Renegade Street Eats has been rolling up to food truck rallies, festivals and other events across Cincinnati since 2014. Later this year, owner Kris Buening plans to open a brick-and-mortar cafe in the newly renovated
Listermann Brewing across from Xavier University.
“When I started my truck, this wasn’t something I thought I would want to do,” Buening says. “I didn’t want to worry about attracting enough customers in a brick-and-mortar space, and being mobile means that I can go where the hungry people are.”
Renegade has partnered with Listermann for about one and a half years now for Wing Night on Thursdays, as well as Xavier basketball pre-games and festivals. When Listermann approached Buening about possibly having a kitchen in its taproom, she couldn’t pass it up.
The numbers work for both parties — having food keeps taproom visitors around longer, and the additional customers drum up more profit for Buening. With the added kitchen space, she plans to keep operating the food truck and using the kitchen for prep and storage space.
The menu will be much the same as on the truck, but where the truck can carry just four to five items per day, the taproom cafe will be much larger. Customer favorites like wings and the gyro burger will be there, as well as a number of new items. Buening plans to offer snack-type items too, plus more options for dinner. She also wants to have special menus for events like beer dinners and collaborations with other food trucks.
“I hope to bring another option for lunch eventually and dinner that isn’t a chain, with scratch-made food from quality ingredients,” Buening says.
There isn’t a concrete opening date yet, but Buening is aiming for anywhere between June and September. Plans are still being drawn up, and permits have been applied for.
As soon as the space is remodeled and inspected, Renegade will open with limited hours and then expand them once everything is established.
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