27 Mar People’s Brewing Opens Krug Corner Pub Just Five Minutes from Brewery – A Niche for Each
by Mark E. Lasbury for Indiana On Tap
Krug Corner Pub (sorry for the lack of umlauts), is the new taproom/bistro from People’s Brewing Company in Lafayette. It’s been open for three weeks or so on the down low, but they’ve been working to bring the staffing up to full levels and to soon open up full time (check the hours for now). Walter and I stopped in for a brat and beer on Saturday, and we learned a lot about how this location can co-exist with the People’s Brewing taproom and kitchen located just 2 miles north on the very same 9th Street as the new pub.
To be able to make a success of different locations of the same brewery so close to one another takes a good plan and good execution. Owner Chris Johnson had in mind to make the Krug Corner Pub just different enough so that patrons would know they are someplace different, yet still know they are at a People’s location. How do you do that when you can hit one location with a rock from the other? Well, let’s see how.
image credit: People’s Brewing
Theme: The original taproom is in a bit more of an industrial area, and is all about the beer. They have a kitchen where you can get an eclectic variety of foods, and you know that you are in a brewery. There’s much more of a German pub feel to Krug (German for a large beer mug). The food is much more themed, very German. We tried the brats and spicy mustard that they are going to source locally, they were extremely good. The menu will expand soon; the dang supply chain has delayed delivery of some of their equipment.
More apparent is the difference in locations, Krug is on a neighborhood corner, with a yoga studio and other businesses next door, and houses in all directions. It’s a neighborhood pub in every sense of the word, with a bistro feel.
Available beverages: The taproom has 18 taps and serves all the fine beer that comes out of the brewhouse in the back. The corner pub has 10 taps, so they have to be more selective in what they put on – what will work for the bistro. However, Krug has a two way license, so they have wines as well; the brewery taproom serves beer only, along with People’s seltzers.
Krug Corner Pub from people’s Brewing has a neighborhood bistro feel. image credit: Walter
The other difference is with packaged products. The brewery taproom has all the cans you could ever want, along with the special release bottles. The corner pub will sell a few cans, like the Boiler Gold and Black mixed twelve packs, but cold room space will limit the volume of cans they can stock at any one time.
Kids & Dogs: Who you have with you might determine which location you choose to visit as well. The corner pub allows kids, but the bistro doesn’t have any possibility for outside seating, and they are making food on site, so no dogs can be allowed. On the other hand, the brewery taproom is strictly 21+ plus, unless you have a puppy – dogs are the only underage beings allowed to come have fun there since have a large patio that is dog friendly.
Conclusion: That’s how you do it – two locations of the same brewery can co-exist if you give people the same great service and atmosphere, but individual experiences and environments. We had a great talk with Kaelin at the bar (the same beautiful bar that used to be at People’s Brewing Revel Room in Lebanon), and she had a great feel about how the places differ and yet are the same. The point is that one location should enhance the other to give more opportunities for patrons, not for one to steal business from the other. Get to both locations – Krug Corner Pub (900 Kossuth St., Lafayette, 47905) or the original taproom (2006 N. 9th St., Lafayette 47904) and enjoy what each has to offer.
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