2024 Small Business of the Year (15 Employees or Fewer) - JAFB Wooster Brewery

Paul Fryman

Owner,

JAFB Wooster Brewery

Congratulations to JAFB Wooster Brewery on being named the 2024 Small Business of the Year (15 Employees or Fewer) Award recipient!

In college, Paul Fryman developed an appreciation for beer, but it was in Germany where he fell in love with microbreweries.

That passion eventually led to JAFB, a Wooster-based microbrewery founded in 2011 by Paul Fryman, along with his father, Jerry, and brother, Tony. It opened on Beall Avenue during the summer of 2012.

Now, more than a decade later, JAFB has been named a Wooster Area Chamber of Commerce Small Business of the Year in the under 15 employees category.

“It’s quite the honor,” Fryman said. “It makes me really proud of the business we have been able to create here and the environment. It’s a testament to the team (of eight employees) we have and the staff we have. They can feel a sense of accomplishment because we have a plan and we are executing it.”

Fryman and the JAFB brewers have garnered a number of awards. The success today was born from a minimum wage job, mostly in bottle production, at the Great Divide Brewing Co. in Denver.

From Denver, the well-traveled Fryman moved to Lake Placid, N.Y., to work as an assistant brewer at Great Adirondack Brewing. Then he moved on to Snake River Brewing in Jackson Hole, Wyo., to mix hops and grain before heading back to Lake Placid, this time as head brewer.

But, Fryman knew he wanted to start his own company, which brought him back to Wayne County and Wooster.

“I had been in the industry for six years,” Fryman said. “I saw the industry was getting ready to explode. I knew I needed to get back to Wooster and Ohio. I wanted to be in Wooster.”

When JAFB opened its taproom and brewery, it became part of the Chamber. “They are great,” Fryman said. “They are a very motivated group. When you go to one of the events, the amount of people that are there is amazing. They are good to work with, and they have helped us out. I am proud to be a member.”