USA, NE: Monolithic Brewing navigating through starting business during the pandemic

A new brewery that's opened in northwest Omaha is navigating through starting a business during the pandemic, fox42kptm.com reported on March 8.

Monolithic Brewing had been in the works for years, but then 2020 came and the planned grand opening became a little more complicated.

If you take a look around the northwest area, it's a part of town that's just starting to come together.

The owners thought this would be the perfect spot for their business because they live here and thought the area had potential.

They already had the location picked out before the pandemic even started.

"We feel like if we can come through this we'll be looking pretty good," says Todd, co-owner of Monolithic Brewery.

Monolithic Brewing had been a dream for its owners for four years.

They planned to open in 2020, which turned out to be a rough year with the pandemic.

Although Hartung says they were determined to get their dream up and running no matter what.

Hartung says, "For us, again, it's been a long time planning and things were signed and the ball was already rolling because the process to open a brewery, there's quite a few hoops to jump through so I would like to say we're brave and went through it but at the same standpoint we were already rolling."

The brewery opened Halloween weekend and they didn't have to change a lot from their original business plan.

"We wanted to be more spread out to begin with prior to, so we wouldn't be jam-packed. We wanted to be comfortable environment and focus on the beer," Hartung says.

Customers say it's nice to have a sense of normalcy back.

Kevin Martin says, "I mean you still stay cautious with what's going on but there's a little bit more relaxation now and things being open with the weather, you feel a little bit more comfortable being out."

"Beautiful weather and with it being the first anniversary since things were shutting down, we said we got to get out today," adds Becky Martin.

"We are a family-orientated business and we are a family-owned business. It's important for us to get to know the people that come in here and that's what we think sets up apart. We work in the kitchen, we do dishes, we do anything and everything," says Hartung.

Right now, the brewery is only open Friday to Sunday, but the owners hope to expand to Thursdays starting in April.

The owners say they hope to see the northwest area expand with more local businesses in the future.

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