Coronavirus seeps into big dreams of local biz

SHAWANO — The opening of the Stubborn Brothers Brewery has been a much-anticipated event in Shawano, as the new beer and entertainment venue was touted to replace the former Crescent Theater.

With word first swirling around the city in 2016, it appeared the new facility would be up and running in a year. However, additional work and planning pushed back the opening again and again, until owners Aaron and Erik Gilling announced the brewery’s ribbon cutting would take place March 18.

Before the ribbon could be cut, however, guidelines for social distancing were established — first with events having no more than 50 people by Gov. Tony Evers, followed by President Donald Trump trimming that to 10 people.

As a result, the opening is on hold once again, and if the new brewery remains closed for too much longer, the big dreams of the Gillings could be the next casualty of COVID-19. So far, millions of dollars have been put into renovating the facility, hiring staff and preparing beer and other special products, according to Aaron Gilling.

Gilling said in a phone interview that he believes the brewery will remain fine as is through the middle of May — the end of the month at the latest. After that, he said decisions will need to be made to keep the business from becoming something else.

“We would be a completely different business model,” Gilling said. “That’s what we’re nervous about. We’d have to go from a brewery that serves its beer in house with a high-end dining experience to being a packaged brewery. That’s not bad; we love packaged breweries. But our goal is to be a brewery where you can come and enjoy the product and have an amazing experience in an incredible atmosphere.”

The brewery had just hired 20 people to be the staff for the business before the pandemic hit full force, but not being able to be open to the public required laying them all off, according to Gilling. He said it was a rough decision to make, considering most of them had quit jobs at other places to join the Stubborn Brothers team.

“Everyone was very excited. We had an amazing soft opening and were getting the kinks really worked out, but suddenly, their lives were put on hold,” Gilling said. “They can’t get unemployment because the unemployment line is so huge. They’re calling me, and I’m saying, ‘If there’s anything we can do to help, we will,’ but we’re all in this boat together.”

The brewery had already starting booking performances for the entertainment side of the venue, including Ike Arumba and the Infidels, but those plans were also derailed by the pandemic.

“The artists are saying, ‘When can we come and play?’ Because initially, everybody thought this was going to blow over in a week,” Gilling said. “Well, three weeks later, we’re all in the same boat.”

Despite not being up and running, the brewery is managing to stay afloat. Closing to the public hasn’t kept Stubborn Brothers from brewing beer, and the business has sold that beer to locals via curbside pickup.

“We’ve built the brewery from the ground up, and we’ve got a good bank through CoVantage Credit Union that’s had our backs to an extent,” Gilling said. “We’ve had a couple of growler sales, but we’re not really where we were aiming to be at this time. Honestly, we’re trying to keep our head above water and don’t have much money coming in.”

Both times the Stubborn Brothers held the growler sales, they were sold out, according to Gilling. However, it is not something that can be done regularly during the interim due to the limited availability of glass.

“We can’t get glass bottles from our supplier for weeks,” Gilling said. “When we sell out, we sell out. It’s not that we don’t have beer we want to sell you, it’s simply that we don’t have the package product, the bottles to put it in.”

He noted that many glass companies have switched focus to preparing hand sanitizer and tending to the needs of hospitals because they are a higher priority.

“We’re kind of the least important people in the world at this time to those companies,” Gilling said.

While other restaurants in the area converted to being pickup and delivery food sources, Stubborn Brothers has not followed suit. Gilling said the food Stubborn Brothers had planned to serve, including certain types of flatbread and sun-dried tomatoes, was “high end” and not the kind of thing that easily can be prepared and shipped out.

“Yes, you can put it outside your door, but you’re going to impact your reputation,” Gilling said. “We’re not willing to risk our reputation by putting out food that is good but is not to the level we expect it to be.”

lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com