Latest news with #PilotProject
Eater
08-07-2025
- Business
- Eater
Inside Wrigleyville's New Brewery Serving Up Taters Spliced With Bulgolgi
It's been seven years since Hotel Zachary opened across the street from Wrigley Field, and the building's tall shadow has led to a transformation surrounding the Friendly Confines. Wrigleyville is no stranger to turnover among its bars and restaurants, but as icons like John Barleycorn, and yes — the original Taco Bell — met their demise, it's left an opening for a different type of nightlife to emerge along Clark Street. In the middle of this chaos, beer consumption has changed in America. And that's why Pilot Project Brewing isn't banking on hops alone. The Wrigleyville location should soon debut at 3473 N. Clark Street; ownership is waiting for its liquor license, according to a rep. It's the second Pilot Project to open in Chicago, following the original brewery in Logan Square. There's also a Milwaukee location. Pilot Project serves as an incubator of small brewers, leasing out its space and equipment to jump-start businesses and offering beers from different brands inside its taproom. The Wrigley location takes that a step further with a new food menu. Earlier, ownership peculiarly described the menu as 'neo-American street food' without teasing any specific items. It turns out that means dishes like Italian won tons, soup dumplings in a bath of pozole, and loaded tater tots with pieces of bulgogi. It's more or less food made by third culture kids, combining the food their immigrant parents grew up eating with food commonly found in American homes. It's a version of New American tweaked for the bar. Beyond the souped-up menu, Pilot Project is also serving glasses of wine and canned cocktails from its own brand, Devious. Tour through the 3,000-square-foot space — which includes patios on the roof and ground floor — in the photos below. Pilot Project Wrigleyville, 3473 N. Clark Street, opening soon Eater Chicago All your essential food and restaurant intel delivered to you Email (required) Sign Up By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. The ground-floor patio provides an escape from busy Clark Street. The rooftop patio is more chill. A view of Clark Street from the rooftop patio. This brewery will also serve glasses of wine. Donna's Pickle Beer is one of Pilot Project's success stories thanks to a tart taste that's great on hot days. Black Manhattan
CTV News
20-06-2025
- General
- CTV News
NB launches professional development days pilot project
Atlantic Watch New Brunswick teachers will have more professional development days under a new pilot project.
Yahoo
10-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Pilot Project Brewing opening second Chicago location in Wrigleyville
The brewery company Pilot Project is opening its second Chicago location this spring in Wrigleyville, slated to fit a tap room, restaurant, rooftop and a basement cocktail lounge. The expansion comes after a big year for Pilot Project, which employs 130 employees and has produced an estimated $12 million in revenue since 2019, while several other breweries in Chicago pulled the plug. Pilot Project purchased Milwaukee Brewing Co.'s 70,000-square-foot production facility and restaurant in Wisconsin in 2022 and maintains an industrial-type tasting room in Logan Square. The company's third brewery facility will sit two blocks from Wrigley Field with a large 3,500 square-foot patio facing Clark Street. The patio will have access to a rooftop deck that Pilot Project will continue to build out through the summer. 'What's going to be really fun and a little bit different for us is this basement that was kind of unrealized and a little too separated from the main area,' Pilot Project co-founder Dan Abel explained. 'So we're turning it into a cocktail lounge.' Called the Devious Lounge, the space will be a 'proper cocktail room,' with a capacity of about 40 people, Abel said. The capacity for the entire location, lounge included, is around 300. Abel said his team wants to broaden the breadth of each of the 20 different beverage brands Pilot Project has launched through its incubator program. The incubator supports a wide range of products, from beer and alcoholic beverages to more niche drinks such as kombucha, nonalcoholic blends and pickle beer, he explained. One of the 20 brands launched by Pilot Project is Donna's Pickle Beer, a brew created by Josh Jancewicz, who's based in Hollywood, California. Jancewicz told the Tribune he ventured into home brewing after feeling run down by his 9-to-5 job working for the United States Postal Service. 'I was just trying to create any idea that I could come up with for a new business and not be a mailman anymore,' Jancewicz said. 'And then one day … I was out in the desert with my friends, drinking some beers and eating pickles. I was like, 'There's something here, and I just don't know what.' And the next day, I'm driving home, and it was like 'Donna's Pickle Beer. That's it.' So I went home, I drew a can out of crayons on a piece of paper, and I sent it to my now business partner.' But everybody 'just kept saying no, no, no' Jancewicz said. Until they found Pilot Project. 'They understood it. They saw it, and they liked the concept,' he explained. 'It took us probably nine months to find them from the (first time I thought of Donna's Pickle Beer). And a year and a couple months later, our first can was actually out.' Pilot Project worked closely with Jancewicz to experiment with different pickle brines to develop the flavor profile and the beer itself. The first batch of 400 cases of Donna's Pickle Beer went out last April. In a year and a half, they've grown to over 5,000 cases a month, Jancewicz said. Abel said they field dozens and dozens of applications from independent beverage brands each year through an initial quick survey online. Abel credits much of his company's success to its concept modeled after the music industry. Pilot Project is both like a recording studio and a record label, except for beverages, he said, noting that his background in home-brewing, performing music and marketing allowed him to manifest his idea into a brewing company that has been able to sustain itself in a rocky climate. Last May, Lagunitas Brewing moved its North Lawndale brewhouse to Petaluma, California, citing