{"id":5550,"date":"2021-12-09T21:11:00","date_gmt":"2021-12-10T03:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/live-gordon-food-service.pantheonsite.io\/success-story-shorts-brewing-thinks-outside-pub\/"},"modified":"2023-02-01T14:19:20","modified_gmt":"2023-02-01T20:19:20","slug":"success-story-shorts-brewing-thinks-outside-pub","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gfs.com\/en-us\/ideas\/success-story-shorts-brewing-thinks-outside-pub\/","title":{"rendered":"Success story: Short\u2019s Brewing thinks outside the pub"},"content":{"rendered":"

When it comes to its logo and beer labels, Short\u2019s Brewing Co.<\/a> is all about fun. When it comes to feeding a crowd, the brewpub\u2019s restaurant gets serious about utilizing its outdoor dining space to create a vibe that promotes safety and eases the load indoors.<\/p>\n

Before the pandemic, Short\u2019s had about 300 seats in its Bellaire, Michigan, dining room. There was room for another 50 on its patio. Everything changed in March 2020. A state-mandated COVID-19 shutdown, followed by social distancing and capacity limits, forced new arrangements that are still a work in progress.<\/p>\n

The patio area, once a place for servers to pick up drink orders, became a walk-up window for takeout customers. A vacant lot Short\u2019s owns across the street was turned into a community gathering spot for a number of nearby eateries. The Downtown Development Authority bought tables, a next-door cidery added cornhole, and all of the businesses pitched in to keep the space clean.<\/p>\n

Short\u2019s dining room temporarily turned into a place to store cordwood sold for the fire pits in the \u201cKeg Camp\u201d erected in the vacant lot. It takes a lot of wood to last through a northern Michigan winter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t want to have one big heater or fire pit that would become a gathering place, so Joe [Short, the brewery founder and owner] built cubicles out of stacked kegs,\u201d explained Erin Kuethe, Pub General Manager. \u201cThey were like little cubbies, each one had a fire pit and a little table\u2014they were full pretty much from morning to night every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

The patio and beyond<\/h3>\n

Now that indoor dining has reopened, Kuethe isn\u2019t certain how much demand to expect for outdoor dining this winter<\/a>. That hasn\u2019t stopped Short\u2019s from preparing outdoor spaces and thinking about ways to serve customer needs and balance kitchen and service challenges.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year it will probably be different than last year because we\u2019re not sure how many people will be interested in eating outside,\u201d Kuethe said. \u201cWe get completely full and booked quickly on the weekends, so outdoor dining or takeout is the only option.\u201d<\/p>\n

The patio now served dual purposes. It\u2019s both a pickup counter and waiting area. Guests can grab a beer and wait for a table, or seat themselves at one of the four tables available on a first-come, first-served basis. The patio also serves as a pickup window for to-go orders, six-packs or growler fills, as well as space for merchandise sales.
 
Meanwhile, in the lot across the street, Short\u2019s is creating an outdoor dining area using shipping containers. They are being anchored parallel to one another, with the space in between covered by a tent-like roof for shelter in the winter and shade in the summer.
 
Kuethe hasn\u2019t determined yet whether outdoor specials will be part of the program this year. Last winter, warm drinks and s\u2019mores kits were sold for consumption around the fire pits.
 
\u201cIt\u2019s something we might do again around Christmas, but we\u2019re not sure how popular outdoor dining will be this year now that people can do both indoor and outdoor dining,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

An ever-growing business<\/h3>\n

These changes are just part of the evolution of Short\u2019s. After two years of planning and construction, the brewpub opened in 2004 at a renovated 120-year-old hardware store in downtown Bellaire. <\/p>\n

Many dozens of brews have been crafted over the years, including a creative Imperial Beer Series that won rave reviews. Short\u2019s soon expanded, opening a brewing facility in nearby Elk Rapids and renovating the Bellaire pub.<\/p>\n

The operation employs about 80 people, although during the busy summer tourist season that number swells to over 100. In the winter, the pub is a favorite of locals, as well as skiers from the Shanty Creek Resort that\u2019s just minutes away. <\/p>\n

Finding cost-saving solutions<\/h3>\n

In addition to mainstay beer selections like Bellaire Brown and Soft Parade Shandy, the core menu includes sandwiches, pizzas, appetizers and salads. Brunch is served every Sunday.<\/p>\n

All sandwiches are toasted, so they work well for takeout, Kuethe explained. Because there\u2019s always a full rail during the summer, her kitchen staff sticks to the basics. During winter, the team tries more creativity, such as Chinese food, coney dogs or sausage and kale flatbread.<\/p>\n

In the face of a tight labor market<\/a> and supply-chain challenges<\/a>, Short\u2019s has evaluated what needs to be made from scratch and what doesn\u2019t, Kuethe said. One of those changes was a switch to washed, pre-chopped bagged lettuce.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe used to buy and chop and process all of our romaine by hand, and that was like two or three hours every day for someone,\u201d she said. \u201cWe switched to keep from bogging down the prep line.\u201d <\/p>\n

Her goal was to avoid drastic changes, but to consider the work volume and make changes to accommodate the staff. She acknowledges that the cost of value-added items<\/a> are higher, but the time saved is worth the price. \u201cAs the cost of labor goes up, it will only continue to bring savings,\u201d she said.
 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Outdoor patio and gathering spots make the most of service and safety.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":5551,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-running-your-business"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSuccess story: Short\u2019s Brewing thinks outside the pub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/gfs.com\/en-us\/ideas\/success-story-shorts-brewing-thinks-outside-pub\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Success story: Short\u2019s Brewing thinks outside the pub\" \/>\n<meta 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