Great Escape aims to open this month in Republic

A soft opening should be about a week away for Great Escape Beer Works LLC’s new brewery in Republic, officials say.

The Republic facility at 6021 W. U.S. Highway 60 was originally expected to be a second brewery for the company, but it will now be its lone location. Great Escape co-owner Jake Duensing said May 22 was set to be its final day at the Quarry Town development in Galloway Village at 4022 S. Lone Pine Ave. Duensing and his wife, Jen, opened Great Escape in December 2018.

“It’s sad to see it go, but I think ultimately it just came down to a business decision,” he said this month from the new Republic property, which the company purchased in 2022. “We’ve got so much more space over here and the rent over there was going to be a little higher than we were comfortable with.”

Duensing declined to disclose lease terms in Galloway Village with Green Circle Projects LLC.

“We did an extension on our first lease and then now that extension’s coming up and we are going to let that space go,” Duensing said, adding he has nothing but good things to say about Great Escape’s time in Galloway Village, where it occupied 3,000 square feet. “We had probably more hurdles than we thought we would in the beginning couple of years, but I think that ultimately probably made us a little wiser in our decision making.”

New home
As for Republic, Duensing said he is targeting a soft opening period for Great Escape to launch by month’s end. The company’s 11,000-square-foot building includes a taproom, offices and a production facility.

“Our ultimate goal is to do our soft opening starting May 30. We do need some stuff to go right to get that,” he said, noting that includes hiring additional staff, moving furniture from the Galloway Village location and permit approval from the Springfield-Greene County Health Department. “If it’s not the 30th, it’ll be pretty quickly after that, a matter of hopefully days.”

Duensing told Springfield Business Journal last year that the company’s expansion plan would be a two-phase project. Phase I is the taproom building, while Phase II will consist of a larger production facility in a 16,000-square-foot building located behind the taproom. Duensing said the second phase has an undetermined construction timeline.

“Assuming people are happy with what we’re doing here, then yeah, we’ve got a lot more equipment, bigger equipment stored in the back that we won’t actually fit in here,” he said, noting cost will also be a factor for when the larger building on the property will be utilized. “We need that bigger space eventually to be able to use it.”

Declining to disclose the company’s investment, Duensing said Nesbitt Construction Inc. is general contractor on the project designed by Buxton Kubik Dodd Design Collective. Construction began in April 2024 at the former Burk Bridge Co. property on the north side of Highway 60, south of the James River Freeway interchange. Great Escape owns the 6.3-acre site and the two buildings on-site.

The taproom occupies roughly 5,000 square feet of the building and the company’s brewing operations were moved late last year to Republic. However, Duensing estimated in December the licensing process would take about six to eight weeks, putting the facility on schedule for a February opening.

“The licensing just took a little bit longer than we thought. And then we’ve been doing everything after the construction crew finished up,” he said, adding that’s included assembling the brewhouse and its canning line. “There’s a lot of conveyor belts, a lot of parts and pieces that we have to get operational.”

Back to brewing
In the interim, the company has been selling its supply of beer – both on tap and in cans – from its existing stock while brewing operations were on pause.

“We thought we had enough backup over there to get through everything, and we’re starting to get a little low,” he said. “I know on the production side, we’re ready to start brewing again. It’s been longer than we wanted, and we want to get back to making beer. This is going to be a good area for us.”

Moving the brewhouse also has led to a temporary halt of distribution, Duensing said.

“Heart of America [Beverage Co.] was going through whatever back stock they had, and I do know that they’re starting to get a little antsy to get beer back out there,” he said, adding Great Escape beer also is distributed in retail locations and restaurants. “We should pick that up again before too long, once we get operational. It’s not the ideal situation, but you kind of do what you’ve got to do.”

Duensing previously told SBJ that the company produced around 750 barrels in 2023, declining to disclose the 2024 total. He said last year’s barrel production was down from 2023 due to decommissioning the brewhouse in Springfield.

“I’d be a little surprised if our first full year in here, we don’t hit probably 1,500 to 1,800 barrels. Then hopefully, we keep scaling up from there,” he said. “Part of that is making sure you have the right production team because one person can only do so much. We will need to find employees that are qualified, can help us grow that.”

Great Escape plans to employ 25-30 employees in Republic, Duensing said, adding six of those are coming from the Galloway Village location.

Amenities ahead
The menu, which Duensing said is being finalized, will primarily focus on pizza, although sandwiches and salads also will be sold. Pizzas will be cooked in a stone hearth oven that reaches up to 900 degrees. With a small kitchen space, speed is a priority to keep up with orders, he said.

“Even if we are pretty full and busy, every pizza should take, once it’s in the oven, about 90 seconds,” he said. “Once we get our feet under us, we’ll probably do a pizza by the slice lunch special and figure out what pizzas people want to see in that kind of setup.”

Homemade root beer and arcade games also will be available at Great Escape.

“I think we’re going to have a lot more families at this location, so we’re trying to figure out a way to be more family-friendly and offer things that the youngsters might want,” Duensing said.

Other features on tap include a mezzanine area that can accommodate up to 40 people for those seeking to rent private space, and a beer garden complete with fire pit, picnic tables and lounge chairs.

“We’re not going to fill the entire space just because we want to figure out what kind of seating they want,” he said of the beer garden.

Although the brewery will have room for 20 beer taps, Duensing said it probably will debut with guest beers, both local and outside the Springfield area.

“Then within hopefully about a week, we’ll start popping our beers onto tap,” he said. “People want us open. We’re anxious to get open as well. And the easiest way for us to do that is to bring in some guest taps, and there’s so much good beer out there.”