Episode Overview

In this episode of Travel Preneur, Meghan McSwain explores the vibrant world of Belgian beer culture with Liselot Caura, the founder and owner of Beer Secret. The discussion takes listeners on a journey through the unique beer tours offered by Beer Secret, which blend educational insights, cultural history, and personal storytelling. Liselot shares her inspiring journey from a sales career in a Gent brewery to establishing one of the most immersive beer experience companies in Belgium. The conversation delves into the challenges and rewards of entrepreneurship, the intricacies of curating beer tours that cater to both beer enthusiasts and newcomers, and the importance of integrating local culture and hidden gems into these experiences.

Lessons You’ll Learn:

Listeners will gain valuable insights into the business side of beer tourism, including how to create a successful niche business in a highly specialized industry. Liselot discusses the importance of adaptability, the power of partnerships, and the need for a deep understanding of the product and the audience. The episode also covers the logistics of running a business that relies heavily on local culture, history, and partnerships with breweries and venues. Additionally, Liselot offers practical advice on managing a small team, the benefits of hiring interns, and the critical role of maintaining authenticity and passion in your business.

About Our Guest:

Liselot Caura is the founder and owner of Beer Secret, a company that offers immersive beer tours in Belgium. With a background in sales at a local brewery, Liselot’s passion for Belgian beer and culture led her to create Beer Secret in 2019, transforming it from a secondary job into a full-time business. Her tours are renowned for their educational yet intimate approach, combining different beer styles, local delicacies, and hidden gems to provide a holistic experience for tourists and beer enthusiasts alike. Liselot’s dedication to promoting lesser-known Belgian beer styles and supporting local breweries has made her a recognized figure in the beer tourism community.

Topics Covered:

The episode covers a wide range of topics related to beer tourism and entrepreneurship. Liselot shares her journey from a sales career to founding Beer Secret, highlighting the challenges and rewards of starting a niche business. The conversation touches on the importance of selecting the right beer styles and venues, the role of partnerships with local breweries and bars, and the significance of integrating local culture and history into the tours. Additionally, Liselot discusses the evolving trends in beer tourism, the impact of online travel agencies (OTAs) on small businesses, and the strategies she uses to maintain a high level of engagement with customers. The episode concludes with Liselot’s advice for aspiring entrepreneurs, emphasizing the importance of building a strong team and staying true to one’s passion

Our Guest: Liselot Caura

Episode Transcript

 Meghan McSwain: Welcome to another flavor filled episode of travel Preneur, the podcast that taps into the business side of the travel world. I’m your host, Meghan McSwain. Today, we’re diving into the heart of Belgi’s beer culture with an extraordinary guest, Liselot Caura  the founder, owner and guide of beer secret Liselot Caura s journey from a sales career at a local brewery to the creator of one of the most immersive beer experience companies, showcases her passion for Belgian beer and culture. Let’s learn how Beer Secret offers unique beer tours that blend educational insights with personal stories. Welcome to the show, Liselot Caura.

Liselot Caura: Yes. Thank you. Thank you so much. I’m happy to be here.

 Meghan McSwain: Liselot Caura. Transitioning from sales at a Gent brewery to starting beer secret must have been quite the journey. What sparked this shift and how did your previous experiences shape Beer Secret’s mission?

Liselot Caura: Yeah. You know, when I was selling beers, it was mainly about the fact that I was always curious to know more. I was asking a lot of questions to everyone in the beer industry, and that’s why I thought one day that I actually knew what I wanted to do as an independent activity, because I felt always ambitious to do something on my own and to become my own boss. But I didn’t know what until I found it in the end. It was first my secondary job, but then,  three years later. So in 2019, it became my full time,  and of course, it was super challenging because having a sales career doesn’t mean that you are that you have the skills to become an entrepreneur in the end. So very challenging.

 Meghan McSwain: Yeah, you have to wear a lot of hats when you have your own business. It’s not just one job, it’s a lot of different jobs for sure.

Liselot Caura: Pricing is something that I think in our industry is not always easy. , and then you have so much operational tasks that,  that are part of events industry in the end. , so, yeah, there’s a lot of things that I can tell, but,  I’m not going to. Yeah, I’m just going to listen to you. What? Precisely. It’s a never ending saga. I can start. Yeah, I can, it can go on a lot of different stories.

