Perks
$250+ | The Beer Expert: Invest $250+ and you’ll receive a 10% Tapville discount, just for owners, to use at all Tapville locations, plus you will receive free access to our online beer education course to become a world-class beer expert.
$500+ | I Am Beer Legend: Invest $500+ and not only will you receive the “Beer Expert” reward, but we’ll commemorate your legacy by putting your name (and photo) on one of our beer wall tap screens. Your legacy and photo image will be digitally engrained on the beer wall until we kick your keg.
$1,000+ | The Pour Master: Invest $1,000+ and you'll receive two Tapville Belgian 16 oz glasses, a Tapville Flight Tasting box with 5 oz tasters, and a 15% Tapville discount card, just for owners. You’ll be set to pour any beer in your Tapville glassware.
$5,000 | My Beer: Invest $5,000+ and you’ll receive The Beer Expert and The Pour Master perks, plus we’ll work with a partner brewery and brew a beer with your name. Your beer will be featured at one of our locations!
$10,000 | The Owner: Invest $10,000+ and you'll receive not only the lower tier merchandise perks but also a 50% discount card for all locations with access to our Rewards Program - this will be sure to impress your friends.
$25,000 | VIP Beer Experience: Invest $25,000+ and we'll provide a guided tour of Chicagoland Breweries with private tours. Additionally, you’ll receive all lower tier merchandise perks and the 50% Tapville discount card.
$50,000 | Keg Stand: Invest $50,000+ and we’ll ship you a kegerator for your home! You will also receive all perks from lower-tier merchandise perks and the 50% Tapville Owner discount card.
Management Team / Advisory Board Bios
Joseph Tota
Founder & CEO
Joe designed the concept of Tapville Social in 2016 during one of his frequent visits to Union Pier, Michigan, along the Red Arrow Highway. Professionally, Joe was a management consultant with Accenture and founded his own firm that was acquired. His consulting background was focused on working with large franchise companies on technology, operational training and growth strategies. Joe is an avid ultrarunner and has a deep belief that hard work, entrepreneurship and a healthy lifestyle are the keys to happiness.
Sean Thomas
Advisor
Sean’s deep passion for the food and hospitality industry is in his DNA – literally. Raised in Columbus, Ohio, Sean spent his formative years immersed in the burger business through his grandfather, Dave Thomas, the founder of Wendy’s.
In addition to holding various positions at Wendy’s, Sean expanded his hands-on knowledge of the industry by working at Lettuce Entertain You, in various front-of-house/back-of-house roles, then graduating from the Lettuce Entertain You Enterprise internship/management program. Most recently, Sean has founded Fresh Stack Burger Company, a PE-backed, fast-casual burger concept with plans to open multiple locations in the Midwest.
Brandt Kucharski
Advisor
Brandt joined GrubHub as one of its earliest employees, helping the company grow from $3 million in revenue to $1 billion in 15 years, now serving as the Chief Accounting Officer. He has experience in a variety of industries including manufacturing, professional services, hospitality, retail and financial services.
Brandt spent the first half of his career in Crowe Horwath’s audit practice managing public financial statement audits and performing Sarbanes Oxley 404 consulting. He transitioned to the transaction services/investment banking group, managing private placements and buy/sell side transaction services for private equity investors, lenders and corporations.
Brian Brammeier
Advisor
Brian started his career designing and maintaining hospital computer systems for labor and delivery departments. While working toward graduating early at Illinois State University, he also worked at Discover Financial in security engineering for two years. Brian has been running BCS since 1998, taking it from a single person residential practice to a company with enterprise-pedigree consultants. In 2020, BCS merged with Ntiva, and he now serves as their Chief Strategy Officer and as well as an owner.
Doug Rodewald
Advisor
Commerce and digital engagement have always been a passion of Doug’s regardless of the channel, client or technology used. As a player in the retail and commerce industry for the past 15-plus years, Doug has been able to witness and participate in an amazing period of transformation.
