I first met Grady Wright during happy hour at The Red Fridge Society, where he was slingin’ beers out of a Yeti cooler while holding court on the patio. His brewery (well, one of his breweries, for he is co-founder of both The Brew and Brew and Hold Out Brewing) is right around the corner – close enough that he often walks a flat or two of the latest batch over for upcoming events.

On one such recent swing-by, he caught my attention with what old school journalists would call, “a scoop” – Hold Out and it’s sister café were expanding north, taking over the Turnstile restaurant by Q2 Stadium and bringing a little bit of downtown culture to us barbarians up north (my words, not his).

Also… There was a top secret project, and it got me wondering about the bigger story behind his business.

Grady is one of the more thoughtful founders I’ve ever met. You see in his definition of success (“a series of days, well-lived”), in the books he talks about (first brewer to recommend Seneca), and in his heroes (Nann and George - but more on them in a minute).

I can’t tell you about the top secret one yet. But the hints of it are here, in the story behind Hold Out.

And now, without further ado, here’s Grady…

In 2013, my brother and I left our corporate jobs to sell what we love, coffee & beer. We joined with industry veteran Matthew Bolick to open Brew & Brew so that we could, as my brother always put it, “sell a real thing to a real person”. (Can you tell that he was coming from tech?)

Three years after opening Brew & Brew on the east side, we’d established a loyal following and we were having a ton of fun doing what we love. Mission accomplished, right?

Effectively yes, but there was this one nagging detail, overhead. Brew & Brew was stable, and our ends were meeting, but supporting 3 co-founders is a big ask for a 1400 sq. ft. coffee shop. 

We were ready to grow, but we weren’t set on the vision. Our culture was established and we were confident in our ability to deliver quality products in nearly any format, so we decided to start with the property and reverse engineer things from there. 

Over the next few months, our friend and business partner Michael Bullard (of Dovetail Commercial Real Estate) showed us several possibilities in the small bar, coffee shop, and cafe realm. Then he showed us the property where Better Half & Hold Out now sit. We were floored. We had no idea and a million ideas of what we could do with the property, but we were in love. The property had a 1970’s quonset hut housing a 1965 El Camino, a 400-600 year-old heritage oak tree, and a real-deal parking lot in downtown Austin. How could we say no?

We set to work brainstorming concepts centered around our passions, coffee, beer, food, cocktails, music… ultimately, we landed on brewpub for “the hut” structure. Our beer business at Brew & Brew was booming and this was a natural extension of that success. Plus, it just felt right. Now what to do with that old Enterprise Rent-a-Car on the east half of the property? 

Why not everything else that we love? Coffee, food, cocktails, wine, pastries, and a whole lot of patio. 

With the concepts set, I ran feasibility studies, sought advice from brewing industry friends/experts, and tested the investment waters to make sure we could make the jump from 3 guys working bar to operators of a property that would house a brewery, a bar program, a coffee program, an event space, a baking program, and two kitchens. It was growth by an order of magnitude.

The numbers came together, and, after one final “are we sure?” session, we made the jump. 

I’ll spare you the gory details of our fundraising, permitting, and construction, and jump right to the first customer. This one was easy, my brother knows Kirk Goldsberry (Author/NBA Analyst/Professor/Cartographer/Executive Director of the Business Sports Institute at the University of Texas) through their mutual love of the Spurs and basketball. Kirk lives in the neighborhood and made us swear an oath to Gregg Popovich that he would be the first customer. His signed bill from that first transaction is framed inside Better Half to this day. 

The end goal of most folk’s business dreams is opening a business in their passion. We missed that very important “a” and opened two. Whoops. 

This decision to run a dual-business model drove up the company’s startup costs and complexities, which, in turn, forced us to take a long-term approach from Day 1. We built everything including the name “Hold Out” around establishing deep roots that would feed a two-fold Austin institution. 

Rather than pressing for immediate returns, we chose to invest in people, infrastructure, and two brands that are capable of multi-decade success. We made investments in our people through extensive training, offering full medical benefits, and educational travel perks, and we made investments in our community through a number of charity-focused events and campaigns (e.g. wine & corn dogs benefitting Austin Pets Alive every Tuesday at Better Half).

