'Best, worst kept secret': Underbelly By The Pig set to open in Kamloops
The staff at the Noble Pig Brewhouse in Kamloops is busy training and perfecting a new menu in preparation for the opening of a sister-branch this weekend.
The new place, which opens on Saturday, Nov. 13, is called Underbelly By The Pig and is located downtown.
“Our dinners at The Noble Pig Brewhouse are served in an elevated dining environment,” owner of both venues Maeghan Summers said. “The name Underbelly is a play on us serving the kinds of foods we love but in a very casual space.”
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Underbelly By The Pig is in the former Forno on Fifth location, a restaurant Summers closed. She spent the past 18 months evaluating her business plan and rebranding with her team.
“During the pandemic the Noble Pig and Forno on Fifth teams were joined together to help us retain staff,” Summers said. “We had intended to reopen Forno but ended up reassessing what we wanted to do. We wanted to unify both businesses and put a new concept downtown.”
The new space will have a casual, authentic vibe with a creative and artistic décor. The renovations are complete and the logo and signage are updated.
“The logo is actually part of the Noble Pig logo,” Summers said. “We played around with it and cut it up into butcher block pieces.
The menu at Underbelly will be different than the Pig, but sourced the same. The venues are less than two blocks away from each other.
“We have a 100 percent scratch kitchen where we make all of our breads and sauces from scratch,” Summers said. “We use twenty local suppliers that are within 100 miles away. We can bake and create in one kitchen and send it over to the other and vice versa.”
Summers said the pandemic helped her elevate her businesses and her team is back to almost 100 members. She said she has not formally announced the opening of Underbelly this weekend yet.
“It is the best, worst kept secret,” she said. “It feels so great to have the support of the entire team, they are pumped.”
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