Employee benefits for breweries and wineries,made easy.
77% of U.S. breweries and 83% of wineries have fewer than 20 employees.
You want great benefits for your team. You don’t have the time or the resources to get them.
That isn’t on you. For decades, the benefits industry has been built for big companies, and small businesses have been left to figure it out alone. Cakewalk was built for you.
How it works
You run your business. We handle the benefits.
Tell us about your business.
Start with your business name. We fill in what we can find. Connect payroll and your team comes with it.
Hundreds of options. One tailored package.
We compare hundreds of plans for your team. You get one package, priced and ready to adjust.
We get your team covered.
We invite your team. You see who has started. Each person gets help choosing. Everyone is covered.
Benefits admin. Off your plate.
New hires and departures sync from payroll. Each employee gets a benefits wallet. Their questions come to us, not you.
Your benefits team. On the house.
You pay for coverage. Insurance carriers pay us a commission, so we can handle everything from building your package to supporting your team year round, at no cost to you.
Breweries and wineries at a glance
Offering benefits at a brewery or winery
Production staff, tipped taproom and tasting-room teams, and harvest or summer crews. Here’s what shapes a benefits plan for a brewery or winery.
- openings a year projected for bartenders, a role BLS expects breweries to need more of, 2025–2035
- 121,200
Tipped staff and full-time status
Tipped employees can be paid a cash wage as low as $2.13 an hour under federal law, but full-time status for benefits follows hours, 30 or more a week, not pay or tips.
Sources: Department of Labor Fact Sheet #15: tipped employees; IRS: identifying full-time employees
Harvest and summer crews
Workers employed only for the summer are seasonal. If they take you over 50 full-time employees for 120 days or fewer, you still aren’t a large employer, and SHOP coverage doesn’t have to be offered to them.
Sources: IRS: applicable large employers; HealthCare.gov: who qualifies for SHOP
Seasonal workers and the tax credit
For the small business tax credit, workers employed 120 days or fewer are left out of your employee and wage counts, but premiums you pay for them still count toward the credit.
Source: IRS Form 8941 instructions
If you own the business through an S corporation
Premiums for an owner with more than 2% of an S corporation are deductible by the company and reported as wages on the owner’s W-2, but they aren’t subject to Social Security or Medicare tax. The owner may then be able to deduct them personally.
Source: IRS: S corporation compensation and medical insurance
Benefits are your choice under 50
Employers with fewer than 50 full-time employees, counting full-time equivalents, aren’t subject to the federal requirement to offer coverage. Offering benefits is a decision you make for your team, not a mandate.
Source: IRS: applicable large employers
The small business tax credit
The federal credit can cover up to 50% of premiums for employers with fewer than 25 full-time equivalent employees and average wages under $68,200 in 2026, if you pay at least half of employee-only premiums and buy through the SHOP marketplace. Owners and their families don’t count toward the totals. SHOP plans aren’t offered everywhere, so check your state’s guide.
The whole benefits package.
Medical, dental, vision, life insurance, and income protection. Built around your business and the people who power it.
Start with your team’s needs and your business’s budget. Explore medical coverage online, or work with a benefits advisor to understand your options and choose your next step.
Questions owners ask.
Not if you’re over 50 for 120 days or fewer and the extra workers are seasonal.
Tell us about your team.
We’ll follow up to learn about your business and walk you through your options. There’s no cost to work with us.
Prefer to start on your own?