Behind downtown Greenville's newest 'elevated' taproom.

• Position: The People's Tap

For Julia Belcher and Jennifer Lion, their dream of opening a taproom was one they didn't know they had.

Both moved to Greenville more than a decade ago and fell in love with the city. So much so that they would eventually open People's Tap, an homage to Greenville's burgeoning food and beverage scene.

The People's Tap concept was dreamt up back in 2019, after years of planning, obstacles, successes, redesigns and research on beers. Now, the taproom, which is located at the RiverPlace development in downtown Greenville at 250 Riverplace, Suite B, is officially open.

Belcher, People's Tap partner and general manager, and Lion, also a partner, have been friends for around nine years when they met in Greenville. Both are Ohio State alumni and really enjoy visiting breweries and hiking together, but their friendship was essentially centered on the up-and-coming food and beverage industry in Greenville, said Belcher. They both even held hospitality positions in between the journey to the People's Tap.

"As time went on, we thought, wouldn't it be great if we owned a place of our own?" said Belcher. "It took a while to get it going, but now we are in an incredible location, although we weren't originally looking at a downtown location."

Pandemic poses problems

But then much like other new businesses starting out amid the COVID-19 pandemic there were some challenges.

The pair had considered opening the taproom on the outskirts of the city limits, as more of a neighborhood spot, such as in the Overbrook area, and hadn't considered downtown in the earlier stages of the process.

For their first potential location, virtual zoning meetings the result of the pandemic created a bit of uncertainty in the planning process.

"When we did it, we thought everything was good and didn't really comprehend the longevity of the process, but then frustration over the process grew over time as the pandemic continued, and we were working full-time remotely, too, wondering what we do we do next?" said Belcher.

They saw how the pandemic affected other businesses but also how amazing and creative the Greenville community is, said Belcher.

"We had to figure out how to navigate through the situation and saw breweries trying different things, and we try our very best to stay away from paper menus for sustainability purposes," she added. "Two years ago, scanning a QR code was uncommon and now everyone knows what to do. The pandemic really changed the food and beverage...