Math genius, beer baron, author, mother of two, and now an investor on Dragon’s Den. Is there anything Manjit Minhas can’t do? Conquering Canada in the perfect red dress, Minhas has no plans of slowing down. When we spoke to her, we anticipated a no-nonsense, to-the-point personality. Instead we were received by an, affable, eager and focussed woman. We were excited to hear about this young South Asian woman and her experiences in the Den. But how did this former petroleum engineering student leave the security of a career to jump into the brewing industry?

 Before the Brewery

Born and raised in Calgary, Alberta to a close-knit family, Manjit (13 at the time) and her brother Ravinder worked on the weekends at the family liquor store, labelling bottles and keeping the location clean and tidy. This is when she meticulously studied the industry, which developed into her passion for making beer.

She wanted her parents to create a house brand for their stores after noticing restaurants purchasing the cheapest brands for their beverages. “When you go into a bar and ask for a rum and coke, unless you specify differently, they give you a bar stock rye”. Then it dawned on her: by wholesaling the house brand, a good quality product at a low price, this could become the bar stock.

Manjit and her brother marched on after convincing their parents, starting with a line of spirits that performed well in their stores. A year later, other liquor stores started to ask about carrying the product as customers began requesting it. The Minhas clan had a decision to make: would they continue as a private label brand or take their product to the masses?

Manjit and Ravinder were university students at the time and did not have the time for such a large endeavour. But they took the leap of faith and expanded to create Blarneys Irish Crème, as well as a house tequila for their company Mountain Crest Liquors Inc. (MCLI).

Luck was on their side, as they finished packaging their tequila just as Mexico faced an agave plant shortage (a vital ingredient in tequila production) and tequila prices doubled. They gained market share since they could sell their tequila at cheaper prices, at almost 45% less, than their competition.

This success drove their decision to enter the beer market in 2002 with Mountain Crest Classic Lager and led to their international expansion in 2006 when they purchased the oldest brewery in the United States, renaming it as Minhas Craft Brewery. The rich history of the brewery, operating since 1845 and throughout the prohibition era, inf luenced Manjit’s purchasing decision and led to the launch of her book, “Brewing Up A Damn Good Story”.

There was a steep learning curve with the brewery, and Manjit had to quickly understand the manufacturing of beer. Her expertise was in marketing and sales. Manufacturing was a whole other ball game which pushed her boundaries. That and adjusting to Wisconsin. But she had to learn everything herself to train her employees.

A point to note about Manjit is that she refuses to leave anything to chance and calculates every action.

Of course she could learn about manufacturing beer at the new brewery, but hungry for knowledge, she took her thirst into the beer school in Chicago. Now she has an amazing team running the brewery in Wisconsin while she enjoys managing it from Calgary.

One fact Manjit proudly shares is that not one dollar of debt was put into the company. Every cent the company made was reinvested into Minhas Breweries to keep it debt free and to maintain full ownership of all assets. “We have no debt. It’s all ours,” she expressed; “The beauty of starting a business without a loan is you can make your own decisions and control things the way you want, because there’s no one else involved.”

“Your fate is in your hands. We can be fast and be nimble, and when we see trends happening. We can make decisions quickly of our own accord. We don’t have to go through a board, red tape or hierarchy for a decision.”

She confidently shares that making decisions without bureaucratic hurdles is one of the cornerstones to the success of the brewery. But of course, like any entrepreneur, Manjit has experienced failure. “You learn from it and you move on”.

 A WOMAN? In the BEER Industry?

“All of the other breweries have been operating for hundreds of years. It’s an old boys club. People would wait for someone else to walk behind me to deliver the pitch. It was frustrating. I choose to have a tough skin about it. It’s not easy, but it gives you this gusto inside to become the best. I had to be over-prepared in every single aspect to gain the respect in the industry.”

In today’s progressive world, sexism and discrimination unfortunately still rear their ugly heads. Manjit uses that as her fuel, boasting about the fact that theirs is the first brewery in Canada to put a warning label on their beers and of how they are huge supporters of MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving). It’s hard enough gaining respect as a woman entrepreneur, but there is also the stigma attached to women and alcohol in the Indian culture. Manjit credits the support of her family for helping her deal with this. “At the end of the day it’s a business. People will talk about me regardless. Whether I’m making samosas or making beer. It’s a business!”

