Albuquerque takes its breweries and beers seriously, and the industry employs hundreds of people. It explains why there were months of public handwringing over the potential fate of one of its oldest and most popular: Marble Brewery.
After 16 years in business, there were rumors it would file for bankruptcy or close its three locations. Employees were worried about their jobs, and beer drinkers wondered how a seemingly booming brewery with award-winning beers could be having such a hard time.
Enter Bert Boyce and Jarrett Babincsak, Marble’s new owner-operators as of Jan. 3. They said this week that the business needed to be “tightened up and cleaned up” and have assured about 70 employees that their jobs are secure. The pair have a message for loyal patrons, too: The brand, beer, store distribution and its taprooms aren’t going anywhere.
“Obviously there’s so much love and affinity in the community, it would be silly to change,” Boyce said.
City Desk ABQ sat down with the pair at its flagship location (on Marble Avenue) just north of Downtown to find out more. They were most recently immersed in the beer business for the better part of a decade at Santa Fe Brewing Co. — Babincsak, 44, as vice president of sales and marketing, and Boyce, 49, as brewmaster. Answers have been edited for length and clarity.
City Desk ABQ: Are the two of you from Albuquerque?
Babincsak: I’m from northwest Indiana, just outside of Chicago. I started in the industry at 21 at Miller Brewing Company, but we live in Albuquerque. We love Albuquerque, so we want to invest in resources and energy here, in the brewery and in this community.
Boyce: I left San Diego when I was 19 and have been doing this forever. I met my wife in Boston, but she’s from Albuquerque, and we came back for the job at Santa Fe Brewing. I’ve been coming to Marble for 15 years.
Did you have any apprehensions in taking on this venture?
Boyce: It happened very quickly. A lot of people asked if we were nervous once we got the keys, but we’re not nervous at all. The bones are here. This is an amazing organization, it’s an institution, it has such a great brand, such a great presence. Our goal is to provide some structure, resources and leadership.
Babincsak: Both of our parents ran their own businesses. We grew up in entrepreneurial households. This has been the goal forever, wanting to find something that we could do like this together.
How did Marble find itself in trouble? Overleveraging? An oversaturation of breweries in Albuquerque? Management issues?
Boyce: I mean, isn’t the truth kind of always somewhere in between? There’s not one factor that we could point to that could say why anything is in the position that it’s in. The younger generation isn’t drinking as much; everyone knows that running a business is hard — all of those things. It just needed a reinvigoration of energy.
Babincsak: There’s always a combination of factors. Something that we talk about a lot in organizations, kind of like a person — you have to constantly be evolving and changing to the landscape. We’re stepping in now to steward this kind of next evolution of Marble Brewery. We want to see growth.
How’s the relationship with employees?
Boyce: I think that was our first priority: Let the whole organization take a big, deep breath and exhale. We have a plan, we have a vision, your jobs are secure. I think collectively, hopefully at this point now, the nervous system is starting to settle down. They see a path forward — seeing us here every day working alongside them, doing the work to stabilize things and get the trajectory back where we want it to be.
Anything coming this year that you’d like readers to know about?
Babincsak: Just stay tuned, because we’re going to do some really fun and innovative and cool things. I think we’re going to give people a lot of compelling reasons to want to come to the tap rooms, to want to buy our products off the shelf. We’re going to hold ourselves accountable, always be evolving and growing along with our consumers, listening to what people are telling us.
Boyce: Running your business is taking care of your people, asking your consumers what they want and then don’t over-complicate things. I feel like my job right now is just fixing the cracks in the concrete, building the confidence back up here that not only are we still here, but we intend to grow.
For more information on Marble, go to Marble Brewery at marblebrewery.com.