Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Sly Fox to open restaurant in GoggleWorks Center for the Arts in Reading
READING >> The GoggleWorks Center for the Arts and Sly Fox Brewing Co. announced Thursday that they will partner to open The Den restaurant at the art center campus.
The Den will replace Belly Kitchen & Drinkery, which announced this month that it was leaving to join forces with Barley Mow Craft Beer House in West Reading.
As a part of the new partnership, Sly Fox will also cater GoggleWorks’ many events on campus and bring music and social events to downtown Reading.
“I admire the work of Sly Fox and welcome their creative approach to food, beer and social engagement to our campus,” GoggleWorks Executive Director Levi Landis said in a news release.
The Den is the latest iteration of the culinary program at GoggleWorks. When the campus opened in 2005, there was a small snack bar on the ground floor. Since 2016, the center added
a full kitchen, food prep room, dishwashing room, storage and a full bar, including a special venue liquor license.
Belly opened in July 2018 and featured a partnership with Sly Fox to serve the brewery’s beers.
“We have piloted this model, and we are ecstatic to welcome a remarkable partner to realize our full vision for the community,” Landis said.
Sly Fox , which is based in Pottstown, opened a taphouse in the former VF Outlet Center in Wyomissing this year. It also has a location just outside Phoenixville and others planned in Malvern, Chester County, and Pittsburgh.
“We’re really excited about The Den by Sly Fox,” managing partner John Giannopoulis said in the release. “We’ve been working with GoggleWorks for the past three years, and this is just the next step in our continued partnership. The Den brings endless opportunities to us as we continue
our growth strategy and bring our brand to consumers.”
The partnership builds on GoggleWorks’ emphasis on program innovation, with new youth education, culinary, STEAM and virtual reality initiative announced in recent years.
“There are so many unexplored opportunities for engaging the community,” said Landis, “Particularly folks who are unfamiliar with GoggleWorks or don’t have a background with visual arts.”
The restaurant will focus its food menu on sandwiches,
salads and other fresh, local offerings that are low-cost and highquality for GoggleWorks’ nearly 300,000 annual visitors.
Guests can take drinks and food from The Den into the Boscov theatre, which screens films two to three times daily, in addition to other performances and events.
Sly Fox is planning a soft opening of The Den in early December and plans to be operating during Arts Festival Reading, which is expanding as a holiday market Dec. 14-15.