29/06/2025
I just talked to an engineer who turned an ad agency into a $200M beer maker.
And she did it in a brutally competitive industry.
Her name is Manjit Minhas and there's so much to learn from her story.
Here's how she did it.
1/ Early days
Rewind to 1999. Manjit wants to break into the beer industry. And decides to take a side door.
She starts an agency alongside her brother Ravinder. They're helping beer makers with marketing and design.
Things are good. And as her little agency grows, Manjit adds manufacturing to her list of services. To do this, she partners with a brewery in Wisconsin to make the product and sell it under various brand names.
Clients are loving it.
And Manjit is just getting started.
2/ Big moves
By 2006, Manjit's agency is making a ton of beer out of that Wisconsin brewery. Sending them plenty of business.
And then she makes a decisive move: She buys it. Now she's in the big leagues.
Then she gives her brewery a slick new name. Minhas Brewery.
Manjit moves fast. Quickly increasing capacity to make more beer. Lots of it. Then she expands with facilities in Barbados, Calgary, and Regina.
She's on a roll. Time to crank it up.
3/ Own everything
This is where it gets nuts.
As her company scales, Manjit turns her attention to vertical integration. This means controlling every piece of the business.
Think about it.
A lot goes into making beer. And it all costs money. Why pay someone else?
She'd rather do it all.
→ she opens a print shop to make the labels
→ she launches a film studio to make all the ads
→ she starts a glass blowing company to make the bottles
→ she assembles a truck fleet to get product onto the shelves
Like I said, it's a brutally competitive industry. And Manjit controls it all.
4/ Private labels
Remember that private label business where Manjit got her start? She still does that. But her clients are a bit bigger.
+ Ever had Trader Joe's beer? Manjit makes that.
+ Costco's Kirkland Signature beer? Manjit makes that.
+ Sam's Club, 7-11, Walmart. Manjit makes it all.
Minhas Brewery is now a top 10 private label player. And she's not slowing down anytime soon.
5/ My take
There are so many tactics that deserve a deeper look:
→ She bootstraps her business with zero outside funding. No investors, no banks, no VC overlords.
→ She leverages a supplier relationship to acquire the brewery. In one gangsta move, she buys massive credibility.
→ She maximizes quality and profitability by investing in every piece of the business. No one can touch her now.
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