If you head to Triple Bottom Brewing’s website you find a line that reads: “Our mission is bigger than beer. It’s about people, and giving everyone the opportunity to craft something great.”
And with five years of business under its belt, the local brand certainly has been practicing what it preaches, especially when you look at its new apprenticeship program.
“The origin of this program was really thinking about everything [we’ve] learned [in business.],” says co-owner Tess Hart. “Hopefully, we can be a bridge between folks who are underestimated and excluded from the mainstream economy and the hospitality industry in Philly, which is so vibrant and has so many career opportunities.”
Triple Bottom’s apprenticeship program — titled The Future of Service Apprenticeship — offers a 16-week learning experience for individuals seeking re-entry and fair chance employment after incarceration or housing insecurity. The brewery had always had this idea on its mind, but marking a milestone in business seemed like a great way to kickstart it.
“We turned five in September, and it was all sort of part of what’s the next step for Triple Bottom? But our employment practices of hiring folks who were justice impacted or housing insecure started when we opened in 2019,” Hart states.
Hart started the brewery along with her husband, Bill Popwell and friend/brewer, Kyle Carney. Without much prior experience in the business (besides an admiration of beer), the trio fell in love with the idea of having a space that brings people together.
“It’s such a reflection on the type of spaces that breweries often create. They are places where people aren’t just going to the bar to drink, but they’re going to a place where they want to learn something, they want to hear a story, they want to see how things are made and get the behind the scenes,” explains Hart. “I really was fascinated by the uniqueness of these spaces and the way that people move through them.”
The name also alludes to the brand’s “triple bottom line” — beer, people, planet. In short, Triple Bottom has a line of measuring success that goes well beyond profits.
“This idea was consuming me, and it was also really scary. But it just kept making so much sense to create a product that people loved, and that people were looking for a story from. And do it in such a way that was really dedicated to uplifting the community… the mission part [of this] is very natural for me,” Hart continues.
Triple Bottom as a whole is powered by renewable energy (planet), features a diverse selection of different pours (beer), and has launched a variety of programs to help overcome employment barriers (people).
Some may recognize the name from Halloween Nights at Eastern State Penitentiary. The Fair Chance Beer Garden by Triple Bottom started to set up shop at the seasonal locale in 2021, employing those who have experienced homelessness and incarceration. Eastern State also happened to be one of the first organizations Hart went to before opening TBB to learn more about their own programs working on reintegrating individuals back into the workforce.
The Future of Service Apprenticeship program specifically expands and formalizes that mission, and allows the Triple Bottom team to work with more people.
The 16-week course offers participants about two days a week in a “classroom” (aka the brewery). In the beginning, students bartend, observe spaces, visit farmer’s markets and get accustomed to what it feels like to be in the industry. Participants also gain some certifications (like ServSafe, OSHA 10 and CPR), plus learn skills like bystander intervention and how to safely and effectively de-escalate certain situations.
“That’s a skill. For some of our folks who are going home to areas where there’s high gun violence, to be able to sort of identify when someone’s in trouble and deescalate a situation is a really powerful skill and really transferable. Yes, you need it in a bar, but you can also use it at home,” says Hart.
The program is not just meant to help give experience, it’s also meant to create a sense of community. In the future, the team at Triple Bottom hopes to grow and offer three cohorts a year with classes of 10 to 12 people. The recent program just ended with a graduation a few weeks ago, and Hart says the team is taking January to asses and get input from their graduates. The hope is then to have two cohorts in 2025, with 2026 being the year to cycle with three programs.
“2026…that’s such a big year for Philadelphia. And to have a program like this that’s really about building a community and a workforce that is representative of everyone in the city, it is exciting to think that the workforce that’s celebrating 250 years of freedom could actually be free in a new way. People who are home from navigating incarceration could really be part of that celebration. I think that adds a really powerful layer of understanding of what it means to be free today,” says Hart.
Some who completed the program will continue to work with the brewery, some will move on. But as Hart notes, Triple Bottom will continue to serve the community the only way it knows how— by thinking of the world and the people in it.
“Small businesses in Philly are key to how we experience our day-to-day lives here. And I know that this is a time when a lot of small businesses are struggling and there are so many creative people behind the scenes making them work. So this is just an invitation to anyone reading this to really think about the people behind the scenes,” finishes Hart. “I think there’s so much richness in Philly, and I think that goes for both the small businesses and the people who work there. And we are really lucky to work with folks who maybe aren’t given a chance by other places…but hopefully, they now will be.”
Triple Bottom Brewing is located at 915 Spring Garden St. The brand also features a mobile bar, which can be booked for events and parties. To find out more information on what the brewery offers and the Future of Service Apprenticeship, visit triplebottombrewing.com
