Alexia and Rhys Gawlak, longtime employees and collaborators of James and Julie Petrakis, have purchased the Swine & Sons brand from them and will move the business from its current location to the Local Butcher & Market one block away. The space previously occupied by Swine & Sons, which is across the parking lot from the Petrakises’ Ravenous Pig restaurant, has been leased to a dentist, according to James Petrakis.
In addition, the Petrakises will convert the space next to the dentist office, currently an Enterprise car rental, into Ravenous Pig Brewing Co. The new facility will have eight times the brewing capacity of the current equipment located inside the Ravenous Pig. The facility inside the restaurant was providing the beers for Cask & Larder, another Swine Family of Restaurants brand, which is located in an airside terminal at Orlando International Airport.
Cask & Larder’s beers will now be produced at the new facility and will continue to carry its brand name. Petrakis said that the facility will produce other beer brands that they plan to distribute throughout Florida. The facility inside Ravenous Pig will be used to produce specialty beers solely for the restaurant.
The Gawlaks will join the full service butcher and another restaurant, DaKine Poke, inside the small shop at 669 N. Orange Ave., Winter Park, to create a small food hall. They have been leading the Swine & Sons concept since its inception in 2015. Swine & Sons specializes in charcuterie, salamis and sandwiches.
Petrakis said that the current Swine & Sons space was never zoned for a restaurant and so they could not install proper food preparation equipment, such as stoves, ovens and hood vents.
The new Swine & Sons inside the Local Butcher & Market is expected to open soft on March 2. The car rental business will vacate on Feb. 28 and renovations for the brewing facility will begin March 1, said Petrakis. He expects the first batch of beers to be available by July 4. The brewing facility will not be open to the public as a tasting room, he said, but will include an event space available for lease.
The Gawlaks have been associated with the Ravenous Pig brand since the restaurant first opened. “It’s an inspiring new chapter for Rhys and me as we leave the Swine Family of Restaurants after 12 years to focus on our own projects, especially the expansion of our catering operations,” said Alexia.
Swine & Sons will continue to serve lunch daily and breakfast on weekends. They will extend evening hours, focusing on a hot dinner pickup service.
