Ben Caya
President, Spike Brewing
Milwaukee
www.spikebrewing.com
Employees: 11
Milwaukee-based Spike Brewing has become one of the top three homebrewing equipment companies in the country, and it’s all thanks to president Ben Caya and the company’s innovative welding and manufacturing process.
Caya founded Spike Brewing in 2012 while still in college at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He financed the entire operation on his own and in five years, has not taken on an investor.
Customer feedback has helped the company engineer some of the top quality products in the homebrewing market, said Kyle Hamilton, director of marketing at Spike Brewing.
“(Caya) has listened to customer concerns over the years to provide them with exactly what they want,” Hamilton said.
Spike Brewing recently moved from a 2,000-square-foot space to a 15,000-square-foot warehouse in Milwaukee to accommodate its growth.
Caya has built the company to five full-time employees, three of whom were hired in the past two months, and eight part-time employees.
“Ben continuously takes risks in additional costs one step at a time to make sure the company is profitable, but also keeps innovating and giving the consumers what they are asking for,” Hamilton said.
Spike Brewing is built on innovation, specializing in a sanitary TIG weld process unique to the industry.
“Ben leads by example and makes sure everyone is working smarter, not harder. He continues to push everyone in the company to be innovative and push the limits to be the best company in this industry,” Hamilton said. “His competitive nature rubs off on everyone in the company to be their best day in and day out.”
