Alworth said he is proud to serve fresh pizza, burgers, fish and chips, and chili to the town his family has lived in for generations, and he does it out of a shipping container converted into a fully functional commercial kitchen.
With his grandparents and parents both Conroe natives, Alworth said the city was an ideal location. When he decided to open in December 2020, Alworth said he wanted to do something different by opening his eatery at Copperhead Brewery, where he enjoyed the drinks but saw a demand for food.
“I live in the neighborhood, and I spent years sitting on a barstool [at Copperhead Brewery] and really fell in love with their beer,” Alworth said. “And they didn’t serve peanuts, potato chips, popcorn or anything to eat ... and I said, ‘Man, you know, this place would do well if it had food. And let’s not just do food; let’s do good food.’”
When he saw pizza ovens for sale on an online auction, Hoppy Kitchen began preparing to open inside a shipping container.
“We engineered this [shipping container] to the point where it’s certified. It can go into any municipality in the United States; it meets all the safety criteria,” Alworth said.
He said it was important to him to serve fresh food, so he looked for local vendors for products such as fish, bratwurst and prime beef. He said the kitchen does not have any frozen food; in fact, it does not have a freezer at all.
“We started making our own buns, and so ... if we can’t make it, we’re trying to locally source it,” Alworth said.
Although he said he is not in a hurry to expand, Alworth said the restaurant has the potential to grow.
“I built this with the idea that we could do this at other locations because there’s other breweries and other locations ... that have alcohol and other things and opportunities that could use food,” Alworth said.
Hoppy Kitchen
705 Galveston St., Conroe
936-333-3450
www.hoppykitchen.com
Hours: Mon.-Sat. 11 a.m.-8 p.m., closed Sun.
