Bosque Brewing Company plans to make some changes to its Santa Fe business operations.
Chief executive officer and co-owner Gabe Jensen said in an interview Thursday morning that the company plans to convert its Market Station Public House at the Santa Fe Railyard location from a taproom to a Restoration Pizza. Jensen said they were already on the fence about whether to open a taproom or the pizza joint in Santa Fe and had finally landed on a taproom. They opened in October of 2020.
“For one thing, we think opening during the pandemic hurt our momentum,” he said. “There is also a lot of competition there (The Railyard). We wanted to rethink how we are going about it.”
Jensen said they also see a lot of potential in the growth of their pizza brand. It will we be the second Restoration Pizza location for the company, which opened its first pizzeria in April of 2019 at the Journal Center.
Bosque established the restaurant with the goal of providing employment for people living with mental and physical disabilities, and plan to use the same model at the Santa Fe location. Jensen said about 36% of the staff at the Albuquerque location have a mental or physical disability.
The Railyard taproom will be open until at least the end of this month and hopefully reopen in early June.
“We need time to convert the kitchen,” he said. “We have a very specific layout we need.”
In addition to pizza, they will serve nachos, salads and Bosque beer. The reopening will come with a small rebranding for Restoration Pizza. It will get a new logo and color scheme.
It’s not the end of Santa Fe taprooms for Bosque though. Jensen said they are planning to open a new location on Cerrillos Road next to Dion’s Pizza in the near future.
Bosque has not been a company afraid to shift gears. It opened its first taproom and brewery in 2012 inside a tiny office space off Alameda Boulevard. It slowly expanded the space, which was near Balloon Fiesta Park, and quickly became a popular stop for craft beer lovers. Seven years later, owners decided to close that location, which was still attracting large crowds, and go in a different direction. It opened Restoration Pizza, shifted its headquarters to Rio Rancho and opened a location in Bernalillo, where it moved brewing operations.
They also have a location in Nob Hill and two locations in Las Cruces and are poised to open a another taproom this June in the Northeast Heights on Eubank, south of Spain. The Heights location has been planned for a few years but was delayed because of the pandemic. In addition to a patio, it will have a large grassy area for outdoor games and lounging.
