A tale of two brewers and their paths to success

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Two Lehigh Valley brewers have found success recently, but their success has taken them down different paths – paths that have turned out to be mutually beneficial. 

Bru Daddy’s Brewing Co. has been running a popular brew pub restaurant and beer garden at 732 Hamilton St in Allentown, in fact at one point it had two brew pub restaurants in downtown Allentown. 

But lately the brewing end of the business has been growing at a faster rate than the owners could keep up with and run a successful restaurant. 

Luckily, McCall Collective was looking to grow their retail operations. 

The brewer already had locations in East Allentown and in Breinigsville, but the owners were hoping to open a third restaurant. 

“We just hit it at the right time,” said Rich Ryan, Bru Daddy’s CEO. “As we build our manufacturing and distribution business, we can’t think of a better successor for the brewpub.” 

Kaitlin McCall, owner of McCall Collective, said it was a perfect opportunity for her and her staff, who enjoy the interaction they get with beer fans when they serve them their brews and wanted to expand that part of their business. 

“It’s more than just delivering beer to a distributor,” McCall said. “It’s the experience of giving the beer to the customer. We like to be the face behnd the beer they’re enjoying at our bar.” 

And that’s not to say Ryan didn’t enjoy the tap room experience – in fact he said he hasn’t ruled out opening a new space sometime in the future – but right now he has to concentrate on the production side of the business because it’s what’s best for the company’s future. 

“We started our production brewery back in 2023,” Ryan said. “In those three years we have expanded into 40% of the state and have three distributors.” 

He said the growth has been hard to keep up with while managing a brew pub restaurant. 

“The Philadelphia market is really taking off for us. While we have always found success at home in the Lehigh Valley, the numbers are just bigger there and we’ve been doing really, really well,” Ryan said. 

Lincoln Financial Field, Parx Casino and the Netflix house are among some of Bru Daddy’s bigger customers in the Philly area. 

“It’s a business in and of itself, and it’s something we need to concentrate on,” Ryan said. 

Meanwhile, as a fan of Bru Daddy’s, McCall said she’s eager to take over the space. 

“It’s a good opportunity for us as a business and for our employees who will have an opportunity to grow as well,” McCall said. 

She noted that the two brewers have partnered before, including a collaboration on a “Living Here in Allentown” brew. 

McCall’s will be taking over the brew pub restaurant at the start of September and hopes to only have a few days of shutdown to convert the space to the McCall’s brand. 

She’s not expecting a huge overall. She already has told employees there that McCall’s will hire anyone who wants to stay on. 

She also likes the look of the place, and despite a few tweaks to give it the McCall’s flavor, she expects minimal physical changes. 

The menu will be a blend of items that have been a success for Bru Daddy and McCall’s popular items. 

McCall said the kitchen has such things as a pizza oven, which she said will allow her staff to get creative with options they didn’t have in the existing space. 

The beer, of course, will feature McCall’s beer, so that will be a big difference, but one she said she hopes Bru Daddy fans will come to enjoy. 

McCall said she has already started to work with the Bru Daddy team on the transition, and the restaurant will remain open as Bru Daddy’s until the scheduled September launch of McCall Collective on Hamilton Street.  

“We are looking forward to meeting new customers and working on some new menu items. We plan to merge some of our most popular food items with theirs to create a unique menu,” said Chris McCall, CFO of McCall’s Collective. “At the same time, we will get ready to start brewing McCall’s craft beers onsite.”