With more breweries focusing on taproom-style operations, places that typically don’t serve food, BrewBox Foods saw a need it could fill.
BrewBox Foods is a food delivery program that provides breweries small plates and appetizers to sell to customers, without having to prepare any of it in-house.
Breweries select the foods they want to serve, order them however often they need, and then have them ready to sell once the food is delivered.
The idea for the company came in May as co-founders Heather Schatz, Steven Stallone, Harlan Walden and Bradley Burns were at the final stop of a Jax Brew Bus tour.
Only one of the three stops served food, which happened to be the first stop, and by the end, the four were hungry.
Less than a month later, the group had a company name, logo and kitchen space at 10916 Atlantic Blvd., Schatz said in an email.
“If we could help the breweries offer premium fresh food in a turnkey manner, customers wouldn’t need to leave in search of it and could stay longer — to hopefully enjoy more beers,” said Schatz, who serves as the company’s spokesperson and also works as a producer at WJCT.
So far, the company has partnered with nine breweries and taprooms: Hyperion Brewing Co., Veterans United Craft Brewery, Bold City’s Downtown taproom, Tabula Rasa Brewing, Southern Swells Brewing Co., Posting House, Really Good Beer Stop and Kanine Social.
Will Frazier, manager of Bold City’s Downtown taproom, said he decided to offer BrewBox to give customers another dining option, in addition to the condensed Cowford Chophouse menu it has available.
“Cowford doesn’t open until 5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday,” Frazier said. “Also, some folks have a small window to grab a snack so BrewBox offers a solution to that for us.”
According to the BrewBox Foods website, using the service will help breweries increase sales by keeping customers in the brewery longer and decreases the potential for negative reviews relating to a possible poor food truck experience at the brewery. Some breweries have food trucks on-site.
The BrewBox menu includes cheese and charcuterie boards, skewers, chips, dips and spreads and occasional special items. Prices range from $5 to $16.
The foods are packaged in eco-friendly containers, so when the customer is done, there’s nothing for the brewery to clean.
“BrewBox Foods is a great plug-and-play way for breweries to offer a variety of fresh, chef-prepared food to their customers without distracting them from their primary focus and passion — creating amazing craft beers,” Schatz said.
BrewBox has been hosting launch parties at its nine partner breweries for the past month. The next is 7 p.m. Sept. 11 at Kanine Social in Brooklyn.