 Meghan McSwain: Sure. Yeah. So Beer Secret is renowned for its educational yet intimate tours. How do you and your team design these experiences to cater to,  beer lovers, beer fans and those new to Belgian beer culture?

Liselot Caura: , how do we design it? So it’s like, how do we like the communication that we use to.

 Meghan McSwain: Like.

Liselot Caura: , customers?

 Meghan McSwain: How do you kind of create a tour that will kind of engage,  beer experts, people who are very into beer, and then people who are just sort of new to the subject, specifically Belgian beer culture.

Liselot Caura: True, true, true. Well, we have, , it’s true that we have a mixed audience. It’s just that we have,  beer tasting tours we offer where people can subscribe,  register. Sorry. Register individually. , and how does that look like for the customer? Is that actually we will make sure that the beers we offer or usually for both of the visitors new it can still be, , that there is a client telling us, oh, I’ve tried the beer, but if that is only one customer of the ten customers, we are pretty sure about our choice of beer that we will still keep or choice of default. Let’s say. Okay, so what we do is like having for us, it’s very important to make sure that we offer those different beer styles, because when I did it five years ago or eight years ago, because we’re celebrating, we’re celebrating this year, the eight years anniversary, by the way. , congratulations. I remember in the beginning it was not about different styles of beer. It was,  my knowledge was not that high like it is today. And so. But if you are, if you have if you guarantee that you have different beer styles that you can offer to the customer you, they will discover a lot. And at the same time, you have a story ready for each beer. That is something that the customer is looking for. And what else is taking them to special places that they won’t maybe find,  on their own. And so it’s a good mix of some hidden gems. , and maybe a place that,  is a little bit less hidden gem. But then we make sure that it’s a completely different style of, of of venue than the hidden gem.

 Meghan McSwain:  and what goes in what and what considerations go into selecting locations or selecting these beers to ensure that it will be something that will really excite the customer.

Liselot Caura: . Well, like sometimes there are beer styles that are not really known  uh abroad. So  we know that some of the beer styles  which are bad in marketing,  theirself, we can do like the marketing. We can show that this is an exclusive beer style. That’s that actually needs a revival. So we are like working on the revival of that beer style, you know, and we’re not the only one. There are also breweries doing that. But I like the idea to kind of, , promote,  that type of beer style. And at the same time, that type of breweries, like, there are breweries that don’t have their own sales team. , and that’s nice for me. If I can promote that beer’s in my beer tour.  but at the same time, I think it’s also important that you choose a brewery to work with. , if you,  if they also have a little bit of an an exposure theirself. And so if you do a kind of almost partnership collaboration with them, right, it would be nice for you that and somehow they can maybe also promote your business.

 Meghan McSwain: Sure, you both are helping each other by partnering up kind of you’re getting more eyes on their beer and their brewery. And, you know, hopefully they have a loyal clientele that’s learning about what you’re doing. And obviously they like beer if their, their clientele is going to be beer loving, you know, customers. So I feel like you guys can both kind of benefit from that kind of partnership. Yeah.

Liselot Caura: And it would be the same. You can have the same idea about the venues that will look for, you know, would be nice if we find a way how to put a little bit of publicity of beer secret on the wall, for example, or if they’re using our beer coasters. Sure. Or if we can, if we can. I call it like, leave my marks and we put some stickers on the wall of beer secrets. If we’re not allowed to do all of that, then it’s sad for us because we go there every week with 20 customers, and then there’s nothing that we get in in return, right?

 Meghan McSwain: , yeah. It should go both ways for sure. Yeah.

Liselot Caura: And sometimes Belgi is a country that, , we have a lot of bars that are actually full with customers. So that is very challenging to be an extra value to come with my customers to their bar to be honest. . , so sometimes if you see that , it’s like they are not really begging you to come every week. Then these are ways that you can still collaborate with each other. , sure. Or even putting them in an  wait, let me think. Like putting them on, , promoting them in hours that they are, for example, not successful because they can be super crowded on Saturdays, but fine, try to find ways then that they will have moments in the week that they actually want to want to work, that they are begging to to come like.

 Meghan McSwain: Those hours that are not peak hours, kind of off hours, that might be a little bit quieter. You can bring in a, you know, group of 20 people and that can really benefit them where they might have no people on a Tuesday afternoon or something like that. Right.

