The green-façade building, center, had recently been home to Bryant’s Hard Cider. (BizSense file photo)
It’s out with cider, in with simple syrups for a Shockoe Bottom storefront.
Crescent Simples is preparing to move its operations to 2114 E. Main St., a space left vacant by Bryant’s Hard Cider, which recently relocated to 3423 W. Cary St. in Carytown.
Crescent Simples is owned and run by married couple Megan and William Miller and offers non-alcoholic syrups for drink mixes. Since founding the business in 2019, the Millers have grown Crescent into a national operation with around 300 wholesale accounts across the country.
William and Megan Miller (Photos Courtesy Jordan Hanna of Wicked Lady)
The Millers started Crescent Simples while working as bartenders in New Orleans, initially selling them directly to consumers. It wasn’t until after they moved back to Virginia that the wholesale side of the business started to take off.
One day at a farmers market, someone from Vitae Spirits asked about stocking Crescent Simples at their Charlottesville distillery, prompting Megan to ask other shops if they’d carry Crescent’s syrups.
“It felt like almost low-hanging fruit,” she said. “I started asking other (stores) if they would be interested and next thing I knew we had 35 stores in Central Virginia in a very short amount of time, just because everybody was so happy to support a local company.”
Crescent offers over 10 different syrups – most of which are priced between $9 and $15 for 4-ounce and 8-ounce bottles – with flavors like grapefruit rosemary and peach hibiscus. Miller said their top seller is their blueberry lavender syrup, followed by lime jalapeño.
“I was really surprised when we released it. I thought it would be only a small group of people that like their drinks spicy,” she said of the lime jalapeño. “But people love spicy margaritas.”
Crescent sold around 43,000 bottles of syrup in 2023, fueled largely by wholesaling to independent retailers. The company’s products also are used in drinks made at the tasting rooms of local distilleries like Reservoir Distillery and Cirrus Vodka.
The Millers and a single full-time employee have been running Crescent out of Southside food incubator Hatch Kitchen, which they’re preparing to leave for the Shockoe Bottom space.
Crescent’s also offers tonic, old-fashioned and grenadine syrups.
The simple syrup makers will be sharing the building with NWG Solutions, a Charlottesville-based IT firm owned by Megan Miller’s father, Ben Thomas.
Through an affiliated LLC, Thomas and NWG recently bought the 2,600-square-foot structure for $635,000, and the firm is planning to establish an office in part of the space. Compass Real Estate’s Brenda Gehl and Brittanie Stanley represented Thomas in the deal.
Miller said the plan is for Crescent to have a small retail area at 2114 E. Main St., but they’ll primarily use the new building as a production facility. She said they’re hoping to have the space ready by March.
NWG Solutions is on a similar timeline.
Shannon Connors, NWG’s COO, said the IT firm has historically done most of its business with Charlottesville-based firms, but over the last five years has gradually added more clients in Richmond.
Connors said one of the company’s 16 employees is planning to relocate to Richmond, but that the Shockoe Bottom space will be mostly for when they’re in town working with clients.
“We’ll see how our businesses grow, maybe we will (add Richmond staff),” Connors said. “For now we’re focusing on having a space where we can engage our Richmond clients better and get more involved.”
Meanwhile, the building’s former tenant, Bryant’s Cider, is already operational in its new home in Carytown.
Jerry Thornton (BizSense file)
Bryant’s is headquartered at a farm in Roseland and expanded to Richmond in 2018 with a taproom initially in Jackson Ward. After a year there, Bryant’s owner Jerry Thornton purchased 2114 E. Main St. for $415,000 and relocated the cidery to the Bottom.
Thornton said it was a struggle to find staffing for the taproom and keep it running, particularly since he said he went back to work full-time in finance around a year ago. He said in the fall he opted to begin the moving process and quickly found a 1,400-square-foot spot in Carytown.
“It’s not a huge space by any means, but it can fit more than we did in Shockoe,” he said. “Caryotwn has so far had much better foot traffic.”
One change that came with the move is that Bryant’s is no longer brewing beer. The cidery had added beer to its offerings in 2022, but Thornton said it was difficult to produce enough to satisfy the ABC requirements under the remote license that it used. Thornton said Bryant’s still brews beer at its Roseland facility.
