Today we’d like to introduce you to Anthony Levas.
Anthony, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Harland Brewing was founded on the principals that got us to where we are today: hard work and great beer. In everything we have done to get to this point, we have held these ideals close in every decision we make. We first met at SDSU through a group of mutual friends. Within two years we were room mates and shortly after that, band mates as well. After college, Jeff landed a job at Boston Beer while I worked as a contractor for a family business. After a stint out of the beer industry, Jeff joined the newly formed Saint Archer brewing Company and convinced me to join him in 2013. We worked well together and helped build the brand to be a household name in Southern California. When Saint Archer was ultimately acquired by Miller Coors in 2015, we started dreaming up our own plans to start something that was ours. We founded Harland Brewing Company in Scripps Ranch, in 2018. We led with approachable, and true to style core beers, but invested early in a small batch pilot system in order to be able to provide an tap list that is always evolving. From our yearly Ube Milkshake IPA release to clean lagers and barrel aged selections, we try to keep our followers coming back to a newly curated list each time they visit one of our 3 tap rooms or restaurant.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
We have learned that nothing is linear or predictable. We had to pivot quickly through the Covid pandemic to keep beer moving at our tap rooms. We did this by expanding our offerings to more frequent (weekly) but highly limited special releases. From a retail standpoint we shifted our focus to the independent neighborhood shops and chain stores that were open and moving through a lot of beer. For a company that was selling about 60% of it’s product in the on premise we had to change our strategy quickly to stay competitive.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Jeff Hansson is the CEO of Harland Brewing Company and Anthony Levas is the President. Jeff’s primary focus is on sales and strategy while Anthony oversees hospitality and marketing.
Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
You have to be decisive and act quickly when opportunities present themselves. With that, you also have to stay focused on your core business and and don’t chase shiny new objects and every new trend. Building a company focused on top line alone is not enough. We’ve learned to be better operators in every aspect of the business to drive higher margins and better profits.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://harlandbeer.com
- Instagram: @harlandbeer
Image Credits
Harland Brewing Company