Today, Doug is proud to be the Chief Digital Officer of True Group, Inc., a certified woman-owned business. Doug likes to say he spends his time split between helping True’s clients solve challenging transformational problems, establishing new client and partner relationships, and staying active in the broader technology industry to learn about emerging trends and players.
Stuart Baum
Advisor
Stuart is an owner/investor in Tapville Social and the Naperville, Illinois, location. He is President of LargerPond, a well-respected marketing consulting firm for growing businesses, and Managing Director of Altura Group, a business strategy and operational consulting firm. Stuart’s restaurant experience goes back to having worked in all roles at a franchise steakhouse, eventually becoming head chef and de facto general manager. During his marketing career, he led the restaurateur side of the iDine (Rewards Network) launch and growth, and was a consultant for Restaurant.com, focused on restaurateur relations and retention.
Sean O'Leary
Advisor
Sean authors the influential blog Irish Liquor Lawyer and has been cited numerous times in multiple influential publications such as Forbes, Decanter, And Wine Spectator. He represents innovators in the liquor industry. Also, he lobbies on behalf of the liquor industry, and successfully lobbied the Illinois legislature to expand privileges for retailers.
Before launching O’Leary Law and Policy Group, LLC, he served as Chief Legal Counsel with the Illinois Liquor Control Commission. While at the Commission, Sean helped revolutionize the Illinois liquor industry by cracking down on illegal bootlegging, advocating for the expansion of allowable discounting practices, developing standards for contract brewing, and drafting tied-house regulations. Sean attended the University of North Carolina and received his law degree from Chicago - Kent College of Law.
Don DiBrita
Marketing Consultant
An experienced team leader, social media strategist and marketer, Don is passionate about growing communities and implementing modern digital marketing strategies.
He is a certified email and content marketer that has worked with brands in the food and beverage industry like breweries, restaurants, events and professional sports teams. Don is also the founder of a 60,000-member international beer club.
Nick O’Donnell
Real Estate Consultant
Working as a CRE broker since 2013 and specializing in restaurant tenant representation, Nick has worked to secure high-quality sites for restaurants ranging from established to startup and full-service bars and restaurants to QSR concepts and cafes. Nick focuses on identifying fundamentally sound sites and paring them with sustainable deal terms for long-term unit stability. Nick joined the Tapville Social team in 2019. His past and current clients include Bulldog Alehouse, Boar’s Head Café, Burnt Pizza, Cousin’s Subs, Dunkin Donuts, Dairy Queen Grill and Chill, Honey Berry Café and Wingstop restaurants- among others. Nick currently works as Vice President of Caton Commercial Real Estate Group. Nick advises Tapville on a part-time basis.
Jena Wachowiak
Director of Franchise Training
Jena has been working in hospitality since she was 15 years old and working in a restaurant for the last six years. She started as a bartender at Tapville in 2018 and worked her way up to general manager of the Naperville, Illinois, location. Through her experience in the hospitality industry, complemented by a Master’s in Education from Aurora University, Jena creates and implements all of Tapville’s training guides and also trains various positions at Tapville.
Jacob Smith
Executive Chef
Jacob has worked in the hospitality business since graduating high school. He graduated from the Art Institute of Atlanta with an associate degree in culinary arts in 2000. Jacob took over the Nookies Restaurants as their corporate chef and director of operations for almost 10 years before moving on to the Bottleneck Group, where he trained multiple chefs and managers as the corporate training chef. During a chance encounter with Joe of Tapville Social, the pair hit it off immediately and came to see eye to eye on the hospitality industry. That chance encounter turned into a great partnership at Tapville Social, which continues to grow every day.
Kris Begley
Director of Franchise Sales
Kris came to Tapville in June 2017 as the General Manager of Tapville’s first brick-and-mortar location in Elmhurst, Illinois. In November of 2019, he helped successfully launch the first Tapville kiosk at the Fashion Outlet mall in Rosemont, Illinois. Kris has over 20 years of hospitality experience and has also worked with various hospitality tech start-ups; including UberEats, where he helped launch UberEats in Texas, Louisiana, and Colorado. Kris currently works 30 hours per week for Tapville and is paid on a commission basis.