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The Pit and Peel's forthcoming juice bar features a rooftop deck.
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The Pit and the Peel has moved from its former location at 1102 W. Main St. to a new space a 1210 W. Main St.
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New menu items at The Pit and the Peel include sandwiches such as a chicken banh mi.
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The bar area on the rooftop will offer craft cocktails, beer and wine.
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A carrot-ginger mule at The Pit and the Peel featuring fresh-squeezed carrot juice
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Amping up its menu, The Pit and the Peel plans to offer tacos, sandwiches and cauliflower-crust pizza at the new Main Street outpost.
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All murals at the forthcoming location were created by Richmond-based artist Kevin Kyle Harrell, better known as Humble.
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A view from the rooftop area at The Pit and the Peel
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Another mural by local artist Humble
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The first floor of the soon-to-debut location of The Pit and the Peel
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Another interior view
On Tuesday, June 10, The Pit and the Peel will introduce its newest outpost in the area, relocating its Fan location near Virginia Commonwealth University a block down to new, larger digs at 1210 W. Main St. including a rooftop bar.
“We saw an opportunity to put a rooftop up there, and that’s how it all started,” says Craig Brosius, co-owner of The Pit and the Peel along with Kevin Urbanowski.
The Pit and the Peel originally opened in 2015, and Brosius says growth happened quickly, especially after they introduced a bowl whose name has undoubtedly been mispronounced for years.
“When we introduced the acai bowl, all the college kids came in and Instagrammed and took pictures, and it all kind of compounded,” Brosius, a Buffalo, New York, native, recalls. “We did so well in that first year of business that we had to expand. No one was really doing this back then — there was a need for the healthy food aspect.”
In 2017 a Carytown location debuted, followed by one at Short Pump Town Center in 2018 and a cafe inside the James Center downtown the same year.
“We kind of got into this growth mode — I wanted to do five within five years, which we did,” Brosius continues.
But when the pandemic struck, Brosius and Urbanowski were granted the time to figure out their next steps, which included adopting a more modern approach, becoming their own landlords and purchasing a commissary kitchen at the Parham North industrial complex to serve as a home base to streamline large-scale prep for their growing juice bar operation.
Now the team is on the verge of opening The Pit and the Peel's fourth area location — with a fifth set for Norfolk — in the former Anderson Printing space, this latest iteration a rebranding and reintroduction of the juice bar, complete with a rooftop space, cocktails and local beer, and a more food-centric menu.
Taking over the shuttered Pit and the Peel space at 1102 W. Main St. is Africanne on Main chef and owner Ida Mamusu, who is moving her eatery from 200 E. Main St. in early June with plans to introduce dinner, expanded hours and more.
Following a complete remodel of the space, the downstairs area of The Pit and the Peel features a spacious, bright cafe with window seats that face Main Street and a garage door that can let in the breeze, accented by hanging plants. Upstairs is a 1,500-square-foot deck with couches, tables and a bar.
The new rooftop “combines food offerings and scenery and being outside,” Brosius says. “And with the new menu, being able to eat normal, everyday things like pizza and tacos and sandwiches and put a healthier curve on it.”
Menu items will include jackfruit barbecue tacos, cauliflower-crust pizza, a chicken banh mi and the ever-popular acai bowls. The cafe will be open from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily, with alcohol sales beginning at 4 p.m. during the week and 10 a.m. on Saturday and Sundays for brunch.
While the focus right now at The Pit and the Peel is the rollout of the new space at the corner of Main and Brunswick streets, down the line Brosius says he envisions 10 corporate locations with the possibility of franchising.
“We wanted to rebrand because we grew so fast we almost let Richmond down these last few years because we were in grow mode,” Brosius says. “For now, we plan on dialing in on operations and want to elevate everything to be better. Definitely really excited to launch this one as the flagship of the new brand and the new menu and switch everything up in Richmond.”
