The people who run this place

Meet the Brew Crew

Pizza makers, bartenders, hosts, servers, performers, musicians, problem-solvers and friends. Everyone here has their own strengths, their own things they are still working on, and their own opinion about the menu.

Nobody is good at everything, and nobody needs to be. The place works because all of it adds up. Come in on a Friday and you'll meet most of them.

The people you'll meet

Rachel at the Brewability bar in her apron and name badge, holding out a large arugula and balsamic pizza she is about to serve.

Rachel

Pizza chef · Server

Rachel is the reason a lot of people come back. She is bubbly, thoughtful and unfailingly polite, and she has a knack for making a table feel welcome before she has even set the food down.

She takes real pride in Brewability's pizzas — carrying them out, presenting them properly, checking you have everything you need. Ask her about her pop-can tab collection.

  • Collecting pop-can tabs
  • Serving pizza
  • Making people feel at home
Jorge in a chef's hat and apron at the Brewability bar, holding up a pink clarinet and grinning.

Jorge

Kitchen · Bar team

Jorge is a friend to everyone who walks in. He has the kind of open, easy warmth that makes strangers relax, and he brings it to every shift.

He also plays the clarinet, and he plays it on the worship team at his church. It is the same instinct in two places: he likes bringing people together, whether that is settling a table at Brewability or holding a line of music for a room full of people singing.

  • Playing clarinet
  • His church worship team
  • Meeting new people
José smiling in a blue patterned tuxedo jacket and silver bow tie at SeriesFest.

José

Kitchen crew

José brings a performer's energy to every shift. He loves Michael Jackson, and if you ask him for a little “Billie Jean,” there is a good chance he will put on a performance—with a smile on his face from beginning to end.

Whether he is dancing, singing or simply chatting with a guest about something they love, José has a gift for making people feel welcome and sending them away smiling.

  • Michael Jackson
  • Dancing and singing
  • Making people smile
Nick smiling from the pilot's seat of an aircraft, wearing a red shirt and baseball cap.

Nick

Dining room support · Box crew

Nick has been part of Brewability for a long time, and he does the work every busy restaurant needs. He busses tables, folds pizza boxes and helps keep the space clean—but he never disappears into the background. Nick brings his full personality with him. He is enthusiastic, honest and never afraid to say what is on his mind.

What stays with people most is the way Nick remembers them. He loves holidays, and he will make sure the people he cares about hear “Happy Thanksgiving,” “Merry Christmas” or “Happy birthday”—sometimes months early, just so there is no chance he forgets. Those small moments say something big: Nick notices people, remembers what matters and makes sure they know they have not been forgotten.

  • Holidays
  • Remembering special occasions
  • Making people feel remembered
Nathan smiling in a Superman costume with both arms raised at Brewability.

Nathan

Kitchen · Dish crew

Nathan has been part of Brewability for a long time, doing the dishes in the kitchen—the steady work that helps everyone else keep moving. But spend a few minutes with him and you will notice something else: Nathan is usually asking about you before he says very much about himself. He asks questions, listens closely and genuinely wants to understand the person in front of him. That is not small talk. It is real care.

Nathan also loves horses and has a miniature pony he enjoys taking on walks. Ask him about his horses and you may discover an entirely new side of him. He will be happy to tell you all about them—as long as he is not already busy learning something new about you.

  • Horses
  • Walking his miniature pony
  • Getting to know people
A Brewability team member holding a dish of baked macaroni and cheese, presenting it to the camera.

Stephanie

Bar team

Stephanie is curious about people. Properly curious — she will ask you where you are from, what you do, what brought you in, and she will remember the answer. She likes finding out what makes somebody different from the last person she talked to.

She also loves mermaids, which we mention because you will find out within about four minutes of meeting her.

  • Mermaids
  • Learning about people
  • Good conversation
Alex smiling broadly while holding a small piglet inside Brewability.

Alex

Bar team

Alex brings wholehearted enthusiasm to every shift. He is blind, a devoted football fan and the person to ask if you want the score, the story behind a player or a thoughtful prediction about what happens next.

