A Buzzing Idea
In 2014, Matt Toni and a couple of partners, who were in the restaurant business, went to WhiskyFest and came out with an idea to make whisky.
Turns out, making whisky is pretty hard to do. Their plan changed from whisky to a small beer operation — and their plan changed once again! What started out as a small idea turned into a large facility that opened in 2016.
Approachable Beers
When GP Brewing opened, there were only 27 breweries in Alberta. Now, there are over 160. Matt says that a lot of them are craft breweries.
“GP Brewing is not a craft brewery. We are your everyday beer people,” says Matt Toni, owner of GP Brewing. “We like to be fun, exciting and vibrant, but we don’t get into reinventing the wheel with beer. GP Brewing is about producing excellent quality, easy-drinking beer for the everyday person.”
Matt says customers should be able to buy an 8-pack and finish the 8-pack, or else they haven’t done their job.
Since opening its doors in 2016, GP Brewing has been dedicated to putting their minds and hearts into the process, using the finest ingredients and employing state-of-the-art techniques. The result is a selection of enjoyable, elegant and authentic craft beers.
“We produce very approachable beers, each and every day, for the everyday consumer,” says Matt.
Growth
The GP Brewing brand has experienced massive growth. In the last two years, the company has grown 4000%, and the future looks just as promising with its large portfolio.
“We do a lot of spirits and coolers like vodka, vodka sodas, flavoured vodkas — and we are expanding into whisky and wine in 2023,” says Matti.
With 2023 comes plans to expand its beer portfolio with different pack formats and brand sizes.
Branding
The branding for GP Brewing happens in the think tank. They have a creativity whiteboard where they consistently write their ideas down. Their policy is clear: simple and memorable.
“We always have certain brand identifiers,” says Matt. “We ask, ‘does this fit?’ and if we have one ‘no,’ then it’s automatically scrapped.”
They try different approaches to keeping their brews fresh and unique.
Working with Crafted Box Co.
Crafted Box Co reached out and sent a sample to GP Brewing at just the right time. Their current supplier for boxes wasn’t consistent, supplied sticky boxes and they were causing havoc on the GP Brewing machines.
“Crafted Box Co. Just kind of worked for us,” says Matt. “The quality was good, the pricing was good, and they are easy to deal with. Shipping only being a provide over helped as well.”
The Crafted Box Co. team worked with GP Brewing on things like ordering amounts, timelines, and even rolling out a new skew. Matt recalls how their new product order didn’t meet the minimum for any other supplier, but Crafted Box Co. worked with them to make a smaller order and get to market.
“That allowed us to feel out the market and what the demand is, so we don’t need to sit on 50,000 boxes for two years.”
Matt says their favourite thing about working with Crafted Box Co. is that they showed us that our business is valued and matters — and that’s important to us. Tyler is on the ball and always gets back to them, which is really nice.