ESCONDIDO (KGTV) — The founders of Stone Brewing are reopening their Escondido restaurant under a new name, independent of the Stone Brewing brand.
Greg Koch and his business partner Steve Wagner plan to reopen the Escondido restaurant under a new name, separate from the brand they built. Koch, one of the original founders of Stone Brewing — a local beer company that has been operating in San Diego County for decades — says he's excited to keep the restaurant in Escondido.
"I, you know, personally built stone walls that are still there today, and, you know, we designed the restaurants and created a destination-style place that showed, we thought showed beer in the proper light, that it belongs at the dinner table, it belongs with real food, it belongs in, you know, great, uh, you know, moments that are important to us," Koch said.
Koch says the current location will close on November 13th to prepare for the reopening.
"My very favorite thing, hands down, is to be off at the edge and just listening to the people laughing and talking, and enjoying the clinking of plates and glassware and all of that activity and energy. There's no better sound in the world," Koch said.
When I asked about the future of the restaurant's current staff and whether the team would be rehired, Koch said the details remain uncertain.
"Well, I can't really speak to the details of that process because they are unknown at this moment. We still have again licensing and other things that we have to take care of, but certainly what we're looking for, you know, we expect to have a highly qualified, amazing team that will help us execute everything," Koch said.
Sapporo, a Japanese beer company, acquired Stone Brewing in 2022. Sapporo later sold the Stone Brewing brand to Firestone Walker Brewing and Duvel USA. The Escondido restaurant was not part of that sale.
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