As we announced the other day, Consortium Holdings (Craft & Commerce, Neighborhood, etc.) has signed on for the former Proper Gastropub location at 8th & J Streets in Downtown. But they won’t be alone. They’ll be splitting that space with the biggest name in San Diego craft beer.
Stone Brewing Co. will take over the other half, formerly occupied by Wine Steals. They’ll be putting in their sixth Stone Company Store in San Diego, the second in the Downtown area after the recent opening of their Kettner location. Consortium will create a restaurant/cocktail concept. Stone, meanwhile, will use the wood-burning pizza oven that comes with their half of the space for a flatbread menu.
The question for Stone CEO/co-founder Greg Koch is: Will neighboring businesses, many of whom serve Stone beers, view them as competition?
“We welcome [it],” says Ty Hauter, who owns multiple concepts in the neighborhood, including Blind Burro, Cat Eye Club and Lucky’s Lunch Counter. “We’re looking forward to the added foot traffic and local business camaraderie Greg Koch brings to the mix.”
Koch is renown as an ambassador for craft beer, and not just his own. Instead of viewing other local craft beers as competitors, Stone puts them on their trucks and distributes them around San Diego. He’s also spearheaded the San Diego Craft Beer Hospitality and Tourism Economic Summit—a second, bigger installment of which he’s planning for Feb. 4.
“There are two models of business,” says Koch. “There’s the old model that you’re in business for the exclusion of everyone else. Clearly we don’t work in that realm. We believe in the cooperative/compatriot model of ‘Let’s do some awesome sh**.”
Consortium and Stone’s “awesome sh**” is tentatively scheduled to open next March.
**Note: The original story said Consortium chef Jason McLeod would be creating the menu for Stone. That’s incorrect.
INCOMING: Stone Company Store
