In the past two decades, the growth of business collaborations became a fun way for brands to cross-promote and tap into audiences outside their established markets.

These days, the “better together” mantra may be one way for businesses to survive the pandemic. In the same spirit of experimentation that led to the birth of Beer Lab HI, the brewery has partnered with a handful of food truck vendors to expand its footprint at Pearlridge Center from a kiosk for sampling its newest creations to a full-scale restaurant offering casual fare.

The original plan was to offer their own menu, said Nicholas Wong, Beer Lab HI president and co-founder. “We looked at the whole business climate and thought it would be better to see if we could help other local businesses.”

Wong founded Beer Lab’s original Moiliili tasting room in 2016 with Kevin Teruya and Derek Toguchi, fellow Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard workmates who had bonded over homemade brews, dreaming of one day opening a brewery together. Locations in Waipio and Pearlridge followed.

“We had some food truck friends who were struggling. Their life blood was serving people who were on their lunch break or going to school and people were not downtown and not going to UH anymore.”

Beer Lab was adjusting to the pandemic economy as well, with bar operations at greater risk of shutdowns than restaurants.

The Beer Lab’s zymurgy (study of fermentation) had expanded to pickling and curing salami and the serving of sandwiches and charcuterie at its Moiliili and Waipio sites. Those offerings appealed to customers in the university area and among homebrewers who pick up malts, hops and yeast (as well as beer) in Waipio. But at Pearlridge, they might not have appealed as much to mallgoers just there for fun, not nerdy research and dialog.

So in a win-win-win situation for themselves, the food truck vendors and customers, Beer Lab, which had already been at the mall for two years, invited the owners of Sistah, Flyin’ Ahi and La Birria to create food compatible with the Beer Lab craft-beer experience, to attract the hungry as well as the thirsty. The current schedule has Sistah in the kitchen Tuesdays to Fridays, La Birria bringing Taco Tuesdays to dinner hours Tuesdays, and Flyin’ Ahi handling food chores Saturdays to Mondays.

I was there on a Wednesday, when Sistah’s Eun Ju Jo and Mila Bang, two friends originally from Seoul, were serving up a Korean fusion menu. Locals will appreciate the portion sizes and familiar flavors, from teriyaki sauce to creamy mushroom gravy.

Over the past few years, Sistah’s bright yellow truck could be spotted in Kalihi, on Punchbowl Street and at the University of Hawaii, before Jo and Bang settled into the Beer Lab kitchen in September.

Jo’s love of experimenting with food began in childhood and led her to the Gros Bonnet Culinary Academy here in Honolulu, where she absorbed our culinary traditions and melded them with her Korean sensibilities to create such dishes as “Huli-Huli”-style chicken with gochujang teriyaki sauce ($12.99), and kalbi served over aromatic garlic butter rice ($17.99). The kalbi comes with sides of furikake teriyaki aioli and a gochujang Sriracha aioli, but the meat is already so flavorful no additional sauce is necessary.

Flavors tend to be less fiery than in Korean cuisine, with more of the sweet-shoyu profile many Hawaii diners love, for example in a dish of teriyaki barbecue pork ($12.99) available in mild and spicy versions.

Also among crowd pleasers are Sistah’s signature fries ($8.99), tossed with kimchi and topped with an over-easy egg and sprinkling of furikake; and black pork ssam (lettuce wraps, $12.99), that contain garlic butter rice and Asian slaw, capped with jalapeno slices and Korean miso sauce.

Diners ordering Sistah’s food are also being treated to a complimentary bowl of La Birria chef Arturo Silva’s beefy posole soup.

The food can be enjoyed with Beer Lab HI’s kombucha or one eight daily beers on tap — available in 4- to 16-ounce increments ranging from $2.25 to $3.75 for 4 ounces to $6.75 to $9.25 for a full glass.

BEER LAB HI PEARLRIDGE

Pearlridge Center, Mauka (formerly Uptown), ground floor, near Goma Tei; 762-0027

>> Hours: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays to Saturdays; 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sundays

>> Prices: $25 to $30 for two without alcohol

Other locations

>> 1010 University Ave. (888-0913)

>> 94-515 Ukee St., No. 310, Waipio (517-3128)

Nadine Kam’s restaurant reviews are conducted anonymously and paid for by the Star-Advertiser. Reach her at nkam@staradvertiser.com.