Pilot Kombucha To Open New Space in Red Hook

RED HOOK – Pilot Kombucha is coming to Red Hook to ferment. The female-founded and operated kombucha company has put down the deposit on their new space and hopes to open in late August or early September with big plans.

While the space itself will not have on-site food or a license to serve liquor, they will have alcohol permits for events as well as food trucks and other partnerships.

“We’ll be able to do stuff like fermentation workshops, so we [will] have how-to brew kombucha classes, stuff about sauerkraut or pickling. We will have rooftop yoga classes because the space actually has a rooftop which is something we are super excited about. We’ll be able to host fundraisers for the nonprofits that we’ve always wanted to work with but never had the capacity to do something,” Aishah Avdiu, a marketing and public relations representative for the company, told Bklyner over the phone. “We would love to do things like rooftop movie nights. We really want to be involved in the community, so band nights [or] having local musicians or chefs come do joint events with us.”

“A big part of our branding and identity is that we promote mixing kombucha with alcohol, doing cocktails or mocktails,” Avdiu said. “We don’t actually love to promote the super healthy culture that’s associated with kombucha. We like to promote a balanced lifestyle.” Avdiu says that they hope to have a mixture of events for people from all backgrounds, not just the wellness fans who are typically associated with their product.

Like many bootstrapped companies looking to expand, the brand has been raising money on iFundWomen since May 29th, and has about three weeks left. At the time of posting this article, they had raised over $30,000 of their $65,000 goal to pay for outfitting the space with a 600-square-foot cooler, kombucha-on-draft equipment, and a forklift.

Founder Alex Ingalls, who is from Brooklyn, told us in an email that she chose Red Hook for numerous reasons.

“Not only was the space affordable and will allow for industrial traffic to operate the wholesale business out of, but also we love the neighborhood! It’s a perfect mix of families and young folks, creative types, and [a] strong community of small business owners,” Ingalls said.

“We just put down the down payment a few days ago. We just signed the papers so everything is really just started now. We’re bringing in equipment, construction, cleaning, doing a lot of outfitting and permits. That stuff has all started with the intention of being able to open ASAP.”

The space, located at 71 Commerce Street between Richards and Van Brunt streets, will be multi-use, and plans to open from 3-8pm Wednesday-Friday, and from 12-8pm on the weekends.