changing tides in the craft beverage industry and declining sales and production. Revolution Brewing's Brewpub in Logan Square, where the first Anti-Hero IPA was made and served in Chicago, closed permanently in December after nearly 15 years. Revolution, hailed as the largest independent craft brewery in Illinois, still operates a production brewery and taproom in Avondale. Lo Rez Brewing, Empirical Brewery and Metropolitan Brewing also closed up shop in recent years. According to the Brewers Association, craft brewer volume sales in the U.S. decreased by 1% in 2023, while retail dollar sales increased by 3% to $28.9 billion, due in part to price increases. Craft brewer sales make up nearly 25% of the $117 billion U.S. beer market. In 2024, the Brewers Association tracked 335 new brewery openings and 399 closings across the country. Meanwhile, with Pilot Project's new location and more to come, Abel said he's trying to push the capabilities of what the restaurant and brewery can do. 'Wrigleyville, much different than Logan Square, gets to be a place where we test high volume — the game day traffic, all the fun stuff,' Abel said. Pilot Project hopes to welcome guests into their new space at around the same time the Chicago Cubs season begins in the spring. Pilot Project Brewing's Logan Square location is at 2140 N. Milwaukee Ave., 773-270-5995,
Chicago Tribune
10-02-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Pilot Project Brewing opening second Chicago location in Wrigleyville
The brewery company Pilot Project is opening its second Chicago location this spring in Wrigleyville, slated to fit a tap room, restaurant, rooftop and a basement cocktail lounge. The expansion comes after a big year for Pilot Project, which employs 130 employees and has produced an estimated $12 million in revenue since 2019, while several other breweries in Chicago pulled the plug. Pilot Project purchased Milwaukee Brewing Co.'s 70,000-square-foot production facility and restaurant in Wisconsin in 2022 and maintains an industrial-type tasting room in Logan Square. The company's third brewery facility will sit two blocks from Wrigley Field with a large 3,500 square-foot patio facing Clark Street. The patio will have access to a rooftop deck that Pilot Project will continue to build out through the summer. 'What's going to be really fun and a little bit different for us is this basement that was kind of unrealized and a little too separated from the main area,' Pilot Project co-founder Dan Abel explained. 'So we're turning it into a cocktail lounge.' Called the Devious Lounge, the space will be a 'proper cocktail room,' with a capacity of about 40 people, Abel said. The capacity for the entire location, lounge included, is around 300. Abel said his team wants to broaden the breadth of each of the 20 different beverage brands Pilot Project has launched through its incubator program. The incubator supports a wide range of products, from beer and alcoholic beverages to more niche drinks such as kombucha, nonalcoholic blends and pickle beer, he explained. One of the 20 brands launched by Pilot Project is Donna's Pickle Beer, a brew created by Josh Jancewicz, who's based in Hollywood, California. Jancewicz told the Tribune he ventured into home brewing after feeling run down by his 9-to-5 job working for the United States Postal Service. 'I was just trying to create any idea that I could come up with for a new business and not be a mailman anymore,' Jancewicz said. 'And then one day … I was out in the desert with my friends, drinking some beers and eating pickles. I was like, 'There's something here, and I just don't know what.' And the next day, I'm driving home, and it was like 'Donna's Pickle Beer. That's it.' So I went home, I drew a can out of crayons on a piece of paper, and I sent it to my now business partner.' But everybody 'just kept saying no, no, no' Jancewicz said. Until they found Pilot Project. 'They understood it. They saw it, and they liked the concept,' he explained. 'It took us probably nine months to find them from the (first time I thought of Donna's Pickle Beer). And a year and a couple months later, our first can was actually out.' Pilot Project worked closely with Jancewicz to experiment with different pickle brines to develop the flavor profile and the beer itself. The first batch of 400 cases of Donna's Pickle Beer went out last April. In a year and a half, they've grown to over 5,000 cases a month, Jancewicz said. Abel said they field dozens and dozens of applications from independent beverage brands each year through an initial quick survey online. Abel credits much of his company's success to its concept modeled after the music industry. Pilot Project is both like a recording studio and a record label, except for beverages, he said, noting that his background in home-brewing, performing music and marketing allowed him to manifest his idea into a brewing company that has been able to sustain itself in a rocky climate. Last May, Lagunitas Brewing moved its North Lawndale brewhouse to Petaluma, California, citing changing tides in the craft beverage industry and declining sales and production. Revolution Brewing's Brewpub in Logan Square, where the first Anti-Hero IPA was made and served in Chicago, closed permanently in December after nearly 15 years. Revolution, hailed as the largest independent craft brewery in Illinois, still operates a production brewery and taproom in Avondale. Lo Rez Brewing, Empirical Brewery and Metropolitan Brewing also closed up shop in recent years. According to the Brewers Association, craft brewer volume sales in the U.S. decreased by 1% in 2023, while retail dollar sales increased by 3% to $28.9 billion, due in part to price increases. Craft brewer sales make up nearly 25% of the $117 billion U.S. beer market. In 2024, the Brewers Association tracked 335 new brewery openings and 399 closings across the country. Meanwhile, with Pilot Project's new location and more to come, Abel said he's trying to push the capabilities of what the restaurant and brewery can do. 'Wrigleyville, much different than Logan Square, gets to be a place where we test high volume — the game day traffic, all the fun stuff,' Abel said. Pilot Project hopes to welcome guests into their new space at around the same time the Chicago Cubs season begins in the spring.
