No, customers cannot buy the secret ingredients to their favorite craft beer offered at The Wheeling Brewing Company, but Chef Ryan Butler just might have a surprise in store when it comes to the eatery’s “Take and Bake” special of the day.
For example, today’s special was a pasta bake, and tomorrow’s will be announced in the morning.
“It involves freshly prepped WBC meals with provided directions to be taken home with you,” explained Chad Hill, one of the owners of the establishment. “This menu changes daily based on our available products, so keep up with the menu on our Facebook page.”
Hill, his partners, and the WBC staff have been working hard since W.Va. Gov. Jim Justice ordered all bars and restaurants closed on March 18, and the eatery now offers most of what patrons have found on the food and beverage menus since the grand opening in 2014.
“Currently we are offering our beer, wine, and food to go, and our limited menu has been adjusted to fit our customers’ needs and what products we have available in house,” Hill said. “Our brewer and head chef have been kicking butt at the pub over the past few weeks providing the ‘take and make’ meals, family size options, a special to-go menu, and curbside service for everything.
“We have been flexible with hours responding to the times of day people want to order, and we have had to get pretty creative,” he continued. “Whatever beers we have on tap will be available for growler purchases and re-fills. We will be intermittently offering discounts on those, so ‘like’ our Facebook page if you haven’t already and watch out for our promotions.”
The Struggle?
It’s not been easy. Make no mistake. Just as many other Wheeling area restaurants are attempting to remain open while employing as many as possible, Hill and his partners adopted the same goals at the brewpub.
As the saying goes, “The Struggle is Real.”
“Business has been difficult, to say the least,” he admitted. “The looming stress of COVID-19 and financial burdens it poses have been on everyone’s minds.
“We have retained our two salaried employees who have been working tirelessly since the shutdown to provide curbside pick up to our customers,” Hill said. “We wish we could have retained everyone to this point, and hopefully with the Paycheck Protection Program loan, we will be able to hire everyone back in the very near future.”
Future Growth?
It’s about survival at this point for The Wheeling Brewing Company, a business that has evolved its cuisine and brews based on requests from its loyal customer base. This pandemic situation, however, has proved to be, well, unexpected and most unusual.
“We do hope to have approval in the very near future for the Paycheck Protection Program through the Small Business Administration,” Hill explained. “Once funding is acquired, we hope to hire back our employees who have been laid off. However, we never planned on something like COVID-19 to cause hardship to our business, and this has been a wild ride so far.
“Our goal throughout this pandemic is keeping our employees safe and assuring longevity of our business,” he added. “That said, we hope to use this time to reflect on our success since opening five years ago and plan for the future growth of WBC.”
