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South Carolina Brewer Expanding to Old Airplane Hangar

Kevin Varner
Mike Switzer/SC Public Radio

If all goes well, our next guest will soon be opening his second restaurant and brewery, this time in a building listed in the National Register of Historic Places.  What is involved in building a beer garden, brewery, and bottling plant in not only a challenging structure like an 88-year-old airplane hangar, but also at a still-operating air field?

Mike Switzer interviews Kevin Varner, owner of the Hunter Gatherer Brewery and Alehouse in Columbia, SC.

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After almost 20 years, Mike Switzer retired from Wells Fargo Securities in 2001 as Senior Vice President/Investment Officer and Certified Portfolio Manager. In 1999, he and his wife, Maggie, purchased and operated for eight years the Baskin Robbins ice cream store on Forest Drive in Columbia. They grew the store from a bottom-tier operation in the Baskin Robbins franchise system to one in the top 5% nationwide within three years, tripling sales along the way. While operating the ice cream store, Mike and Maggie received patents for a portable ice cream sink and fold-down sneezeguard they invented and in 2002 started Magnolia Carts, an ice cream cart manufacturing company, which they sold in 2013.