2024 Best of Business: Dining & Entertainment | Twin Cities Business

Catering company

Gold | Chowgirls Catering

Chowgirls Catering is not one to serve the same-old, same-old. Customers appreciate the Minneapolis catering company for its passion for sustainability and handcrafted fare. Paired with warm hospitality, the firm continues to attract new corporate, small business, nonprofit, and individual clients in its 20th year in business. Chowgirls maintains its strong company culture by promoting from within, fostering a committed and enthusiastic staff. Last year, the Guthrie Theater selected Chowgirls as its bar, concessions, and private event partner. There, and at other venues, Chowgirls offers its By-the-Box sub-brand, which creates eco-packaged, ready-to-go items, targeted to the meetings and corporate events industry.

Silver | D’Amico Catering

Bronze | Food Gallery Catering

Restaurant for a business lunch

Gold | NOLO’s Kitchen & Bar

NOLO’s Kitchen & Bar embodies its North Loop location. It made its debut in 2017 in the Maytag Building (a former hardware store), complete with exposed brick walls and an animated scene. NOLO’s founders wanted to serve straightforward American comfort food for neighborhood residents, office workers, and in-town and out-of-town visitors. It features expansive menus that flex for weekday breakfast and weekend brunch to lunch, happy hour, and dinner served well into the evening. Diners rave about NOLO’s locally sourced ingredients and standout burgers. Plus, its basement and rooftop bars give patrons room to spread out and enjoy a different vibe.

Silver | Hazelwood Food + Drink

Bronze | Red Rabbit

Coffee Shop

Gold | Caribou Coffee

For 30-plus years, Caribou Coffee has been a hometown favorite that spread its wings and built connections with customers across the country and around the world. Now with more than 700 locations, Caribou keeps its business percolating with brand extensions at grocery stores, food service, hotel, and entertainment venues. With coffee at its core, Brooklyn Center-based Caribou stays true to its mission to spark a chain reaction of good through its operations. That means using Rainforest Alliance Certified beans since 2006 and limiting its environmental footprint. Caribou’s nearly 7,000 employees create environments that are welcoming to all, serving delicious coffee with love.

Silver | Spyhouse Coffee Roasters

Bronze | Backstory Coffee Roasters; FRGMNT Coffee (tie)

Brewery and distillery

Gold | Surly Brewing

Surly Brewing launched in 2006 so its brewers could make the beer they wanted to drink. The company is imbued with a culture to push boundaries, breaking down beer-making conventions and restrictive liquor laws to boot. Surly’s Minneapolis brewery and beer hall has become a must-visit venue with indoor and outdoor spaces that often feature live music. Surly continues to reinvent itself, expanding in 2023 beyond Surly-branded products to become a co-packer of THC-based drinks. It’s overhauling its original Brooklyn Center brewery to expand this line of business, its most significant capital investment in a decade.

Silver | Indeed Brewing

Bronze | Fulton Beer

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