This Month’s Featured Article

“Our human desire for connection and collaboration through food is stronger than ever,” shares Kevin Kelly, founder and CEO of Berkshire-based culinary business After Hours GB. “With this in mind, we’re excited to take After Hours to the world, creating experiences that honor local food systems, foster human connection, and put collaboration at the heart of every event.”

After Hours, the innovative traveling restaurant, has grown from a regional experiment into a culinary movement in just two short years. After spending the past two years curating and hosting memorable culinary experiences that blend storytelling, culture, and gastronomy to connect people throughout the Berkshires, Hudson Valley, and Litchfield County, the traveling dining group will now be expanding across the globe. 

Reimagining the approach to dining

The Great Barrington, MA, native has been in the restaurant scene for over a decade, starting as a busser in his teenage years for the former Allium Restaurant + Bar in Great Barrington. From there, he worked at a handful of other local restaurants in a variety of roles, from front of house to back of house, until he graduated high school. 

The concept of After Hours came together in the winter of 2023, during Kevin’s final semester at Babson College in Wellesley, MA. He had been working on fleshing out a plan to open a traditional brick-and-mortar restaurant in Great Barrington, but after working through financial projections, menu planning, staffing viability, and the countless other aspects of the restaurant business, it became apparent to Kevin that the traditional restaurant model simply wouldn’t be financially sustainable, especially in a highly-seasonal area with a declining working population. 

“From here, I stepped back and asked, ‘If the traditional restaurant model doesn’t work, then what does?’ And from there, After Hours, a traveling dining group that creates collaborative dining experiences, was born,” he explains.

Global starts local

Starting in January of 2026, After Hours GB will continue as After Hours Global, expanding its mission of collaboration over competition across the globe. For Kevin, the inspiration to expand globally is deeply rooted in personal curiosity and a professional acknowledgement of the need for change in the restaurant industry and food systems. 

“Consumer preference has surpassed the rate at which restaurants and food businesses can innovate, and with already stressed global food systems, how can we challenge everything that we think we know about how restaurants are supposed to operate – a brick-and-mortar location, open from 5pm-9pm, soup, salad, appetizers, entree, dessert?” Kevin asks. “The need of the business and I aligned near perfectly with timing. I need to experience more cuisines, cultures, ways of business and life, and simultaneously, the business needs to continue to develop, connect, and collaborate with wider audiences.” 

From day one, After Hours was intentionally designed to not be just one thing. Kevin ensured that the business would be able to pivot as needed, and so the idea of travel and global expansion has been in the back of his mind since he first created After Hours. Now, two years after learning and developing in the Berkshire region, it’s time for After Hours to learn and develop from cultures across the globe. 

Global dining events will begin in Puerto Rico from January through March of 2026, with stops in San Juan, Arecibo, Cabo Rojo, and Rincon, followed by stops in Spain, Southern France, Portugal, and Morocco from April through July. Finally, After Hours will come back home to the east coast, with events in Boston, MA, and New York, NY, in July and August. After Hours will then continue on to various European cities throughout the remainder of 2026 and into 2027. 

After Hours Global is going to function very similarly to how the business has over the past two years – focusing on pop-up events, private events, and local collaborations that promote mutual success for local businesses. 

“We’re committed to working locally wherever we go: food, staff, and collaborators,” Kevin says. “Our dining events will focus heavily on highlighting local produce and cuisine, with our own influence and interpretation being served on every place.” 

Events will encompass everything from prix fixe dinners hosted at cafes after they have closed for the day; scenic dinners on beaches, farms, and mountain tops; and late-night, fast, casual pop-ups with live music and dancing. Specific partnerships and event details will be announced one month prior to each event, but Kevin gave us a little inside scoop about what people can look forward to at some of the After Hours Global events in 2026. 

“We are currently working with a range of potential partners from coffee and cacao farms in Puerto Rico, vineyards in the Basque Region of Spain, and artisans in Italy,” he shares. “We also have some interesting things in the works with the launch of our second internship program this January, including a marketing and business development internship.” 

Evolving across the globe

Since its inception, After Hours has been “completely bootstrapped and has functioned similarly to an early-stage start-up.” For the past two years, Kevin says this has looked like everyone wearing many hats, making lots of creative pivots, incredible highs, and humbling lows. 

“We’ve always been very scrappy, working first with what we have at hand and slowly developing as we go.”

In its first year, After Hours had a group of five or six different part-time employees that supported events (mostly made up of family and friends). In the second year, this number grew to a network of more than 20 employees as Kevin built After Hours Gigs, the business’ in-house platform that hires part-time and gig work employees to join After Hours for one event, or many, as servers, bartenders, and cooks. 

“Since starting, we’ve had some unimaginable opportunities – cooking for Michael Pollan being a personal highlight!” 

In the past two years, After Hours has hosted more than 250 events and collaborated with more than 150 different businesses in a wide range of industries including musicians, artists, farms, florists, content creators, restaurateurs, bars, grocery stores, wineries, distilleries, breweries, educational institutions, media publications, and the list goes on. 

Kevin notes that it hasn’t been easy. The most challenging part of operating After Hours has been finding the balance between giving people what they know, while also staying true to creating a concept that has never been done before. Catering, pop-up restaurants, ghost kitchens, and event management are all areas and concepts that After Hours touches, but they do not solely define what the business offers. 

After Hours partners with local businesses to host culinary experiences that help promote partners and create more ingrained collaboration within communities – which is exactly what Kevin finds so rewarding about the business.

“It has been eye-opening to set a goal and far surpass it, by simply sharing ideas with people who share your values,” he explains. “Another rewarding part of the business has been a lot of our community advocacy and support with non-profit organizations. Whether that be food distribution or youth education, it’s been incredibly rewarding to support the development and sustainability of local food systems.” 

According to Kevin, the next two years of After Hours will be focused on developmental expansion through focused, international growth. Starting in the fall of 2026, Kevin will be pursuing a master’s degree that focuses on world food studies. The longer-term concept of After Hours is currently under development and is being held close to the chest for now, but in the short term, After Hours has plans to continue to expand internationally. As the business progresses and grows, it will lean into longer-term residencies at various locations across the globe. 

“We’re always looking to connect with people who are passionate about food, travel, and culture. If you or anyone you know is interested in working with us – in any corner of the world – we would love to hear from you!” Kevin shares. “We are also working on integrating documentary-style filmmaking into our expansion and travels, and are looking for an independent filmmaker – someone who loves travel or telling stories. If this sounds like you, reach out!” •

To stay up-to-date with After Hours’ journey and to see what city they’ll be in next, be sure to follow them on Instagram @afterhours.global, on Facebook, and sign up for their newsletter for updates on event locations, dates, and collaborations. After Hours invites food enthusiasts, local businesses, and culinary adventurers who are interested in collaborating to reach out directly via email at info@afterhours-global.com or to Kevin directly at kevin@afterhours-global.com.