Interestingly, Manjit actually created a beer for women. “Uptown Girl is great in taste, low in alcohol and low calorie. There’s no bloating because it’s less carbonated, it’s lighter, and stays colder. Uptown Girl is for the woman who likes beer”.

 Dragon’s Den

Manjit agreed to attend a screen test after an unexpected phone call from a producer of the show. She flew to Toronto five days later. After consulting her husband about how the brewery and her family would be taken care of, she decided to take her seat in the Den, but not before going through the lengthy process of finding the perfect outfit for the season, as the Dragons wear one outfit throughout the series.

She laughs at the outfit selection process. The Victoria Beckham design, of which there were a limited number, was carefully selected and tedious to pin down. They had to call Victoria Beckham to fly over an extra one.

A regular Den viewer herself, she told us about how “all of the Dragons are so interesting and we all come from such different backgrounds. Of course there were things we didn’t see eye-to-eye on, but it was a lot of fun getting to know everyone”.

Surprised by the fact that no one actually knows anything about each pitch, she quickly learns to read people, as they are only given one hour, a piece of paper, and a pen to help decide whether to invest or not.

“Pitchers are asking me for MY money. My hard-earned money. So I’m going to ask some tough questions. If those questions can’t be answered I’m not going to invest. At the end of the day I’m investing in people. You’re the one who is going to run the business. Not me. So I need to trust your instincts,” she advised.

A woman building an empire and knowledgeable about many industries (construction, television, graphics—thanks to other family businesses), she adds incredible value to any entrepreneur lucky enough to have her on his/her team. “I’ve been able to live my dreams, creating a business that is operating in 16 countries including Japan, Guam, the United States, Mexico and Barbados. I can’t wait to breathe life into the dreams of some other Canadian entrepreneurs.”

7 Questions for the Dragon

What’s next for Minhas Breweries and you personally?

We want to expand further into Eastern Canada in the next five years. We have about a 10-15% market share in the provinces where we sell our product, so there’s definitely more room to grow into the east and we would love to open up a brewery in that region. Personally, I’m excited to get my daughters involved with all of the new experiences in my life. They were so excited to see me on Dragon’s Den, they knew all of the names of Dragons and couldn’t wait for hair & makeup. I love that I’m cool in their eyes!

Do you have any advice for entrepreneurs who are just starting up?

You work at it day-in and day out –11 hour days – for something you love. Find something you’re passionate about and like doing long-term. Some people know it off the bat and for some it takes time; it’s not an overnight experience.

Everyone will tell you about the 20 failures they had before the one hit. It takes time and energy to be successful. You have to work harder than anyone else around you. There’s no elevator to success—you have to take the stairs.

Other than deciding to work for yourself, what was the most important decision you made that contributed to your success?

To do it with my own money. I know, even now, if I had investors or other decision makers, a lot of the decisions we made would be slowed down and maybe we wouldn’t be where we are today. Control over every aspect is key.

Which was more rewarding: making your brewery a success, or being able to continue keeping it successful?

To keep something successful, to keep it growing and dynamic, and keep your business profitable is hard work. But I have to say, it was more challenging to make our brewery successful because it’s such a competitive industry.

If you could travel back to the first day you started your brewery and have 15 minutes with your former self, what would you say to her?

I would tell myself to travel more…for fun! Also, I didn’t have a ton of friends when I was younger, but I was working a lot. I would take time to enjoy my youth a little more. Now I’m married with kids, so fun in your thirties is different from fun in your twenties. Fun has to be planned a little more!

How do you conquer those moments of doubt that so often stifle or trip or stop so many entrepreneurs with great ideas…what pushes you through?

Too many entrepreneurs give up before they make it. The biggest misconception about being an entrepreneur is that success will come relatively overnight-success in anything takes hard work and time. Also, it will be a bumpy road and a couple failures before you have a success.

When things are tough it’s important to remind yourself of your passion and why you got started in the first place. Too often entrepreneurs get diverted from their original goal and vision and then they don’t enjoy the journey because it’s not what they had dreamed of.

Dreaming in Technicolor is so important, meaning that you are constantly innovating and improving yourself and your company.

How can an entrepreneur on Dragon Den get you to invest in him/her?

Know your business inside and out, especially your financials, cost of goods, net and gross margins, expenses, profit, customer acquisition costs etc. No matter how great you and your product or service are, if I don’t have faith you can handle my money, I won’t give it to you!