VOLUME 15 NUMBER 8 ■ COLUMBIABUSINESSREPORT.COM
Part of the
MAY 16-JUNE 19, 2022 ■ $2.25
network
Administrator Guzman brings personal touch to SBA position
Order up!
Another Broken Egg Cafe to anchor mixed-use project. Page 4
By Melinda Waldrop
I Downtown digs
1813 Main St. set to welcome first residents this fall. Page 7
Historic honor
Orangeburg native first Black male Teacher of Year. Page 8
Screen shot
The Nick names new executive director. Page 10
INSIDE
Upfront................................. 2 SC Biz News Briefs................. 3 In Focus: Life Sciences........ 21 List: Life Science Companies ..........................................28 At Work...............................29 Viewpoint............................ 31
BREW WITH A VIEW Biekeller Columbia plans to open a brick-and-mortar later this year at the CanalSide Plaza at Sola Station. (Rendering/Provided)
Riverfront brewery to open later this year By Melinda Waldrop
C
mwaldrop@scbiznews.com
olumbia’s first riverfront brewery is expected to open in the fourth quarter of this year. Bierkeller Brewing Co., which has brewed traditional German beer out of Swamp Cabbage Brewing Co. since 2015 and has regularly played host to seasonal pop-up beer gardens, is opening a full-production brewing facility, biergarten and restaurant at the CanalSide Plaza at Sola Station, located along the Historic Columbia Canal on the banks of the Congaree River. “It’s exciting,” Bierkeller owner and founder Scott Burgess told the Columbia Regional Business Report. “We’re putting ourselves in a pioneering position in a lot of ways. The riverfront,
as much as everyone talks about the potential for development, we learned still has a lot of hurdles. This presented really the best opportunity in a space that’s already there that’s very close to what we’re known for.” The brewery and biergarten will take up a large portion of the ground-floor retail space at Sola Station, with glass windows facing the water. Mashburn Construction is the project contractor, while Sherer & Associates is the architect. “We’re pouring concrete floors and building it from the ground up,” said Burgess, who said an adjacent space is also an option for a future catering and private event setup. Bierkeller plans to hire servers, bartenders/ pourers and kitchen staff soon. Employment See BREW, Page 10
Expert perspectives
Looking for an industry expert? We’ve got you covered. Page 13
mwaldrop@scbiznews.com
sabella Casillas Guzman learned firsthand what makes a successful small business growing up in California, where her father owned a chain of veterinary practices. “What I admired most about my father was his relationship in the community. Everyone who walked in that door was so special to him and vice versa,” Guzman said. “The impact that he made in his neighborhood was truly remarkable.” Guzman, sworn in as the 27th Administrator of the Small Business Administration on March 17, 2021, spoke with the Columbia Regional Business Report after a stop at Benedict College as part of a bus tour supporting National Small Business Week. Benedict became one of two historically Black colleges and universities to launch a Women’s Business Center in 2020. “Focusing always — from having worked in his business — on that customer-first experience is what drives me,” said Guzman, who represents the nation’s 32.5 million-plus small business owners. “I look through the lens of a customer first at all times in our design and implementation. That informs everything else, because you look at who that client is — and it’s a changing face of entrepreneurship — you look at what their needs are and seek to transform the SBA to better serve them. … My dad was able to pursue his American dream, and my grandmother before him. I really appreciate the value See GUZMAN, Page 6