The Berlin Beer Company and its food partner, The Street Kitchen, were recently awarded a $20,000 façade grant from the Berlin Main Street Program to revitalize the exterior of the downtown building.
The front of the Berlin Beer Company in downtown Berlin is pictured.
File photo
By Tara Fischer, Staff Writer
Last week, the Berlin Beer Company and its food partner, The Street Kitchen, were awarded a $20,000 façade grant from the Berlin Main Street Program.
The Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development funded the financial gift. A Facebook post from the Town of Berlin Main Street and Arts and Entertainment District states that the grant aims to help “downtown businesses and property owners revitalize their buildings or storefront.”
According to Berlin Beer Company owner and operator Adam Davis, he and his team purchased 115 Broad Street as the physical location of the alcohol facility and restaurant. The building is historic and required modifications to ensure it could safely host patrons. The brewery will serve beer, wine and liquor. The Street Kitchen will handle the food service.
Davis said that the structure was built in the 1930s and has since lived many lives, including as the town’s freight train station, Southern States farm supply store, and, most recently, a seafood operation. Now, the facility will welcome Berlin residents and visitors with locally brewed beer and on-site prepared dishes.
The façade grant program provided Berlin with an allowance of $50,000 to be budgeted throughout the town, Davis said. The brewery, which put “way more” into its building’s repairs, asked for the maximum amount to which it may be entitled. Their application was approved, and the $20,000 was gifted as a reimbursement for the work that had already been completed.
“We had to put in more than that to do the renovations to bring our building back to current code, so we asked for the max of the $50,000, and that’s how it worked out,” the brewery owner said.
The remaining $30,000 was spread out to additional businesses in town, including The Globe and Gilbert Provisions.
The Street Kitchen will handle Berlin Beer Company’s onsite food service. The business, owned by husband-and-wife team Jeff and Tammie Faille, opened in September 2017 as a food truck. Soon after, they began catering weddings and were recognized twice by Coastal Style Magazine for their work in Worcester County.
The Street Kitchen serves brisket, pork and tuna tacos, sandwiches, cut-cut fries, and quesadillas with farm-fresh ingredients. Tammie Faille said that the truck also makes its own sauces and pico de gallo.
The Berlin Beer Company contacted the Faille’s in January 2023 about the partnership. Davis said that the brick-and-mortar location is expected to be fully operational within the first few weeks of September. The facility has already passed its electrical and fire marshal inspection and is just awaiting some last-minute tests.