and processors readies themselves for the implementation of the final rule of the Food Safety Modernization Act (Part 117 to replace current Part 110) from September, which calls for all food producers of a certain size to operate a Hazard Analysis and Risk-Based Preventative Controls (HARPC) program.
FSMA gives sweeping new regulatory and enforcement powers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and affects nearly every link in the food supply chain. Compliance with these rules is mandatory and so craft brewers need to actively prepare for the enforced regulations if they haven’t already started.
Choosing building materials and other non-food products that have been certified under rigorous HACCP International testing for use or installation in processing areas provides peace of mind for clients looking to ensure safe and sanitary physical facilities that comply with FDA guidelines.
The show has yielded a number of project opportunities across North America with every rep in the U.S. and Canada receiving at least one line of inquiry from the show. The event also produced project opportunities for our international colleagues in Germany, Australia, Japan and Bhutan.
Following our success at the two-day event, Flowcrete Americas has already signed on for next year’s show, set to take place April 11 – 13 in Washington DC.