The green-façade building, center, had recently been home to Bryant’s Hard Cider. (BizSense file photo)
It’s out with cider, in with simple syrups for a Shockoe Bottom storefront.
Crescent Simples is preparing to move its operations to 2114 E. Main St., a space left vacant by Bryant’s Hard Cider, which recently relocated to 3423 W. Cary St. in Carytown.
Crescent Simples is owned and run by married couple Megan and William Miller and offers non-alcoholic syrups for drink mixes. Since founding the business in 2019, the Millers have grown Crescent into a national operation with around 300 wholesale accounts across the country.
William and Megan Miller (Photos Courtesy Jordan Hanna of Wicked Lady)
The Millers started Crescent Simples while working as bartenders in New Orleans, initially selling them directly to consumers. It wasn’t until after they moved back to Virginia that the wholesale side of the business started to take off.
One day at a farmers market, someone from Vitae Spirits asked about stocking Crescent Simples at their Charlottesville distillery, prompting Megan to ask other shops if they’d carry Crescent’s syrups.
“It felt like almost low-hanging fruit,” she said. “I started asking other (stores) if they would be interested and next thing I knew we had 35 stores in Central Virginia in a very short amount of time, just because everybody was so happy to support a local company.”
Crescent offers over 10 different syrups – most of which are priced between $9 and $15 for 4-ounce and 8-ounce bottles – with flavors like grapefruit rosemary and peach hibiscus. Miller said their top seller is their blueberry lavender syrup, followed by lime jalapeño.
“I was really surprised when we released it. I thought it would be only a small group of people that like their drinks spicy,” she said of the lime jalapeño. “But people love spicy margaritas.”
Crescent sold around 43,000 bottles of syrup in 2023, fueled largely by wholesaling to independent retailers. The company’s products also are used in drinks made at the tasting rooms of local distilleries like Reservoir Distillery and Cirrus Vodka.
The Millers and a single full-time employee have been running Crescent out of Southside food incubator Hatch Kitchen, which they’re preparing to leave for the Shockoe Bottom space.
Crescent’s also offers tonic, old-fashioned and grenadine syrups.
The simple syrup makers will be sharing the building with NWG Solutions, a Charlottesville-based IT firm owned by Megan Miller’s father, Ben Thomas.
Through an affiliated LLC, Thomas and NWG recently bought the 2,600-square-foot structure for $635,000, and the firm is planning to establish an office in part of the space. Compass Real Estate’s Brenda Gehl and Brittanie Stanley represented Thomas in the deal.
Miller said the plan is for Crescent to have a small retail area at 2114 E. Main St., but they’ll primarily use the new building as a production facility. She said they’re hoping to have the space ready by March.
NWG Solutions is on a similar timeline.
Shannon Connors, NWG’s COO, said the IT firm has historically done most of its business with Charlottesville-based firms, but over the last five years has gradually added more clients in Richmond.
Connors said one of the company’s 16 employees is planning to relocate to Richmond, but that the Shockoe Bottom space will be mostly for when they’re in town working with clients.
“We’ll see how our businesses grow, maybe we will (add Richmond staff),” Connors said. “For now we’re focusing on having a space where we can engage our Richmond clients better and get more involved.”
Meanwhile, the building’s former tenant, Bryant’s Cider, is already operational in its new home in Carytown.
Jerry Thornton (BizSense file)
Bryant’s is headquartered at a farm in Roseland and expanded to Richmond in 2018 with a taproom initially in Jackson Ward. After a year there, Bryant’s owner Jerry Thornton purchased 2114 E. Main St. for $415,000 and relocated the cidery to the Bottom.
Thornton said it was a struggle to find staffing for the taproom and keep it running, particularly since he said he went back to work full-time in finance around a year ago. He said in the fall he opted to begin the moving process and quickly found a 1,400-square-foot spot in Carytown.
“It’s not a huge space by any means, but it can fit more than we did in Shockoe,” he said. “Caryotwn has so far had much better foot traffic.”
One change that came with the move is that Bryant’s is no longer brewing beer. The cidery had added beer to its offerings in 2022, but Thornton said it was difficult to produce enough to satisfy the ABC requirements under the remote license that it used. Thornton said Bryant’s still brews beer at its Roseland facility.
I’ve seen these syrups in stores. Had no idea they were local. That’s really great for them.