Sunday Service Motor Company expands operations

Until recently, Sunday Service Motor Company consistently encountered what could best be described as a pleasant problem to have.

Because it utilized a one-barrel brewing system on site, the brewery and coffee shop often struggled to meet the demands of thirsty patrons. In other words, all of its beer options — both staples and seasonals — would run out frequently. On a positive note, that means SSMC’s product was resonating with the beer community.

“That was pretty constant. That’s been one of our biggest challenges on the beer side,” Kevin Anderson, Sunday Service Motor Company, said. “All of our beer was running out all the time.”

However, SSMC has made a significant upgrade that will allow the beer supply to match the demand: It recently took over the brewery space previously occupied by Kilt Check Brewing Company and Bossfight Brewing Company at 4814 Hardware Drive NE. With a 15-barrel system in place, SSMC will be able to up its brewing capacity significantly.

“We started on a very small brewery. We still have that brewery. It’s still operational and we are brewing out of it, but it is a pretty small volume," Anderson said. "And so it's a whole lot of work to make sure that we have enough beer for everybody that's coming through.”

“And expanding into a much bigger system … That’s going to open up some doors for us. Not only in meeting the demand at our Fourth Street location, but also being able to distribute across the city, whether that be bars or opens up the option for package alcohol — so cans and distributing that way as well. It really opens up the capabilities of what we're able to do.”

Anderson says the expansion won’t significantly change the type of beers that SSMC has on hand. The establishment will still typically have its five core offerings and three rotating seasonals. It will, however, allow the team to get a little more creative in some aspects.

“The greater quantity is gonna allow us to really open up some of the things we’re doing on those seasonals,” Anderson said. “We’ll get a little funkier, a little more cutting-edge, a little more fun.”

For now, the new space will be used exclusively for brewing operations. Anderson says that one day there could be a second SSMC taproom opened there, but that’s “down the road.”

“It’s Phase 2,” he added. “We’re still in the middle of Phase 1 for that location.”

Overall, Anderson says visitors should expect an enhanced version of the SSMC experience they have already come to enjoy.

“Nothing should change from that experience except for we're just really hyper focused on the consistency and quality that we weren’t always able to achieve in the past,” he said. “So just improving on that and keeping that going.”

BEYOND BEER: While the beer operation has expanded, the coffee side of SSMC has also been in the lab, so to speak.

“(We’ve been) playing around with just the coffees that we're serving people and improving that across the board,” Anderson said. “It’s really exciting to see how we took that on as our November project. And so we're gonna start seeing that hit the ground here in December and the first couple months in 2026.”

Also, SSMC has had the Cattle Tags food truck on site from Wednesday through Sunday since October.

“To be able to have that consistency and that awesome food that people are wanting day in, day out has been a big, big change for us too,” Anderson said.