When the pandemic shut down in-person dining across Los Angeles in early 2020, breweries reliant on on-premise draft sales faced immediate insolvency. Highland Park Brewery survived by executing an aggressive community business pivot. Without draft lines flowing across the bar, the team reconfigured their canning line into overdrive, launching weekly online beer drops that allowed local residents to order fresh four-packs, takeout meals, and pantry goods for contactless pickup.
Kunz converted the Spring Street sidewalk into an efficient drive-through distribution hub. Staff members who previously worked the floor shifted into packing boxes, managing digital inventory, and staging curbside deliveries. Because the brand had spent years investing in its direct consumer relationship, neighborhood patrons rallied around the business.
This agility protected the brewery from the wholesale distribution trap. Many regional breweries that over-extended into grocery store chains faced crippling distributor margins and stale inventory on supermarket shelves. HPB sold the vast majority of its liquid directly to its own community at full margin, preserving cash flow and ensuring that customers drank hop-forward beers within days of packaging rather than months.
