Richmond breweries are adding in-house restaurants, wine and more

Why it matters: Brewery taprooms are still a relatively young business in Virginia, but the evolution of their business model shows they're here for the long haul.

State of play: Last year marked the 10th anniversary of the landmark legislation that allowed Virginia breweries to start selling beer for on-site consumption, which led to the explosion of craft breweries across the state.

• At the start of 2012, there were 44 breweries in Virginia. Today, there are nearly 300.

What's happening: In recent years, more than half of Richmond breweries — once bare-bone operations with a few taps and a food truck in the parking lot — have added in-house restaurants and wine or cider to meet consumer demand and keep up with an increasingly competitive scene.

"When we started, there was only one other brewery in the city. Now there are 40. We needed something more than just tanks to draw people in," Hardywood co-founder Eric McKay tells Axios.

In 2021, Hardywood partnered with Richmond chef and restaurant owner Joe Sparatta to develop Hardywood Pizza Kitchen — a six-option artisanal pizza menu made in their Ownby Lane taproom.

• Sparatta helped develop the menu and hire and train the staff before handing over operations to Hardywood. And Hardywood is working with him again on a brat-focused restaurant concept for their West Creek location.

"It's less money making and more guest experience," Hardywood co-founder Patrick Murtaugh tells Axios.

The 2012 law allowed breweries to sell their own beer on site, but once breweries added food they could apply for a separate ABC license as a restaurant.

• Virginia ABC only requires a $2,000-per-month minimum in food sales for a wine and beer license for any restaurant, including one inside a brewery. If spirits are served, it goes up to $4,000 and requires a minimum of 45% of sales to come from food.

Hardywood partnered with Barboursville to make a house red and white wine and started making its own cider, options gluten-free patrons had been eager for.

• Six months ago they brought on Richmond bartender Beth Dixon to consult on a cocktail menu, now available at the Ownby taproom.

For Ardent Craft Ales, the unreliability of food trucks — once ubiquitous at Richmond breweries — drove them to add an in-house food menu.

"There was a food truck wave, and it was fun and exciting. And then by 2019, the best had opened brick-and-mortar restaurants. The good ones were in high demand, and the rest were just unreliable," said Ardent co-owner Tom Sullivan.

They too brought on a consultant to create their sandwich, flatbread and charcuterie menu and gave taproom manager Lincoln Smith, formerly of Secco Wine Bar, free reign to curate a small, seasonal wine list.

But, by Sullivan's measure, it's not a restaurant. It's "a humble sandwich counter."

• "Our main focus will always be making the best beer we can," Sullivan said.