Today we’d like to introduce you to Cooper Johnson.
Hi Cooper, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Back in 2017, I was running the taproom and overseeing day-to-day operations at Blackstack Brewing. As we grew and found more success, I was fortunate to have an incredible team step up and take on bigger roles, freeing me up a bit. That’s when I realized how much I missed the food side of hospitality.
We chose Burnsville for our first Bricksworth Beer location because I’ve got a lot of family in the area, and we could never quite find the right spot to land after big get-togethers. We were always on the hunt for a place that served great beer and food that we actually wanted to eat.
The project was originally set to open in March 2020, right as COVID-19 brought everything to a halt. A six-week delay quickly turned into six months, and we pivoted to to-go-only food by the end of 2020. When the final lockdown lifted in January 2021, we officially opened our doors.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Anyone in the restaurant business will tell you—it’s never a smooth road. But from day one, we were welcomed by the Burnsville and North Loop communities with open arms.
Thankfully, most of the challenges we faced after opening were good problems—like keeping up with demand for beer, pizza, and wings. Some weeks, we ran out of dough, and our tap list got embarrassingly short.
Still, we put everything we earned right back into improving the experience—more consistency, better systems, a stronger team. And the community showed up for us, again and again.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We specialize in our own unique take on Detroit-style pizza—a slight riff on the classic version. It also happens to be one of the least profitable styles a restaurant can offer. But we didn’t choose it for the margins—we chose it because we believe Detroit-style is the best pizza out there.
Our philosophy around food, beer, and people has always been simple: never sacrifice quality. That mindset is, without question, the most important decision we’ve made—and it’s a big reason we’ve found success. If you meet our team, you’ll see that they really do feel like family. They eat more of our food than I’ve seen at any restaurant I’ve worked in over the past 13 years, which is one of the best compliments we could ever get.
We’ve never aimed to be a flavor-of-the-month style place. The goal has always been to build something that lasts 50+ years—something we can pass on to the next generation. Listening to our servers, bartenders, and support staff has been crucial to getting there.
When it comes to beer, we only work with brewers we consider world-class. We don’t give them limits—we trust them to make the best beer possible. Inversely, for service staff, we select genuine humans who love people and regularly receive training to make them beer experts, but personality and warmth actually come first in this regard. It’s 2025, the stuffy, condescending brewery worker should have never existed, and really has no place in this decade.
Apologies for the tangent: back to brewing, the only real guidelines are pushing envelopes and a well-balanced variety when guests come to visit us. If it’s a style we don’t believe in or can’t execute at a high level, we don’t brew it. Simple as that.
And for those who don’t like or can’t drink beer, we’ve got a full bar to make sure there’s something for everyone.
We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
Risk-taking is at the heart of our business philosophy. We believe that once you stop learning or pushing the envelope, you’re probably done—as a brewery, a restaurant, or anything else.
Every week, we talk through ways we can improve: the beer, the food, the service, the atmosphere. That doesn’t mean we act on every idea, but we give them the time and space they deserve. We’re constantly looking to make changes, but only when they genuinely improve the product or guest experience. We’d never make a change that could be seen as a shortcut or a cost-cutting move at the expense of quality.
We’re incredibly proud—and protective—of what we’ve built. But the same mindset that got us here can’t be abandoned as we grow. Staying curious, open, and willing to take risks is what keeps us moving forward.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.bricksworthbeer.co
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bricksworthbeer/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61565212313833
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/bricksworth-beer-co-minneapolis-2
