Since craft brewery Brickyard Hollow Brewing Co. announced this week it plans a pizza and beer restaurant at 9 Commercial St. in Portland, people have been clamoring to know when it will open, said Brendan Medeiros, operations manager.
It could happen sometime this summer. But a decision on the date will have to wait a bit. The business, which started in Yarmouth in 2018, has to finish its other opening first — a pizza restaurant next to its tap room and brewery at 236 Main St.
In January, Brickyard's owners began renovating the former Dunkin' Donuts at 242 Main St. to provide pizza takeout, delivery and a small seating area. It will also provide pizza to the tap room next door and is expected to open within a few weeks, he said.
Brickyard Hollow opened in the former Anthony's Cleaners building in Yarmouth in June 2018, and is owned by Brad Moll, a real estate broker, and Frank Grondin, a Yarmouth building contractor. While Brickyard is still a craft brewery, it's found a winning recipe by adding pizza to the mix after it opened a pizza and brew restaurant in Freeport a year later.
"We're staying true to the pizza model," Medeiros told Mainebiz.
He said the fact the company stayed open throughout the pandemic, the tap room making the best use of its heated patio, but business was tough for a while. "We were just trying to keep people employed," he said.
As businesses adjusted to the pandemic, they gained traction. "We're busier now, in March, than we were in the summer of 2019," Medeiros said.
Medeiros said the Freeport restaurant's success comes from focusing on town residents rather than relying on tourist traffic. Once Brickyard opened on Bow Street, it was a surprise that despite the downtown location a couple blocks from Main Street, a lot of tourists didn't find the restaurant. That spurred the strategy of focusing on local customers, including delivery, which helped during the pandemic.
"There's something to be said for consistency and staying open," he said.
Photo / Maureen Milliken
Brickyard Hollow Brewing Co.'s location at 20 Bow St. in Freeport found success focusing on the local market, rather than relying on tourists, a strategy that came in handy when the pandemic hit.
An opportunity in Portland
While Brickyard has been planning for a couple years to open in Portland, the Yarmouth pizza restaurant was the first priority. But then the 9 Commercial St. space became available. It had been an Arabica coffee shop, and closed in May as the owners consolidated to their Free Street space.
"The idea was always there, but we didn't anticipate doing it this year," he said.
Peter Gwilym, of Porta & Co., represented Brickyard for the 3,018-square-foot lease, and Mac Simpson, also of Porta, represented landlord Casco Portland Partners II LLC. An adjacent unit is under contract in the building, which is on the corner of India Street and across Commercial Street from the Portland Cruise Terminal.
Gwilym said the business with a contract on the other unit is a retail shop, and as the peninsula market gains traction after the pandemic slowdown, restaurant and retail businesses, like Brickyard, are finding opportunities.
Another example is the former Lois' Natural Marketplace around the corner, which permanently closed its 47 India St. location in November. Like the Arabica location, the Lois' Natural store was a victim of the pandemic. "I'm showing that space three times a week," Gwilym said.
Gwilym said the post-pandemic Portland scene will be a little different from the old one — more outdoor seating where possible, more options for takeout, pickup and delivery; possibly different configurations to keep people more distanced. But feels the market will still be as hot as it was before March 2020.
"Things will come back pretty strong," he predicted.
He said the area where Brickyard is opening its Portland craft pizza restaurant will also be a hot spot. It's close to a massive amount of office and hotel development on the eastern waterfront, and also has the natural customer base of the cruise ships, once they start up again.
"The agents (at Porta & Co.) are all really bullish on that part of town," he said. They call it Portland's Seaport, comparing it to the Seaport neighborhood of Boston, which had been a largely industrial and parking-lot pocked stretch until office and hotel development took over in the last decade.
"Within five years, it's going to be the spot to be," he said.
Photo / Maureen Milliken
Brickyard Hollow Brewing Co., at 236 Main St., Yarmouth, background, is renovating a former Dunkin' Donuts at 242 Main St. as a pizza restaurant that will specialize in takeout and delivery, as well as provide pizzas for the taproom.
'Puts us on the map'
Brickyard plans an 80-seat restaurant and bar, Portland Craft Pizza, which will be centered around the same pizza menu in Freeport, but with other options as well. It will also have full table service.
While there isn't a huge amount of space for outdoor seating, the owners plan to repurpose the large window to be a garage-type door that opens, offering semi-outdoor seating when the weather allows.
Medeiros said that being in Portland, and part of its restaurant scene, is a big achievement for the business. While Brickyard has had success in the towns it's in, "Going to Portland puts us on the map."
Medeiros said plans for the Portland space are still being figured out, and permits still have to be drawn from the city. Plans will be more solid later this spring.
First, he said, "We have a restaurant in Yarmouth to open."
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'The pizza model' leads Yarmouth craft brewery to Portland expansion - Mainebiz
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