Liselot Caura: So I have been challenged and I have been challenged with a lot of times that I felt like this bar is too crowded on that specific time that I come, well, try to find solutions for it, you know, don’t get stuck with it and make sure you talk with it. Yeah, you talk with the owner about it and see how you can find a solution.

 Meghan McSwain: Yeah. Get creative.  beer. Secret tours are not just about beer. They focus on local culture and history as well. How do you integrate these elements to create a holistic guest experience?

Liselot Caura: Yeah, that’s a good one. It’s true. , we actually focus on the local delicacies, like having the local mustard of Ghent. , is something that we, we have not never had a customer that says I don’t like this mustard. Like it’s amazing the good the compliments about that. And then there is also chocolates. And I think that’s the main thing that has been, , increased in value in our tours since a few years, that we actually see that they found it very unusual to pair chocolate with beers, but we. Yeah, that is interesting. Yeah. But then we have the advantage that it’s actually both Belgi. Yeah. And it’s still. And something unusual to do as well in Belgi. It’s not that that’s very common.

 Meghan McSwain: Right.

Liselot Caura: You know it. It’s actually not common. There you go. So. Right.  that’s a good. Yeah. That’s a good approach that we have taken operational logistically it’s sometimes a little bit challenging. So if you find that something is not working good, also review it and see how you better change that. And maybe asked €3 more to your customer in order to to make it yourself logistically, maybe a little bit easier.

 Meghan McSwain: Right? And team building activities are a significant part of your offerings. How have these been received? Can you share an impactful moment from one of these events?

Liselot Caura: I must say that it was surprising , that during Covid I’ve got yeah, I’ve got customers looking for an online beer tasting. So I was actually in contact with very interesting companies. And since then I have received my, my positive,  reviews about what we offer and and then I must say that, I mean, the fact that you’re a,  offering an activity where people can have a tasty experience, but also a very, , cultural activity and also a very, , educative,  activity. It makes sense that team buildings are also interested in that,  because you want to interact during a team building, you want to let your people and the team building have a food or drink experience. Usually, you know,  people always like to drink or eat, right? , so.

 Meghan McSwain: That’s the best part of the team building.

Liselot Caura: Yeah. And especially the engaging part. We are very one of your usp’s that we are super engaging with our customers. And that is not only important for the tourists, but also for a group of team buildings, making sure that the colleagues are going to know each other better by asking, what is your favorite beer and to which restaurant do you go? And and then they’re just talking and getting to know each other better. That helps.

 Meghan McSwain: Kind of it helps kind of bring down the barriers from people who might not know each other that well. On a personal level, it just kind of helps ease the, you know, the comfort levels.

Liselot Caura: Yeah, exactly. , so even if you have an A product that’s,  not each individual inside the team or interested in. That’s just just a team building. Maybe not everybody will like beers, but they they or maybe forced to participate in a beer tasting by their bosses.

 Meghan McSwain: Right. , Liselot Caura, hang on one second. I have to pause this for just one second. Yeah, and then we’ll just rese.

Speaker3: Okay. This isn’t related to the record we did. So the record outside is as well. Okay. So resubmit that to the warranty company and see what they come up with. Right. Okay. So I’m already in process right now. Okay. Okay.

 Meghan McSwain: , is that something that we’ll find out today?

Speaker3: , today we might find out what they’re going to do today. Yes. Okay. , and then we’ll obviously give you a call once they do. But yeah, we’re in the process to launch right now, so we should be able to find out it’s only 1130. We should be okay. And what.

 Meghan McSwain: Is leaking outside.

Speaker3: The condenser?

 Meghan McSwain: The condenser coil. Okay. Wouldn’t they have noticed that when someone came out before, when they realized that the, uh.

Speaker3: I mean, I couldn’t tell you. Yeah. First time. Right. So, uh. But, yeah, , I mean, I did another search up there. Everything’s good up there. So I said, okay.

 Meghan McSwain: Okay, okay. , well. Thank you. Okay, thanks. At least a lot. I’m sorry. I, , we had storms in Houston, you know? You remember when we,  rescheduled before? Yeah. And,  I had a worker in the house trying to fix the electricity and the air conditioning and everything. So sorry. Apologies for that. No, no.

Liselot Caura: That’s, uh. That should be very annoying.

 Meghan McSwain: It’s been a.

