Pig Minds owner hopes good things come to those who wait – Rockford Register Star

Alex Gary| Special to the Register Star

MACHESNEY PARK A massive expansion at Pig Minds Brewing Co. is finally complete after six years of twists and turns, and owner Brian Endl still will have to wait several weeks to fully show it off to the public.

The 9,000-square-foot expansion tripled Pig Minds original layout at 4080 Steele Drive.The added space features a wood-fired pizza oven, expanded bar area, 170 additional seats inside, an outdoor patio that seats 150 and a mezzanine on the second floor for private parties. The renovation also includes a 15-barrel exposed brewhouse that triples its brewing capabilities.

We actually started working on this in 2015, but then our property was classified as being in a flood zone, Endl said. It took us 2 years of fighting to get out of the flood zone. We started construction last October. Some of the work was delayed in March and April and we wrapped up construction in September.

Endl said they poured the first beer out of the brewhouse in early November.

Of course, they wrapped up final details just in time for Gov. JBPritzkers order at the end of October banning indoor dining because of the massive increase in new coronavirus cases across the state and country. On Friday, there were a record 187,907 new cases in the U.S., 15,415 of those coming from Illinois.

Its been one thing after another, Endl said. Obviously, we took a big hit in mid-March to the end of May. We actually did pretty well throughout the summer. Even with the restrictions, the months we were partially open, we were beating our sales from 2019.

The expansion will help weather this new storm. Endl said customers have been asking him for years to add pizza to the menu and he read that pizza sales at companies such as Papa Johns have been setting records throughout 2020 because so many other options have gone away.

The additional brewing capacity includes a canning line, which should raise Pig Minds sales in the Chicago market. Until the expansion, Pig Minds had a limited bottling line and mostly sold kegs to Chicago-area bars.

At its peak, Pig Minds has had a staff of as many as 35. After COVID, Endl said hell need to boost that by another 10 to handle the additional customers and brewing demand. But they do have to get through this additional shutdown. The expansion, which was supposed to cost $1.2 million in 2016, ended up costing $2.1 million in 2020. Of the 30 employees he had at the start of the year, they are still trying to scrounge up hours for about 20.

Weve lost a lot of good people because they had to get other jobs, Endl said. Even if we could open up next week, wed have to ease into it. We have to get our staff back acclimated.

Endl said hes well positioned to ride this latest wave out as long as it doesnt last six months. Still, the additional space was necessary. When Endl opened Pig Minds in 2012, it was the areas second microbrew and first fully vegan restaurant. Since, the microbrew competition has continued to grow and more restaurants are adding vegan options.

My wife and I have been vegan since 1992. I know that vegan restaurants and breweries are destinations. Vegans will search for restaurants they can visit in different cities, Endl said.

That was my vision. Initially, the food side struggled because we were vegan. People would ask for at least a limited carnivore menu, Endl added. According to a study by Ipsos Retail Performance, between 2004 and 2019, the number of people in the U.S. who have adopted a fully vegan diet grew from 290,000 people to more than 9.7 million. The last couple of years, on weekends, we were having one- and two-hour waits for tables. Weve had success with the formula and now you see others adding vegan menus.

Alex Gary is a freelance correspondent

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Pig Minds owner hopes good things come to those who wait - Rockford Register Star