Suds success

Having a beer at 9 a.m. is early, even for brewery owners. But this is a special occasion.

Kevin Finn, Kevin Davies, and Mark Edelson, the three owners of the Iron Hill brewpub chain, are perched at a high table in the back of the West Chester restaurant, which, this morning, has been transformed into a makeshift film set.

They are filming a training video for new employees, to ensure that the Iron Hill ethos is properly relayed. With about 900 employees, it's sort of hard for Finn, Davies, and Edelson to get face time with each new hire these days.

Last week, Iron Hill opened its ninth location, smack in the prime retail corridor of Germantown Avenue in Chestnut Hill.

Since 1994, Iron Hill has quietly, methodically, and modestly grown to play an important role in the suburban restaurant landscape. According to the owners, Iron Hill took in $40 million in revenue last year.

This newest location is part of what thus far has been a foolproof formula. Finn, Davies, and Edelson target small, underserved towns that have residents hungry for a place with approachable, consistent food, an unfussy vibe, and good service.

It's why places such as Media, West Chester, Phoenixville, Wilmington, and Maple Shade have embraced Iron Hill.

Finn and Edelson started as home brewers in the '90s, and teamed up with Davies in 1994. (All three are originally from New Jersey.) His restaurant experience completed the team's credentials to open a brewpub. The first location opened in Newark, Del., in 1996, and they haven't closed one since.

"Our vision and focus has changed [from a single outlet to a chain of brewpubs] but we are still doing the same thing we did 15 years ago," says Finn. "We are not a destination restaurant. We are a community restaurant. We love the Main Street feel."

Main Streets seem to love them back. "There was tumbleweed in West Chester when we first came here," says Finn. That was in 1998. "The other three corners were empty. We were scared to death."

"Everywhere an Iron Hill opens, it changes the retail environment for that area," Philadelphia City Councilman Bill Green said at the opening of the Chestnut Hill location, which is in his district. The new large windows overlook a Germantown Avenue with a fair number of vacancies. Despite some grumbling about parking, even nearby restaurant owners seem happy to welcome Iron Hill to the neighborhood.

As the hits keep on coming, the allure of doing more, reaching further, is palpable.

Bottling their beer, opening sister concepts, and taking Iron Hill beyond the Philadelphia region are a few of the opportunities. But the owners quickly, and harmoniously, dismiss the prospects.

"There are still a lot of opportunities in the Philadelphia suburbs," says Edelson. (They are planning to open a 10th location in South Jersey in 2013.) "There are a lot of underserved markets."

"One success is knowing what we don't do," adds Finn. "We don't do catering. We don't sell our products off-premise. We don't look for sites in Denver or Seattle. It's much easier to control things that way."

In sticking to the plan, they are able to strike a life/work balance that eludes many restaurant owners. "It's a lot of hard work, but we aren't counting money at 3 a.m. anymore," says Edelson. "We have the ability to spend more time with our family. We have some flexibility."

"We try to get better at what we do," says Edelson. "We don't expand for the sake of expanding." Their guy-next-door personas reflect their clientele.

They have fallen into their own roles within the corporate structure and for the most part, they joke, get along because they stay out of one another's hair.

Davies, for example, is in charge of the food. He has streamlined the process, ensuring consistency day-to-day, and between locations.

That isn't to say that the cuisine would have food geeks blogging. But overly ambitious, avant-garde food doesn't fit in with their vision. The large menu has American classics (burgers, salmon, salads, hummus). The food is fresh, and the portions are generous - often just what parents, happy-hour groups, and lunchers are looking for.

When they took the salmon spring rolls off the menu, a customer was so upset that she started a social media campaign, and Davies put them back on.

Despite the fact that there are breweries front and center at each location, according to Finn 70 percent of Iron Hill's sales come from food. But the team believes the well-regarded beers are the backbone of their success.

Iron Hill just might have the best beers that most Americans haven't heard of.

It has won 35 awards in 15 years at the Great American Beer Festival, the Oscars of beer, including brewpub and brewer of the year in 2005. It has also racked up 14 awards at the World Cup of Beer. And the Pig Iron Porter won the "Classic" category in The Inquirer's Brewvitational in 2011, among 16 local craft beers. Not bad for a brewery that sells suds only at its restaurants; the beer isn't bottled or distributed in kegs outside the family.

(One year, Iron Hill broke from its formula and sold beer at Citizens Bank Park. It was a disaster. Kegs were lost, orders were misplaced, customers couldn't find the product.)

"People tend to discount pub beer," says Edelson. "The general notion is that if you are serious about the restaurant, you are not serious about the beer. That shifted, but we had to win the national awards. Now our beer can't be ignored."

Iron Hill devotes a lot of time to staffing and building community relations. Charity endeavors are important to all three owners, and they empower each restaurant to get involved.

Through the Give 20 program, customers can host parties at the restaurants and Iron Hill will donate 20 percent of that night's food sales to the customer's cause. It is, after all, part of staying involved in the communities that have made them successful.

The West Chester Iron Hill branch (3 W. Gay St.) will host the annual Belgium Comes to West Chester event on Jan. 28, which gathers about 20 brewers and offers samples on a pay-as-you-go basis. Besides choices from Iron Hill, beers and breweries will include: Brett Fermented Eight-Point IPA from Devil's Backbone Brewing Company; Raison D'Etre from Dogfish Head; Biere Sucree from Earth Bread & Brewery; Exit 4 Hoppy Tripel from Flying Fish; Rodney's Solera from Harpoon; Wholly Trinity Tripel from Inn at Turkey Hill; St. Alpha Belgian IPA from Manayunk Brewing Company; Blue Sunday from New Holland Brewing; O-Tay from Nodding Head; Ommegeddon from Brewery Ommegang; Saison de Chief from The Peekskill Brewery; Wild Walt Wit from Philadelphia Brewing Company; Saison Brune from Sly Fox Brewing Company; Grand Cru from Southampton Public House; Cosmic Monster from Springhouse Brewing Company; Stumblin' Monk from Stewart's Brewing Company; Dubbel from Stoudt's Brewing Company; Unnamed Belgian from Troegs; Golden Monkey from Victory Brewing Company; Verboten from Weyerbacher; and Yardbird from Yards Brewing Company.