Liselot Caura: Mess.

 Meghan McSwain: It’s been a mess in Houston. Okay, we will continue here. , okay. Your commitment extends to organizing major beer events and collaborations, like with Visit Flanders. How do these initiatives contribute to Beer Secret’s goals and the broader beer community?

Liselot Caura: Yeah, it’s very interesting to collab with, , major parties. Major. . Institutions? Yeah. Institutions. Maybe not the right word. I mean, sorry, English is not my first language. I’m a Dutch speaker. Oh, that’s okay, that’s okay. Sometimes I have to find my words, but, , like collar collaborating with, , associations, companies that, you know, that are big,  like Visit Flanders. It makes sense that this is for me an important party. And that’s, , they have all the connections around the world,  that will reach out to them and asking, oh, where should we go when we want to do this in Flanders? Where should we go if we want to do that? In Flanders. So, of course, it makes sense that I, uh. I want to be connected with them. Sure. And then if one day they’re asking me to. Yeah. To do, like, a life,  a life event to help them in. In a life event where to host, , some brewers and to visit breweries and share my knowledge. And then it’s an amazing opportunity for me. , so yes, it is very important for me to to stand still with those, , opportunities and just make sure that you take the right decisions in order to achieve your own goals.

Liselot Caura: . , It was a little bit challenging for me because in the end visit Flanders asked me to host,  a Kind of Life online event during Covid.  that was called tour de Geuzen. , so I had to actually present,  a text like a, like a presentator. , to all all beer geeks around the world,  telling them about the stories of the breweries that I visited a few weeks before. , that was challenging because it’s not my my main focus to be a presenter, a presenter. But in the end,  it I did a good job. I know I I if I speak to a public in real life, I can speak to to a camera to 100 people or 200 people. Not not everybody would be able to do that. But,  I had the confidence in myself to, to go to go for that project and,  and now of course, a big team of Visit Flanders know me and even sometimes I have visitors in my tours that tell me, oh, I remember you from that live event. And then the the,  sorry, I’m trying to find my words. The recognition of me as a beer host is very, very high. That moment. So. Right.

 Meghan McSwain: You’re becoming more well known within the community.

Liselot Caura: There you go. Yeah for sure.

 Meghan McSwain: And the travel and tourism industry is continuously evolving as you know. What trends do you see impacting the future of beer tourism and how are you kind of preparing for those changes?

Liselot Caura: , it’s a difficult question. Huh. , and the travel industry. Beer tourism. You said specifically.

 Meghan McSwain: Right. Beer tourism, you know, with there’s so many changes happening. I mean, especially after Covid, we see how much how much things have changed. , and beer tourism is such a niche industry. How do you see things changing or things pretty much the same?

Liselot Caura: , I would say there are companies trying to sell, like online experiences. That’s definitely something that could be a challenge. , but it could be possible that this is not really working. . We’ve noticed that, . I wish there was not so many OTAs, to be honest. Ota. , I think it’s needed to explain what an OTA is. Is that correct? Yeah, it’s like OTA only, , the travel industry, it’s an online travel agency, right? Where people can. It’s like it’s like TripAdvisor and Airbnb experiences. It’s a website where you’re going to try to find activities, right. It’s like going to Amazon and finding your product, but then you’re a specialized in experiences. And so they’re taking a lot of commission, , in order to have their that’s their business model, of course.  so then it’s a little bit challenging for me to see if I actually have this margin of selling my products on their OTA,  platform and then still having enough profits, , to offer that tour on that,  platform. So I think they are doing a little bit. , they’re asking a commission from someone is asking 15%. Another OTA is asking 30%. And I think, what the hell, 30% is actually ridiculous high. And if you make yours, make for yourself a cost, what you actually is the commission that you pay to that OTA that’s incredibly high. So taking into account that maybe you could use that money to invest in Google ads, for example. Who knows that that might be a much more interesting investment, right,  than being.

 Meghan McSwain: On that party site.

Liselot Caura: So I understand I am on there, so I’m not, , I’m not experienced enough with Google ads that I’m actually that I have not done it myself, But that’s that. That’s my challenge. Now I have to see, like, what is actually the cost that is there? And,  can I use that in a different way? , but sometimes customers, they just love the idea to go on one website and actually do their shopping.

 Meghan McSwain: It makes it easy for them. Exactly.

