Prost!

Iconic Austin beer garden snapped up by new operators with big plans

The Frank team has something new in store for historic Scholz Garten.

Photo courtesy of Scholz Garten

Changes are underway for Austin's historic Scholz Garten. Local gourmet hot dog restaurant, Frank, will take over operations June 1.

The Frank team was selected out of 30 potential operators who responded to an open call put out by Austin Saengerrunde, which owns the property, in 2015. "We're just looking for someone to come in and take [Scholz] history and run with it," Reagan Roland, development director of Austin Saengerrunde, told CultureMap at the time.

Scholz Garten was founded in 1866 by German immigrant August Scholz. The new operators promise that the legacy, most of the staff, and some signature offerings will remain the same.

"We're going to come in with an appreciation of what's been going on over the past couple decades and past 100 years," Frank co-owner Daniel Northcutt tells CultureMap.

Food was previously handled by Green Mesquite BBQ, with a large focus on burgers and barbecue, but that will change. Beginning in June, the food and beer lineup will have more German offerings.

"We'll lean heavy into German fare," says Northcutt. "We're going to bring in some very authentic classic German comfort food, with a nod to Austin, Texas, and our neighbors to the south."

Expect more events to be added to Scholz's regular schedule of Longhorn watch parties and family-friendly affairs. The team plans to get Scholz more involved in the community, too, which means participating in festivals and events.

"The most exciting part of this entire ordeal is to be able to participate in a small part of a huge piece of Texas history," says Northcutt. "Scholz has been around for over 150 years. It's the oldest running business in the state of Texas and the longest running beer garden in America."

Updates, which include renovations to the space, will happen slowly. "We will do some light remodeling. We've got some ideas for the actual beer garden. This will be something that happens over the next few years. We're not going to crash in and make a lot of huge changes."

craft-beer downtown

Back to the Plow

Homey Austin jam and bake shop closing and returning to farmers market

Confituras/Instagram

Confituras Little Kitchen is closing its brick-and-mortar store, but feeling optimistic about the future.

A famers market find is returning to its natural environment after six years in a brick-and-mortar location. Confituras Little Kitchen, which specializes in locally sourced preserves, is closing its jam and biscuit shop after service on Sunday, December 22. However, it will continue selling goods at the Barton Creek Farmers Market and via retailers.

Confituras announced the change in a newsletter to its customers in December. The letter called the news "bittersweet."

"Although the brick and mortar will no longer be, the good news is that this will be a fresh new start for us – we are bursting with energy and creativity at the thought of being back out in the community where it all started for confituras," it said.

The kitchen is closing because the lease is up, and the team has decided to "give up the chase." The newsletter emphasized the ups-and-downs of business over the past several years — ones that were chaotic for just about any business, let alone a small, fairly niche food operation.

"So much has happened since we decided to open a brick + mortar – a wonderful kickstarter fundraiser, THE PANDEMIC, the AFTER-EFFECTS OF THE PANDEMIC, and an ever growing city," the letter says. "We tried so very hard but never really got our footing. We know we are not alone, many small business are in the same boat. We renewed our lease during the pandemic because we were hopeful we could make it work - the changing times had other ideas."

Finally, it shared how customers could keep enjoying Confituras creations:

The Barton Creek Farmers Market is open at 2901 S. Capital of Texas Hwy. every Saturday from 9 am to 1 pm.
A list on confituras.net compiles retailers including Royal Blue Grocery, Farmhouse Delivery, and Antonelli's Cheese Shop.
Jam share and Table22 subscription customers will have more instructions coming soon about picking up their goods in January at the same space, 2129 Goodrich Ave.
Customers may also reach out to inquire about continuing to order meals directly.

The kitchen also hosted frequent events and workshops, but the letter did not address this aspect of the business.

A shorter message shared on Instagram has inspired 63 comments so far, five days later. Customers eulogized the shop for its community feel and providing a sense of regularity during the height of the pandemic thanks to weekend pick-ups.