USA, DE: Thompson Island Brewing Company already open in Rehoboth
Its a few hours into an Oct. 22 soft opening for Thompson Island Brewing Company and Matt Patton, the restaurants director of operations, is standing at the far corner of the newly minted bar with a smile, CapeGazette.com reported on October 31.
Everything is going good, said Patton. Its exciting to see all the hard work come to fruition.
Thompson Island Brewing Company, a 250-seat brewpub off Route 1 in Rehoboth, is the 12th restaurant for SoDel Concepts. Its located immediately south of the companys Bluecoast Seafood Grill & Raw Bar, which opened in 2017.
Patton, who started working at SoDel Concepts in 2013, has been involved with every step of construction with both restaurants. He said the opening of Thompson Island is a years-long vision hes shared with SoDel Concepts President Scott Kammerer and SoDel Concepts Founder Matt Haley, who died from injuries sustained in a 2014 motorcycle accident while on a humanitarian trip in India.
During my very first meeting with them, they asked me where I saw myself in five years, and I told them I would be running a brewpub, said Patton. Were a year late, but I think Matt would be excited and proud to see whats become of that conversation.
Thompson Island is SoDels first brewpub. Patton said the company partnered with Pennsylvania-based Tröegs so they would be making good beer from day one. He said hes not worried about entering a marketplace that includes a number of well-known and well-liked breweries. In the U.S., he said, Delaware is No. 2 in beer consumption per capita, but only No. 30 in beer production.
Theres plenty of room for more beer, he said. Plus, were proud to work with and serve the other great beer thats produced around here.
SoDel restaurants are known for their food. Patton said Thompson Island has a number of people working in the kitchen who have been head chefs at their other restaurants. Thompson Islands food offerings will not disappoint, he said.
Weve assembled a culinary dream team of our best chefs, he said. They wanted to work here. They all like beer and they put their egos aside to make this work.
Thompson Island opened to the public Oct. 24. Patton smiled when asked about opening up the weekend of the annual Sea Witch Festival, which will bring more than 100,000 people to Rehoboth Beach over the weekend.
Well be fine, he said. The staff is experienced, and we thrive under pressure.
Patton said Thompson Island will be open year-round and for the first couple of weeks, while kinks are being worked out, the hours of operation will be 4 to 10 p.m., Sunday through Thursday, and 4 to 11 p.m., Friday and Saturday. Soon, he said, the restaurant will add lunch hours.
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