DENTON August 2016
Business
CHRONICLE
www.dentonbusinesschronicle.com
Photos by David Minton
Free Fallin’ Oktoberfest cans move down the canning line at Audacity Brew House on Aug. 11 in Denton. Audacity is the only full brewery in the city limits, but more are on the way.
Crafting a market Local beer still has room to grow By Julian Gill and Jenna Duncan | Staff Writers he way we drink, and think about drinking, is changing. Businesses serving and selling craft beer have blossomed in Denton in recent years, with the busiest restaurants making sure to feature local craft beer to match changing tastes. Meanwhile, the downtown businesses that are focused on beer also are focused on community, said Julie Glover, who oversees economic development downtown. She rattled off events, from bar owner John Williams personally providing candy for thousands of trick-or-treaters on the Square to social runs and biking events on weekdays.
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Six-packs of Free Fallin’ Oktoberfest seasonal beer are placed into cases at Audacity Brew House.
“They’re adding value to downtown [with] things like pop-up music venues, like the Bearded Monk,” Glover said. “I think a lot of the bars are drawing attention and drawing people to downtown.” Alcohol tax revenue has been steadily climbing downtown, with 40 percent of all alcohol sales in Denton coming in the core of downtown and craft beer dominating taps at bars and venues like Dan’s Silverleaf. Statewide, craft beer generated more than $3.7 billion in economic impact in 2014, according to the national Brewers BEER | CONTINUED ON PAGE 6
First convention center event booked Two-state Kiwanis gathering set for new Denton facility in 2019 By Jenna Duncan | Staff Writer
By Jenna Duncan | Staff Writer he food truck frenzy is strong right now. There are three new Denton-based trucks making regular appearances at Austin St. Truck Stop and other locations: Leila’s, Beware of Dog and Big Knife Tacos. Leila’s specializes in vegetarian Iranian and Mediterranean food, Beware of Dog serves up gourmet hot dogs and, of course, Big Knife does tacos. After three food delivery services opened and closed within months, Denton has two new options: Breckies and MenuRunners. Breckies is by local favorite Seven Mile Cafe, delivering brunch food throughout Denton from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. Addison-based MenuRunners delivers foods from
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restaurants around town, like Bet the House BBQ. The 85,000-square-foot WinCo Foods is now open at Rayzor Ranch Town Center. The 24-hour store only accepts cash and debit cards, and specializes in bulk foods like soup mixes and every spice imaginable. (Full disclosure: I got lost the first time I went.) There’s another new breakfast option in town, Upper Park Cafe at 222 W. Hickory St. Open for breakfast and lunch, the cafe offers a more California-style take on food, using less butter and featuring omelets loaded with vegetables. This is the Aubrey business’ second location. While it hasn’t been open even a month, Boca 31 is packed regularly DUNCAN | CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
Denton’s new hotel and convention center has inked its first deal: hosting the 2019 Texas-Oklahoma District Convention for Kiwanis International. The convention arrangements were finalized over the weekend during this year’s convention in Allen, said Joe Holland, a Denton Breakfast Kiwanis Club member who presented the plan. Dana Lodge, director of sales for the Denton Convention & Visitors Bureau, confirmed it is the first convention to sign on for the Embassy Suites hotel and convention center location that is expected to open by the end of 2017. “It is the first one to sign on the dotted ‘yes, we’re coming to Denton,’ but there will be a lot of conventions in the building long before this comes up,” Lodge said. The 11-story Embassy Suites hotel and convention center broke ground in March after the City Council and O’Reilly Hospitality Management spent nearly two years working on the project. The convention center will be 70,000 square feet, and the hotel will hold 318 rooms and a Houlihan’s Restaurant. When Holland knew construction was underway on the Denton conven-
David Minton/DRC file photo
The skeleton of Denton’s new convention center goes up July 5 at Rayzor Ranch Town Center. tion center, he began working on a proposal for the Kiwanis convention to come to town. Holland, a 35-year member of the Breakfast Kiwanis, has attended the annual Texas-Oklahoma convention for 34 years in a row. He worked with Lodge and other staff members at the CVB to create a presentation at the Allen convention, complete with a Little D bike rack and “Dentoning” koozies. “We not only got the bid, but we hopefully made a lot of friends want to come to Denton,” Holland said. With preparation underway, he hopes to get 1,000 people to attend the convention, including members of the
club, spouses, guests and vendors. It’s slated to run Thursday, Aug. 8, through Sunday, Aug. 11, in 2019. Lodge said the CVB is talking with several other conventions to host their events in Denton once the center is open, and expects more deals to be finalized in the near future. “We’re still working with whoever the organizers are and going after some ourselves to try to bring them to Denton,” she said of recruitment. “We have lots of them pending at the moment, and this is the first one that said yes.” JENNA DUNCAN can be reached at 940-566-6889 and via Twitter at @JennaFDuncan.