Voodoo Brewing Co. Franchise information

With a history in food service and passion to craft and distribute “the best damn beers you have ever tasted,” Rachocki drives the continued success of the company and its franchise partners.

Matteo Rachocki, CEO of Voodoo Brewing Co., isn’t like other CEOs — he does interviews from hammocks and hot tubs. But behind his laid-back demeanor, or maybe front and center alongside it, is a passion for and drive to curate one-of-a-kind craft beers and local community-centered brewpubs in which they can be enjoyed. 

While his current role is officially described as leading the implementation of state-of-the-art equipment and packaging designs, “keeping things tight” with distributors and overseeing hospitality, Matteo’s drive and vision have certainly shaped the company as it has grown. This unconventional, often unexpected image and approach played a key role in his ability to revive a dying brewery and turn it into a rapidly growing franchise system of local Voodoo Brewing Co. brewpubs.

“Voodoo was initially established in 2005, but the company fell on some pretty hard times, and had to make some hard decisions about whether it would be able to remain open,” said Matteo. “My brother and I always had aspirations of expanding our bar business by adding a brewery, and one day, my brother called me up and said he had an idea of how we might be able to have one a lot sooner.”

Matteo’s brother, Curt, had been brewing craft beer privately and was looking to expand that passion into a wider-reaching mission. The duo negotiated a deal and built a plan to get Voodoo Brewing Co. “back on track,” and Matteo came on as CEO while Curt assumed the position of Head Brewer.

While Curt leveraged a biochemistry degree to further enhance the quality of the beer, Matteo saw a chance to remove middlemen and additional cost inflation by building Voodoo Brewing Co. taprooms, allowing a direct-to-consumer experience.

Matteo withdrew the remaining $76 from the company checking account to create change for the first taproom’s register the morning it opened, thinking that this concept simply had to work. Luckily, the doors opened to a line wrapped around the block. The original taproom quickly became a success, and the next logical step was to expand, building more.

With this baseline, the team grew to seven taprooms, demonstrating serious proof of concept. As Voodoo Brewing Co. laid foundations in major cities beyond its hometown, it was clear that the product and business model could succeed in multiple types of markets. Simultaneously, the beer was being recognized both across the country and around the world. Voodoo Brewing Co. is invited to multiple prestigious international beer festivals, and this only makes the team even more confident in the product.

There has been an ongoing focus on creating the best “liquids” possible, and the opportunity to present the liquids to a new audience and receive positive feedback just provided even more proof that the model had great potential to replicate.

While the Voodoo Brewing Co. and Voodoo Franchise Group teams have built an incredible infrastructure and business model to support its continued expansion both on the retail front and through locally owned brewpubs, what makes Voodoo special is its ideology and the people behind it.

“This is truly a company that’s executed by a group of peers; there’s no one thousands of miles away trying to call shots and collect checks,” said Matteo. “The team approach is present through and through, so much so that when we purchased the business from the original owner, we matriculated a portion of that stock into an employee ownership trust. We’re an employee-owned company, and that is clear in the company culture, and that resonates out to the consumer.”

While Matteo says he and the team are happy with where the company is now with 20 locations, they are equally excited to expand. 

“As much love and work as we’ve put into the company, we have so much more to give,” he said. “We’re nowhere close to done.”

To find out more information on costs to buy this franchise, please visit 1851franchise.com/voodoobrewingco/info