Today we’d like to introduce you to Levi Knoll.
Levi, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I started pursuing culinary in 6th grade, attending week long immersion summer school classes. During regular school courses I was electing anything culinary related, as well as attended vocational school working in the schools bakery and restaurant my junior and senior year. Attending this school lead into my first job in a restaurant, the first job didnt last long and I moved around to a couple other local restuarants, moving up from dishwasher to line cook and catering cook.
After highschool I attended Grand Rapids Community College for culinary arts and culinary management two years then transfered to Kendall College in Chicago. I ended up having to drop out of culinary school in 2008 due to the financial crisis. I moved home and started working at a local restaurant working my way up the ranks. I moved to Grand Rapids to continue my growth in restaurants working at a steak house and another local business, growing into the sous chef position. I ended up going back to culinary school to finish my degree’s. This is where I met my wife Callee. We both graduated culinary school in the spring of 2014 and were married in October of the same year. At this time I was working as assistant front of house manager at a local brewery having started serving a couple years prior to gain real world experience in the front of house. I was quickly promoted to General Manager of this brewery a couple months later. I left this job to pursue my passion of wanting open my own place. I have always known that I wanted to open and run my own restaurant, even back in 6th and 7th grade in the summer school classes. I was working for a friend at his BBQ joint while I was working on securing a loan and finding a space for our brewery. At this time I knew the restaurant I want to own had to be a brewery, since I had fallen in love with craft beer upon moving to Grand Rapids and working in the local industry. We found a place in 2019 and in February of 2020 we purchased it. A couple weeks later COVID took over and I was furlowed from my work. I ended up using this time to work on demoing and renovating our new building. I spent the rest of ’20 and half of ’21 doing this until we got to the point of needing to hire, train, and start brewing. We opened July 8th 2021 (COVID was still hanging around but looked like it was less of an issue that predicted). We were still worried that it might come back, so we started building our beer garden area directly behind our main brewery building. The first 6 months to a year were rocky, Staffing was incredibly difficult. Everything I knew or thought I new about restraunts before covid had changed. Every week was a rollercoaster, and the winter was rough. We made it through and were able to invite our guests (and their dogs) into our beer garden that spring.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No not at all. Staffing has been incredibly difficult, recovering from COVID was not something we (Or anyone) anticipated having to deal with before we opened. Callee and I work 6-7 days a week to help keep everything running as smooth as possible and to fill in the gaps.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
We are a brewery and restaurant. Also are growing into distilling. We focus on historic beer from around the world to tell a story of that area, and the culture of that time. Connecting us with our ancestors through beer/mead/cider/liquor. We have a full kitchen and menu with a concious effort to create allergen free/friendly food without sacrificing quality.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://archivalbrewing.com
- Instagram: @archivalbrewing
- Facebook: @archivalbrewing