He brings that same attention to people. Alex loves getting to know everyone, listens closely and has a way of offering advice that is both honest and kind. A conversation with him rarely stays small talk for long—you tend to leave it feeling seen, encouraged and a little more confident than when it began.

  • Football
  • Getting to know people
  • Thoughtful advice
Miranda smiling beside the coffee equipment at Brewability, wearing a black Be a Good Person shirt.

Miranda

Front of house

Miranda is the life of the party. She is the one who gets a room going, and people tend to leave a conversation with her smiling without being able to say exactly what did it—guests, and the rest of us on shift with her.

She is sweet, she is bubbly, and she will tell you precisely what she thinks, which turns out to be far more useful than it sounds. Away from here she figure skates, cheerleads and rides horses. Here, any excuse will do: put music on and Miranda dances. She is family, and a shift she is on feels different from a shift she is not.

  • Figure skating
  • Cheerleading
  • Horse riding
  • Dancing
Alannah smiling outdoors in a blue and white patterned dress, with pink dahlias in bloom behind her.

Alannah

A bar manager

Alannah helps manage the bar over the summer and on breaks, and she works hard at it. College takes her out of state for most of the year, so every shift she works here is one she came home for.

She is passionate about customer service, and what that means to her is people and the stories they bring in with them. Her kindness shows up in the way she pays attention. When you talk with her, she listens closely, cares about what you are saying and responds with genuine thought. You never get the feeling she is waiting for her turn to speak, or that her mind is somewhere else. She makes you feel like the conversation matters, because to her it genuinely does.

She is studying journalism, which is no coincidence. Neither is the journal she keeps of her own. Alannah loves a story, whether she is telling it or you are. She notices the little details other people might miss, and she takes people seriously. She is warm, friendly and always ready to talk about cheerleading. Dr Pepper is another favorite, so whatever you do, do not suggest Mr Pibb is better, even if you happen to be right.

  • Journalism
  • Other people's stories
  • Journaling
  • Dr Pepper enthusiast
Avery in a blue Brewability polo shirt, sitting at the bar in front of a row of flowers, mid-conversation.

Avery

Bar manager

Avery pours the beer, runs the bar, and uses his voice and experience to show what adults with disabilities can achieve when they are given a real opportunity.

Avery was diagnosed with autism at four. He has lived through two strokes, and has two rare diseases. He grew up in and out of hospitals. He didn't get his first job until he was 21—not for lack of wanting one. By the time his health was steady enough to work consistently, he was starting from behind everybody his age. Brewability was the place that said yes.

“I have spent much of my life feeling defined by illnesses and disabilities. I do not want anyone else to believe that a diagnosis determines their value, or everything they are capable of becoming. I want to turn my story into purpose rather than pain, and use what I have experienced to help create opportunities for other people.”

He built this website, mostly so the rest of the Brew Crew would have somewhere to be seen properly.

He also created Walk With Bravery, where he shares his lived experiences—including growing up in and out of hospitals—in the hope that even one person facing something similar feels less alone. He also wants to show how AI can serve as a practical accommodation for people with disabilities, helping remove barriers and making more room for their skills, ideas and voices.

  • Pouring a clean pint
  • Advocacy
  • Proving the assumption wrong

Who started it

Tiffany Fixter

Tiffany taught adults with autism and other developmental disabilities. Her students finished her program ready to work, and found that almost nobody would hire them. So in 2016 she opened a brewery in a garage and hired them herself.

Ten years later there are twenty-six of us.

Read the whole story →

Tiffany Fixter, founder of Brewability, seated inside a restaurant.
Founder Tiffany Fixter.

On shift

This is what a normal night looks like

Avery reaching up to pull a tap handle, filling a glass of beer behind the Brewability bar.
Pulling a pint at the color-coded taps.
Rachel in her Brewability cap carrying a plate out from the pizza pass while a colleague works the oven behind her.
Running food out to the patio.
A musician performing at Brewability, singing into a microphone with a guitar on a stand beside them.
Friday night, live on the floor.

The best way to meet the Brew Crew is to turn up

Order a pizza. Ask Rachel about the tabs, Jorge about the clarinet, José about Michael Jackson, Nick about the next holiday, or Nathan about his miniature pony. Ask Stephanie anything at all.