2025 Dynamic Dozen Top CEO/Managing Partner: Carol McLeod

Some of the biggest customer-service successes at Hold Fast Brewing were employee ideas, says Carol McLeod, co-owner of Hold Fast with her sister, Susan.

Those ideas include Music Bingo, which has drawn in patrons they may not have seen otherwise, McLeod says. Also, when they started carrying brand name cocktails, they offered cups of ice with them. Sales surged.

Those are the sorts of ideas that come from invested, empowered employees. McLeod calls her style of motivational management “hands-off,” but that doesn’t mean she isn’t deeply invested in her workers.

“When we are working together as a team, employees are coming up with ideas for future growth, they are learning, growing, taking on leadership roles and opportunities – those are the moments that I truly cherish as a business owner,” McLeod says.

That commitment has yielded a rare achievement in the food and beverage industry: low turnover. Most Hold Fast employees have been with the company for three years or more.

“Our top priority is making our staff feel valued and heard,” she says. “We want them to grow not just professionally but personally as well.

“It’s easy to tell people what to do. But a strong manager knows when to let employees take the lead and prove their skills.”

This approach has transformed employees’ careers. McLeod recounts one example: “A young woman we hired over three years ago didn’t have much confidence. She said she was just looking for a job. Now, she’s our taproom front-of-house manager and mentors other team members.”

The brewery was launched in August 2019 out of a renovated fire station on Kimbrough Avenue and, despite the turbulence of the COVID-19 pandemic and shifting consumer habits, has grown into a valued, community-oriented business in the Queen City.

“Our family legacy is giving back to the community. We partner with multiple local organizations to help amplify their mission and help raise money. We select not-for-profits monthly and donate a portion of our proceeds from specific beer sales to them. We also give them the opportunity to set up a booth on our patio to visit with our patrons about their mission and how to get involved. It is important to us that we work with causes that align with our company culture and values,” says McLeod.

Hold Fast was named Downtown Springfield Association Business of the Year in 2020 and was a Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce W. Curtis Strube Small Business Award Finalist in 2022.

Hold Fast Brewing stands as a testament to the McLeod family’s values: community, creativity and care.

“We want our space to be welcoming to everyone,” McLeod says. “A place where people are reminded to ‘hold fast’ – and do it with love.”