Liselot Caura: For sure. It makes them. It makes super easy. Yeah. , what did.

 Meghan McSwain: What advice would you offer for those inspired by your journey looking to start their own travel business? , particularly in ensuring authenticity and passion in their ventures, as you have.

Liselot Caura: , you want me like to share one specific main advice.

 Meghan McSwain: Right? Or, I mean, if you have a couple of things, any advice you can offer to our listeners?

Liselot Caura: Yeah, yeah. So what I mentioned before is like, make sure you win.  you, you, you have a win win situation with who you partner with. , at least if it’s possible to find as much as possible win win situations that you feel both of the parties love together, work together, and you you promote a little bit each other. , another hand.

 Meghan McSwain: Like a partnership that works where you can help each other in both. Both entities come out winning. Sure.

Liselot Caura: Yeah. It’s it’s it’s not only it’s actually a supplier, you know, it’s like, , it’s it’s I’m dependent on them of how my experience is going. If I go to a bar and and and and I am, then the customer is there in that bar. Okay. So, , that’s exactly the type of partnership exactly that I’m talking about. , another thing is like sometimes I’ve experienced that people give you advice, but make sure you listen to people that have experience in the field to give you that advice, because sometimes you just get advice from family and friends. But maybe it’s not always the best to listen to them if they don’t know what they’re talking about. Right?  if they aren’t, yeah, if they just don’t know how it feels to have your own business. , and thinking of maybe about another third one. . I think that it gives you a lot of energy. Maybe not for everyone, but I found that now that I’m having a small team of beer guides working for me, they give me energy too. I see that how they like to to to guide people around and and and share the things that I usually was sharing to every customer, while I now only share it to 35% of my customers because the other ones,  also  or hosting  tours in my place, that gives me energy, that gives me a nice feeling as a as an entrepreneur that I’m actually choosing my own team, you know, and, and and yeah, that’s actually lovely.

Liselot Caura: I, , I’m growing quite okay to maybe,  be on a point one day that I could hire,  one employee. And I’m very excited about the idea that I would come in the office in the morning and she or he is asking me like, hey, Liz Lutz, how was your how was your virtual yesterday? I saw that you went on a tour with two people from Ohio, you know, and so then this person would be maybe on the office, but the other day, maybe she would help me with a big group of,  of a team building, you know? So I, of course, make a lot of tours myself. But there is also other tours that are done by, by one of my team partners. And so the team can consist of beer guides,  support,  admin like office job,  office job is for me something that I need help in. And that’s why I have now an intern. So make sure first you test working with interns, because that’s your first experience to delegate the tasks. And then if you feel like you’re ready to to do delegate and not finding out yourself how to delegate and what is exactly the task that needs to be done by someone else. If you feel like I’m ready to do, to to share that, then see if you can afford,  hiring,  an employee. But again, I’m not. There’s that there. I’m not there myself, but I’m experienced sitting by, , by my interns.

 Meghan McSwain: Right. I think I, you know, I’ve spoken with a lot of people and asked this question, what advice would you offer? A lot of them. So many of them have said, build a good team. Your team is so important. They’re an extension of yourself. , so yeah, that’s excellent advice. And, , and hiring interns is a great way to sort of,  give them a trial run and see, is this person a right fit for my company? Am I a right fit for them? So, yeah. Great advice. Thank you so much. Liselot.  this has been a wonderful deep dive into the rich world of Belgian beer and the innovative spirit of beer. Secret. Let our followers know, , where they can connect with you and where they can learn more about beer secret.

Liselot Caura: Yeah, that would be lovely. Thank you. , so my website is easy. It’s,  beer secret.com, and you can also find me on,  LinkedIn Liselot. It’s l I s e l o t. And then my last name is c a u r a. Uh. And I’m always eager to to. Yeah. Give you advice,  personally. And then going back to the big secret in general,  there is the Instagram account BR dot secrets and then the Facebook is just br secrets. So wonderful.

 Meghan McSwain: A lot. Lots of ways to connect. We love that.  Lisa, let thank you so much for sharing your story. To our listeners. Thank you for joining us on this flavorful journey. Remember to follow or subscribe to travel Preneur for more inspiring stories and insights from the travel industry’s leading figures. Cheers to your next adventure! May it be as rich and satisfying as a Belgian brew.