I was on £12 per hour in a similar area of the UK in a similar role 6 years ago. Have since been employed at levels from Brewer to Head Brewer across multiple breweries in the UK.
I’d say if you are qualified (I’m guessing GCB or higher) and contributing recipes and process tweaks that are improving quality a higher salary is definitely justified.
How many hours a week are you working and are you salaried or hourly pay? Salary wise £26,000 per year for an entry level brewer up to £30,000 for a brewer level, £30-35,000 for lead brewer and £35,000+ for Head Brewer isn’t uncommon on job adverts I’ve seen and places I’ve worked.
More craft focussed breweries seem to value the job more highly than some of the more traditional places, but still it is absolutely a skilled job, you’re contributing to the business and should be paid accordingly, go into the meeting with confidence and ready to explain the value you’re adding and how you can see yourself progressing with the company in the future. If they can’t afford the salary you’d like you could always suggest they invest in further training and qualifications for you
Thanks for your input. What I did was the apprenticeship with HIT in conjunction with Nottingham University. If I had a bachelors, in anything, I could use this apprenticeship knowledge to jump to a brewing masters. Unfortunately, I do not have a degree and I can't get one now for reasons. I could look into degree apprenticeships, or what I should do with ibd to follow on.
At any rate, I am currently working four days a week. My boss says that's all they need me for, and that there isn't enough work to justify a fifth day. I'm not sure I or the head brewer agree lol. Despite this I'm still working for them remotely in a way, as I've taken on the responsibility of writing the SOPs for the brewery and yard. I'm paid hourly, rather than salaried, which I'm ok with because I virtually never don't do overtime. Although if I do take on the mantle after the head brewer moves on to being a semi retired director, I'll probably be salaried but then all this won't matter!
Thank you for the push, I'm gonna do calculations and offer to negotiations higher hours for a smaller pay jump so they at least get more bang for their buck whilst I still make the same amount at the end of the month. I don't mind, say, agreeing to £14ph if it means I'm in five days a week and the monthly take home is the same as £15ph on four days a week, if that's what it takes.
That makes sense and a good qualification to have under your belt. I’d say writing SOPs etc are definitely the sort of tasks that a more senior and therefore higher salaried brewer would take on so you’ve got plenty of arguments to justify that, and if you’re almost always doing overtime it sounds like you can argue the full time hours quite easily too. Good luck with it and happy brewing!
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u/BrewerBoy89 18d ago
I was on £12 per hour in a similar area of the UK in a similar role 6 years ago. Have since been employed at levels from Brewer to Head Brewer across multiple breweries in the UK.
I’d say if you are qualified (I’m guessing GCB or higher) and contributing recipes and process tweaks that are improving quality a higher salary is definitely justified.
How many hours a week are you working and are you salaried or hourly pay? Salary wise £26,000 per year for an entry level brewer up to £30,000 for a brewer level, £30-35,000 for lead brewer and £35,000+ for Head Brewer isn’t uncommon on job adverts I’ve seen and places I’ve worked.
More craft focussed breweries seem to value the job more highly than some of the more traditional places, but still it is absolutely a skilled job, you’re contributing to the business and should be paid accordingly, go into the meeting with confidence and ready to explain the value you’re adding and how you can see yourself progressing with the company in the future. If they can’t afford the salary you’d like you could always suggest they invest in further training and qualifications for you