The team at Drekker originally planned for their Brewhalla development in Fargo, North Dakota, to house several permanent food trucks. Eventually, however, they realized they wouldn’t have enough space, so their ambitions evolved.
In 2018, they completed restoration on the 140-year-old building that was once a repair depot for Northern Pacific trains. Instead of housing food trucks, Drekker decided to rebuild the property from the ground up to address their kitchen needs—but what they envisioned for the new space would include far more than food.
Now completed, the 100,000 square foot building includes multiple food concepts, artisan market vendors, a coffee shop, an event center, and a hotel with rooms themed after different Drekker beers. Brewhalla is a hub for lodging, dining, shopping, and drinking, and it’s the kind of community meeting place that many breweries aspire to become but may struggle to realize.
Many breweries host food trucks or contract with restaurants to manage a kitchen within a taproom. However, some are more often looking at outside-the-box partnerships that could reach new customers, provide unique experiences, and earn deeper buy-in from their guests.
These tenant partnerships often include unique challenges as well as unique opportunities.