Barberton's Ignite Brewing Co. pairs with Crafted Eats at downtown location

A downtown Barberton brewery and a longtime catering operation have struck an alliance both hope will open new avenues of growth for the Tuscarawas Avenue businesses.

Crafted Eats at Ignite opened May 18 at Ignite Brewing Co. with an eclectic menu that combines traditional fare like Bavarian pretzels with cultural dishes like Hungarian sausage and Thai noodles.

The pairing also fills a need for a robust food offering at the brewery.

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The partnership comes at a time when the brewery is expanding sales and increasing production capacity at a rapid clip.

“Bringing another business to town and partnering with her to run the kitchen is the right answer,” said Michael Chisnell, co-owner of Ignite.

Hungarian sliders and Thai noodles

Crafted Eats owner Andi Lisy  said the Hungarian influence on the menu derives from her heritage, and is powered by products from Al’s Quality Market in Barberton.

On this path, Crafted Eats offers Al’s Hungarian Sausage Sliders and Brats, served on a pretzel bun and topped with sauerkraut and cherry peppers.

“We grew up making Hungarian sausage,” Lisy said.

There’s also a corned beef sandwich with onion jam and Irish cheddar cheese, an Ignite the Ramen bowl with kimchi and marinated eggs, a veggie burger and a Thai Power Salad with chicken or shrimp.

Lisy said she wanted to bring to the table foods she likes and selections unique to the area.

“We wanted to avoid the whole deep-fried trend,” she said. “I (added) the food I enjoyed eating.”

Since its opening last month, sales have exceeded expectations, Lisy said.

Orders are taken at a kiosk near the bar, and patrons receive a message when their order is ready. The automated ordering process helps streamline the kitchen, she said.

“I can’t find staff anyway,” she said. “(The kiosk) was figuring how to make things work for everybody.”

Lisy said she and Stacy Chisnell, one of the co-owners of Ignite, met through their grandparents, who were dating. The two women started talking about their businesses — Lisy has run a catering operation for about 15 years — and developed a plan to bring Ignite and Crafted Eats together.

“We’re essentially two different businesses under one roof,” Lisy said.

If Ignite opens new locations in the future, plans are for Crafted Eats to operate in those, too.

For dessert, Crafted Eats offers gelato choices from another local company, Dolce at the Strand in Wadsworth. Lisy said food sales have been strong since opening.

“I honestly didn’t think it would be as busy as it was as quickly as it was,” she said.

53,000 beers on the wall

Ignite is also tending to its booming brewery business.

Michael Chisnell said the brewery was able to expand in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, and is still expanding.

In 2020, the brewery’s total volume sales climbed 39%, rising another 31% in 2021.

Ignite used its patio to an advantage as coronavirus restrictions loosened a bit in the summer of 2021, drawing customers outside while inside seating was still banned. The brewery also accelerated its plans to distribute at local retailers, bringing Acme, Buehler’s and Discount Drug Mart on board, along with independent retailers throughout the area.

“We had some pretty substantial year-to-year growth,” Chisnell said.

About 250 locations sell the brewery’s canned products with catchy names like Blonde Barista, Cherry Blonde, Ignite Your Adventure (IPA) and 5-4-3 (double IPA). The beers are sold in 16-ounce four-packs.

“We will be rolling out this year 12-ounce cans to the market,” Chisnell said.

The first six-packs will be a new creation called 108 for the number of calories and the number of stitches on a baseball.

Chisnell said rapid growth at the brewery presented some challenges.

“(About) 20% of our beer was made off-site last year,” he said. “It’s a great problem (to have). It’s a tremendous problem that we get to solve.”

Next month, the brewery will add three 30-barrel fermentation tanks, dramatically increasing capacity, Chisnell said.

“We’ll have almost 53,000 beers being made at any one time,” he said. “… We can can one case of beer per minute.”

He estimates the increased capacity will be adequate for the next two to three years. By the end of the summer, capacity will have increased 129% at the brewery, with all its canning done in-house.

The brewery draws customers with Monday night cornhole, Wednesday night trivia and live music on the weekend.

Chisnell said the brewery works to adapt to market changes and hopes to add another location in the not-so-distant future.

“We will grow as fast as the market wants us to grow,” Chisnell said.

No matter what future growth in capacity and locations may bring, Chisnell said, the brewery’s headquarters will stay in the Magic City.

“Logistically, Barberton is one of the area’s best-kept secrets,” he said.

Leave a message for Alan Ashworth at 330-996-3859 or email him at aashworth@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @newsalanbeaconj.