Hi Square Sellers! For this feature we spoke with Tom Snyder, Founder/Owner of Five on Black in Montana. He talks about his 5 locations Brazilian fast casual concept, his operational systems, smart menu engineering and the future of the brand.
Journey Into Ownership
I grew up locally and went to the University of Montana. I was a finance major in Missoula and I did an internship with a bank working on cash flow analysis and loan processing and it just wasn’t for me. I wanted to stay in Missoula and I knew my options were limited. I needed to find a way to be able to remain here and enjoy my family and the great resources of this area especially skiing, kayaking, and backpacking.
For my senior thesis I created the business plan for Five on Black, entered it into a competition and actually won. It gave me just enough money to pay for a trip to Brazil which helped me really dive into the cuisine. I ordered every Brazilian cookbook I could find and started collecting tons of recipes with my then girlfriend, now wife Lauren who is a really phenomenal cook. Like most countries, the cuisine varies widely across Brazil. We combined our favourite components and recipes for the concept. We also took elements of some dishes and deconstructed them to work for our format.
I did a market study and broke down the top 50 brands. The formula really thriving was taking a national cuisine and translating into an efficient and affordable menu model. I wanted to be sure it was high quality, really appealing and healthy and also a great value for our customers. I wanted to be in the fast casual segment. At the time, most other cuisines already had a quick-serve concept like Chipotle and Panda Express. In the country, the only Brazilian cuisine available was sit-down Churrascarias-style Brazilian steakhouses. I knew the recipes would combine perfectly in this new format and I wanted to avoid the pain points of a sit down restaurant.
I opened the first location when I was 22 years old with the help of an sba loan. The business gained traction really quickly. We received great press from the beginning and word of mouth spread organically. People didn’t have a lot of exposure to Brazilian cuisine yet. The food is easy and fresh. Customers can just jump off the river and eat a quick bowl. It’s a great match for our active, health-forward customers.
Systems and Operations
In terms of operations, my personal mantra from day one has been, ‘How do we make our employees’ jobs easier?’ Restaurants are complicated beasts and they have to be based on systems. We are constantly iterating and pushing to innovate even small details to make the business more efficient. It might be something as small as moving a spatula to a different spot in the shelf, so it’s less steps for our team. Getting all the details right over time accumulates into a smoother experience for our team which translates to our guests.
When restaurants are doing well, that is when you have to double down and you need to refocus. You have a captive audience and it’s essential to keep momentum going. You always can find ways to do a little bit better. From the beginning even when I just had one store I still tried to treat the shop as part of a bigger system. For example we committed to refreshing our interiors every 7 years which is something large corporate chains often adhere to. We just remodelled the Missoula downtown location. I’ll do the same for my other locations once they hit that milestone. It’s so important to update, keep materials clean, and re-engage the customers.
Marketing and Loyalty
I’m not a fan of traditional marketing. New customers are hard to get and I’m a strong advocate for focusing within the 4 walls by simply providing a really strong product with really great customer service. If you do that properly and consistently then word of mouth will grow your business. It’s exactly what large businesses always talk about: investing in the customers you have and understanding the lifetime value of repeat and existing customers. We always look to reinforce and fortify our customer’s brand loyalty.
Menu Design and Pricing
We wanted to create a healthy menu that people could afford with ingredients they would feel good about. We also wanted something that kids would enjoy as we knew they often help drive the decision when families choose to dine out. We built a modular menu accessible in price that could be easily customised for different taste preferences. There are so many available combinations, you could literally eat the food everyday and still have something different.
The cuisine was started by the Brazilian cowboys, with meats cooked over an open fire on big skewers that slowly rotate. It locks in the flavor much more than a static grill. It’s an amazing way to cook meat. We retained this traditional approach and leveraged it for our fast casual concept.
We were light years ahead of the gluten-free movement. When we first opened it was just a tiny fad and now it’s gigantic. We had built our entire menu to be gluten-free from the beginning. We use tapioca flour and cassava flour. Paleo meals are also really easy to construct with our menu and there are tons of vegan and vegetarian options. I haven’t had to drastically change the menu. I think the main evolution was adding tofu.
Community Nights
You have to be a part of the community you’re in to really succeed. You need to embrace and help the community and they will embrace you right back. Every Tuesday in all our restaurants, we run what we call community nights. We rotate each week through different local non-profit and 50% of the sales go directly to that cause from the people that come in specifically to support them.
It actually helps drive some unique business and everybody wins. The non-profit promotes us for that night and then they benefit. It’s often people that might not have come in otherwise. Often they turn into repeat customers once they try our food. It’s all super easy to manage in our Square POS. We just have a button programmed for community bowls for both sizes.
