Beer Barn of Somerset fills niche for locals and visitors looking for traditional and craft brews

Dawn Will (second from left) with Curt Peterman, Kenny Shaffer, Kaitlyn Ferko at Beer Barn. Photo: Provided.

If you’re a craft beer aficionado and you take a peek at Beer Barn of Somerset’s Facebook page, you’ll see plenty of products that will inspire you to make a beer run.

Dawn Will left the corporate world to strike out on her own and open The Beer Barn of Somerset. Her craft beer selections, which are posted on Facebook, draw in seasoned beer drinkers, as well as those new to the brew. Interesting choices like Southern Tier Brewing Company’s French Toast Imperial Ale, Rusty Rail’s “Crimson Temptress” Chocolate Raspberry Stout and Bananas Foster Ice Cream Stout brewed by New Trail, sound more like dessert than beer and often bring in the curious for whom beer isn’t their first choice of beverage. Will also carries the old-school standards like Budweiser and Miller, along with adult slushies, ciders, coolers, seltzers and more. Will said that during her time in business, she’s learned what sells and what doesn’t. “The heavier beers, like peanut butter stout, for instance, don’t sell much after March and neither do porters,” she said.

The backstory

You could say that this is Will’s “second act.” The Somerset resident worked for a family-owned company for 20 years, which was then sold to a corporation. “The warmth of the family atmosphere is something I missed terribly, so I left after five years,” said Will, who tendered her resignation on Friday, March 13, proving that she wasn’t superstitious.  “I had a few weeks of vacation time banked from my former job to begin my new venture, but within two days of quitting, the world shut down due to COVID-19. “No one was working, including inspectors and we had to wait until May for them to come out,” said Will, adding that she and her husband took advantage of the downtime to get everything set up and ready to go, from building the sales counter and the shelving in the garage at home, to assembling the 13-door walk-in cooler. She then had to wait for inspectors to come, which pushed her opening date ahead a bit to the first week of May 2020.

Will was inspired to launch a new business by an article she read in a local newspaper. “It said if you want to be an entrepreneur, visit the Somerset County library, where Startup Alleghenies was holding classes for entrepreneurs to learn the steps needed to get going, such as creating an LLC and obtaining an EIN number,” said Will. It was there that Will met Startup Alleghenies Coach Blake Fleegle who shared his story about starting the Westwood Theatre and Café in Johnstown in his 20s. “This inspired me to give my own business a shot, but I didn’t know about some basic things like how to write a business plan, for instance,” said Will.

Fleegle helped her with the process, giving her the confidence to then seek a loan. Unfortunately, the loan fell through, but, once again, Fleegle saved the day. “He made a few calls and off we went to Somerset Trust and within 20 minutes I had the money, so I’m extremely thankful to them for helping my small business,” she said.

Fleegle said that it thrills him to give burgeoning entrepreneurs the tools to run their own businesses. “Dawn was eager to learn and she took the ball and ran with it,” he said.

In the years since Fleegle helped Will and her husband start their business, Matt Reckner has joined Startup Alleghenies as Somerset County’s entrepreneurial coach. He said that Dawn and her family have filled a niche in the area. “The Wills have created a business that caters to the community and also to visitors who come to the area to enjoy our outdoor recreation,” he said.

Today business is brisk, thanks, in part, to Will’s smart choice of location. “I’m in the Somerset Commons, with Tractor Supply, the Salvation Army, a liquor store, a tobacco store and a place called Merchants Village, where vendors sell on consignment,” she said. What’s also helpful, according to Will, is an enclosed glass walkway for customers to stay warm and dry during inclement weather periods. “Customers can pull right up to the door and load,” she said. Will also benefits from people who visit the area to ski in the winter and camp in the summer. She relied heavily on the vendors to recommend what her initial inventory needed to be to fill up an empty cooler and store, at the cost of $30k.

Will said that she is thankful that she has had few problems running the business, other than a delayed opening due to COVID-19, and learning a new software system, that is. “I purchased a software system that contained names and categories of beer, but then I learned that everything went by a UPC number and “families” are a case and individual bottles are “children,” she said with a laugh. “To add insult to injury, the trainer refused to come out to train me due to the pandemic, so thankfully I had my 22-year-old son Tyler who is studying for his master’s degree, help me,” she said, adding that her daughter Brittany also helps her with the business when she can. “She runs the counter and makes signs and things like that on her days off,” she said.

Will currently oversees a staff of five and has managed to avoid the difficulty of finding people. “My employees are the best; they all have a great work ethic,” she said.

When Will reflects back on it all, she’s thankful that she made the decision to open the Beer Barn. “It’s fantastic meeting people and working for myself, but I couldn’t have done it without Blake [Fleegle]. He’s awesome and I owe him so much,” she said.

Startup Alleghenies helps startup and emerging small businesses succeed by providing free coaching to entrepreneurs in Bedford, Blair, Cambria, Fulton, Huntingdon and Somerset counties. To access personal, one-on-one support from a coach in your county, including guidance, resources, tools and networking opportunities, sign up at startupalleghenies.com.