Alumni Spotlight: Scott '07 and Melissa '08 Heckel

Published Friday, August 02, 2024

Melissa and Scott Heckel at Severance Brewing

When nurturing a tree, or a dream, it’s important to develop roots, to trim at the right time, and to allow the growth to flourish. Scott and Melissa Heckel know a thing or two about when to sever ties and when to branch out so that the dream can be realized. They’ve planted and pruned, adjusted and adapted to create opportunities. In doing so, they are brewing a life for themselves that is severed from the norm.

Scott and Melissa both grew up in Aberdeen, South Dakota. Today, they own and operate Severance Brewing, a craft brewery in downtown Sioux Falls.

Scott started his college career at a South Dakota school just over the border from Marshall. As a college freshman in Brookings, he and Melissa, a high school senior, just started dating. She was looking for a smaller school that didn’t require her to run from building to building in the middle of winter.

She chose SMSU and Scott soon followed. Melissa studied art with a graphic design concentration and a marketing minor. Scott majored in computer science with a graphic design minor.

“Even though I ended up in brewing, the computer science program did prepare me for where I’m at today,” said Scott. “You learn the different programming languages, and the semantics of it so you can teach yourself new languages. You learn how to learn and branch out in a career path you didn't know you were going to have.”

“SMSU really prepares you for lifelong learning, being able to adapt to changing technology, and pivot when you need to,” added Melissa of her education in the graphic design emphasis of SMSU’s art program.

Melissa got her first break into graphic design working in the communications and marketing office at SMSU. Design became the purpose and passion for Melissa, while craft beer started as a hobby and became a calling for Scott.

“Dr. Dan Kaiser, my computer science professor took a group of us [computer science majors] to Lincoln, Nebraska for a programming competition. He took us to a place he had been and went on about the qualities of Guinness. I tried a smoked lager there and I'm like, this is the greatest thing I've ever had,” Scott recalled. “It was that moment that I got turned on to craft beer.”

“Years later, I emailed Dr. Kaiser about something totally unrelated. I added a P.S. in there that said, ‘by the way, thank you for getting me into craft beers,’” Scott said. “You never know how one moment is going to change your life.”

After graduation, they made their way to Sioux Falls where Scott worked at a large bank starting in technology and making his way to a managerial position.

“I made the mistake of moving from an individual contributor to a manager. I think you’re expected to climb the corporate ladder, you feel like you are supposed to get into management and when I got there, I was miserable doing it,” he said. “Some people might thrive in that environment, but it wasn’t for me long term, so after 12 years there it seemed like it was time to branch out.”

While Scott was in the banking world, Melissa was building her own business, Branch Creative. She began her career in design and branding with local ad agencies. Melissa launched her freelance design business in July 2009 as a part time gig before transitioning to full time freelance and worked from home while raising their daughters, Addy and Avery, now 10 and 13, respectively.

In addition to handling the marketing and design for Severance, Melissa continues to reinvent the nature and methodology of her business. Moving from the project-based design with hourly tracking to more strategy and consulting-based work. She also offers design days that allow clients to schedule a full 8 hours with her to focus on their to-do list. It streamlines her work, reducing time spent on back-and-forth emails, and helps manage their home, work, and life balance.

She has clients in Sioux Falls, throughout the Midwest, in Denver, Oklahoma, and as far away as Maryland. As Melissa’s creative business grew, the conversations turned to opening a brewery.

“We talked about starting the brewery back in 2011,” said Scott. “Our first Christmas together, Melissa got me a Mr. Beer home brewing kit and my interest just took off from there.”

“It worked out that I was able to give her the opportunity to follow her dream as she was going out on her own,” said Scott. “Then when she felt like her work was established, we knew it was time to give it a try.”

“Up to that I felt like it [work] was so unfair; I never dreaded a Monday. I love my job. I wake up every morning and live my dream,” said Melissa. “And Scott was dreading Monday, getting calls all the time, and generally not loving life.”

“I brought it up one summer night when we’re enjoying a home-brewed beer on the patio—where we have our big life-altering conversations,” she continued. “I just said it's clear that you're not happy doing what you're doing. We should revisit this brewery idea.”

“That’s when we scratched out our little five-year plan,” Scott added. “That was in the summer of 2017, and we opened in August 2019. So clearly the five-year plan got expedited a bit.”

“We saw what was happening in Sioux Falls, in terms of growth, and the news of breweries that were popping up or rumored to be popping up was getting loud,” Melissa explained. “We knew if we waited five years, the market was going to be saturated.”

“We didn’t want to miss out on the opportunity to establish ourselves. So 2019, we officially cut the ties, so to speak,” said Scott.

The name Severance came long before the brewery opened.

“Our goal for Severance is for it to be a place for people to come and enjoy just spending time with one another.”

Scott Heckel, co-owner of Severance Brewing

“I came up with the initial severed ‘S’ idea when I worked at the bank, I would go on a walk just to get away from the desk and, back then, the brewery was just a daydream,” said Scott. “I’d be thinking of brewery names and pull out my phone and type it in.”

“With 9,000 or more breweries operating right now in the US, trying to find an original name is so hard,” added Melissa.

“One day on a walk I was thinking about what it might look like to leave corporate life and taking the severance was on my mind. What is my severance package going to look like?” Scott recalled.

“And it hit me. I typed in ‘severance brewing’ and it’s available. I thought how is that possible? It’s the story of probably 50% of the brewers out there; they left their corporate job to start a brewery. How's that never been taken?”

“We trademarked it immediately,” said Melissa. “That was the beginning. Once you get the name, the whole brand follows along with it. And when Scott said ‘severance’ I thought oh, this is so easy. One word, people will say ‘I'm going to Severance tonight.’ It was just perfect.”

“Easy to say and easy to remember,” said Scott. “Then add all the great visuals and metaphors that go along with the word and the concept of severance and severing. Melissa just took that and ran with it. Everything fits so well.”

Melissa talked about her process of choosing colors and researching. She looked at what other breweries were doing. She knew they wanted to be different, again severing from the norm, as they have done in all things.

“He lets me run with the design and marketing. I try to stay out of the brewing stuff,” she added.

“And she polishes some of my rough, analytical edges,” Scott laughed. “When it comes to the brewing side, you get two sets of people, you get ones that are extremely artistic and just throw whatever at the wall and hope it sticks. The others are the chemists and computer scientists who end up in brewing because it can be very analytical, which I like.”

“Our goal for Severance is for it to be a place for people to come and enjoy just spending time with one another,” said Scott. “We have the capacity to grow and look forward to what the future holds.”

“We have a mural in the taproom based on a photo of Scott cutting his tie the day he walked away from his corporate job. The whole severing ties thing has been a big part of the brand,” said Melissa.

The mural shows a rigid pattern on the left, a man with hops for a head cutting his business tie in the middle, and an organic, freeform flow on the right, a perfect representation of what Severance has meant for Scott and Melissa Heckel.

The severed ‘S’, the cut tie, and the phrase ‘severed from the norm’ can be seen all around the taproom, as the mantra of their business and the life they are creating.

Severance Brewing is located in Downtown Sioux Falls, South Dakota in The Cascade at Falls Park. They celebrate their 5th Severance Day on Saturday, August 3, 2024. Learn more about what Scott and Melissa Heckel are doing at www.severancebrewing.com and www.branchcreativeco.com