This decision also formed our identity. We built an intentional dichotomy between Better Half and Hold Out. A brewpub inside of a retired quonset hut needed a foil that was brighter and more modern. The Enterprise Rent-a-Car’s water-stained gypsum ceiling tile was hardly bright or modern, but we put in the right amount of elbow grease and polished that old car lot into a pretty darn nice all-day cafe, if we do say so ourselves. 

The somewhat unintentional side effect of balancing our Old Austin Yin & Yang was that it made us welcoming to everyone. Business meetings and first dates up the hill at Better Half and dice rolling and after-yardwork beers at Hold Out. 

We offer just about everything to dang near everyone. This is our strength and our challenge. 

I’m not sure how obscure it is, but I’ve been using The Better Brain by  Bonnie J. Kaplan, PhD, and Julia J. Rucklidge, PhD to help care for myself while I navigate the challenges of running multiple businesses. I ran on willpower & coffee for years, but that’ll only get you so far.

This book explains why whole foods are absolutely necessary for your physical health and your mental health. They help to combat the effects of stress and to build resilience. Changing my diet has made a profound impact on my productivity, focus, and mood.

The lessons about nutrition from this book are a key part of a whole toolbelt of practices that I use to keep myself in the best form for those that rely on me. 

Honorable mention to On The Shortness of Life by Seneca, a necessary reminder to remember to live along the way, and to Born to Flourish by Richard J. Davidson & Cortland Dahl for teaching me how to do so.

I believed that we would be in full control of the direction of our business. If we had the vision and executed it perfectly, our business would match the dream in our head. 

I saw business as a row boat. Choose the target and put in the necessary work to get there. 

Now I understand that any business is an amalgamation of your original vision, input from your employees, the will of your customers, financial realities, company culture, market forces, and the innumerable variables within and beyond your control.

I now like to joke that business is more like floating the river. You can paddle a little side-to-side, but the river decides where you end up. 

When we set out to open Brew & Brew, opening a brewery was beyond our wildest dreams, and, when we opened Better Half & Hold Out, the plan was to stay within our original “campus”. As of last month, Hold Out & Better Half’s reach has grown to include north Austin. We’re taking over Turnstile Bar & Restaurant by Q2 Stadium to pivot to a hub-and-spoke model that will let us share our food & beer (and coffee and cocktails and pastries…) with more of Austin. 

I have my 1, 3, & 10-Year plans in place, so I’m paddling, but I’m excited to see where the river takes us. 

Is it cheating if I didn’t buy it? 

I inherited a simple, handmade coffee mug from my Great Aunt & Uncle. It’s understated. Just a small, thick-walled mug with a uniquely tapered lip. The thick walls hold heat well, the handle is sturdy and ample, and the tapered lip makes for an easy, pleasing sip. It’s a utilitarian masterpiece.

My Great Aunt & Uncle, Nann & George, are my small business role models.

They operated and sold two businesses after my Uncle George retired from the Missouri Pacific Railroad, the second of which was a travel agency based in my hometown of San Antonio. They worked hard. They gave generously. They taught my Dad and his siblings about business and work ethic by employing them in the summers when they were out of school. And, they were kind, so damn kind. 

Their path of hard work leading to comfort and travel is the one that I hope to follow. For now, I’m in the hard work phase. They smiled through every day of hard work and that worked out pretty well for them. Guess I’ll follow suit. 

This mug turns my morning coffee into a reminder that a successful life is just a series of days lived well. 

Live Oak Brewing. Hands down.

To me, Live Oak is Austin. They’ve been doing things their own way for 30 years. The people are kind, the beer is perfect, and the brewery sits on a tree-laden chunk of hill country that takes you all the way out of the city mindset. 

It’s a peaceful, inspiring place with plenty of room to walk off any high-cortisol moments, and, when it’s time to close the laptop, there’s some of the finest beer in the world to serve as a hard-earned reward.