New local business brewing up fun and good times

by Dan Holland

When Terry DeLap and his wife Janice sold their Broadview Heights business, The Cleaning Authority, in 2019 with plans of retiring and traveling the world, they found that one of their favorite pastimes would soon become their next business venture.

“My wife and I are both big craft brew fans and we found ourselves visiting a number of breweries,” Terry explained. “But we realized that there’s not a brewery in this area between Akron and Cleveland; just nothing close by. We found ourselves either going to Cleveland or to Akron to go have craft beer. So, we thought this would be a ripe location to start up a brewery.”

The couple plans to open Broadview Brewing Company in June at 4001-A Towpath Rd. A grand opening is scheduled for the Fourth of July weekend.

Market research bore out the location as ideal with two large nearby housing subdivisions – including their own New Hampton development – situated within walking distance, according to Terry.

“Once we created a Facebook page for the brewery, we picked up more than 500 followers within a few weeks,” he said. “There’s just a demand for a good quality craft brewery in our neighborhood. We coined the phrase ‘Beer is Near’ for the simple reason of putting it up on a sign. And that’s really our niche marketplace.”

The 4,000-square-foot brewery will offer eight specially-crafted beers made in-house along with a selection of wine, bourbon, scotch and tequila. Rather than putting in a full-service kitchen, DeLap decided to team up with a nearby business owner who operates a food truck service. He plans to bring in a wide variety of food trucks.

“We’re tentatively planning to have food trucks on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights,” he said. “And we’ll bring in different food trucks from time to time. So it might be cool to bring in a taco truck one night or a barbecue truck another night. But the main basis of food will be food trucks, where you can get a meal. Internally, we’ll just be doing light snacks in-house.”

DeLap has plans for a 40-by-50-foot outdoor patio with seating, and he will be installing an indoor stage with full sound system to host live music acts. The two combined areas will have seating for around 100. Patrons will be able to view the all-electric brewing equipment and watch as craft beers are made on-site.

“It will mostly be tables, and it will feature all kinds of natural materials with a lot of wood, including a 14-seat bar,” he said. “It will be a casual contemporary style. We’re just trying to make it comfortable, and a nice place to hang out.”

DeLap, who is a member of the North Royalton School Board, said he wouldn’t have considered opening the business had he not been able to find a business site in Broadview Heights.

“It was mandatory that it be located here,” he explained. “We had a great business experience here with our previous business and we have a great relationship with the city. We have a lot of community ties here, and we thought this would be a great place to do this. We found ourselves going to so many places that we finally thought about opening our own.”

Like many, the DeLap’s felt the need to get out and about having just come through the COVID-19 pandemic.

“People just want to go out and have fun, and have a place close by their neighborhood,” he added. “For those who live in New Hampton and MacIntosh Farms, they can go a quarter mile south to [Michael Angelo’s] winery, and now they can go a quarter mile north and visit our brewery. We want to be the neighborhood place for craft beer.” ∞