If you want to open a restaurant, usually you convince investors or a bank to put up the cash, lease a space, build out, and then hope and pray you start making money ASAP after you open.
Or you could pop-up, crowdfund and incubate your way to a brick-and-mortar presence, a route that’s becoming more and more common among young food entrepreneurs launching the new crop of upstart businesses.
Mason Dixie Biscuit Co. is one of them, and it seems to be working. The nascent biscuit sandwich company — it just launched in July — just won the Launch Pad challeng e from new food incubator Mess Hall. The victory gets them a membership at the communal kitchen, a six-month mentorship, branding, marketing and other services, and the opportunity for a $500,000 investment from a new equity crowdfunding project called EquityEats.
It was a joyful moment for Mason Dixie’s team — former Astro Doughnuts and Menu MBK pastry chef Jason Gehring, sommelier and chef Maurice Cherry, and hospitality marketing and management veteran Ayeshah Abuelhiga. After all, they’ve had their share of false starts in this business.
Abuelhiga and Cherry, former Passion Food Hospitality coworkers, felt the sting of disappointment after pouring their hearts and savings into a Baltimore bar deal a few years ago, only to have a larger development company come in and outbid them.
“We’ve tried to open restaurants in that traditional route, and it’s a lot of stress,” Abuelhiga said. “This time around, we said, ‘Let’s prove it with real numbers and market metrics that shows the customer really wants us. If we can do that, then it’s viable.’”
Their grassroots effort has led to a road thus far dotted with small victories, which is preferable to a big defeat, Cherry said.
“We learned you don’t go for something at the tip of your capacity. Instead, go for something a little more approachable, then you don’t have to be devastated when it didn’t work out,” he added.
While pop-ups and crowdfunding campaigns aren’t exactly rare in the restaurant business, Mason Dixie has deployed an unusual number of these alternatives in the few months since their launch, and it’s hoping to parlay them into a brick-and-mortar restaurant by the middle of next year. Here’s the roadmap:
1. Pop-up: D.C. got its first taste of Gehring’s biscuits (filled with things like fried chicken or bacon) during a weekend pop-up at the Dolcezza gelato factory behind Union Market in early August, followed by another late-night event at Roofers Union in Adams Morgan the following weekend.
It’s tougher than people think to do a pop-up, Gehring said.
“The big challenge … is being able to work in a space that is totally unfamiliar,” he said. “Also, if there’s staff there from the restaurant, trying to find a way to do your job but also stay out of their way and let them do theirs.”
There’s also the trust factor.
“They have to trust that if you’re going to use their equipment, you’re going to clean it. They have to make sure their customers aren’t going to get confused, and that they won’t lose customers to you,” Abuelhiga said. “We’ve been really lucky to have the support of these local businesses.”
2. Kickstart: Alongside those first pop-ups was a Kickstarter campaign Mason Dixie launched to help fund a more permanent pop-up: a three-month stint serving breakfast and lunch at the forthcoming shared EatsPlace space on Georgia Avenue NW.
They set a goal of $27,500 and made that number on the last day with four hours to spare, thanks to a last minute bonus they added for donors: a free biscuit.
“After that it just went crazy, people were coming out of left field,” said Abuelhiga, who has worked in hospitality management and marketing for Passion Food Hospitality and Fairmont Hotels. The money will help with the EatsPlace pop-up, but also contribute to the opening of the eventual brick-and-mortar store.
3. Incubate: Thanks to the Mess Hall Launch Pad win, Mason Dixie now has a spot with not one but two incubators in the District.
The first, EatsPlace, is a “pop-uppery” hoping to open in the next two weeks where Mason Dixie plans to serve breakfast and lunch daily for the next three months. Part of the reason for joining up there, Abuelhiga said, was to continue to refine the breakfast business, which has been much more popular than they expected.
Simultaneously, the Mason Dixie team will also move into a space at Mess Hall, part of their winnings from Launch Pad. The site will serve as a base for catering and retail and support more pop-up events on weekends until they get a storefront off the ground.
Where that storefront will be is still up in the air.
“We are still trying to figure out what we can afford in the city,” Abuelhiga said. “Because we are a breakfast and lunch place, we have to have that foot traffic early in the day.” They’ve gotten a taste of Adams Morgan and NoMa through pop-ups so far, but they’re eager to explore Capitol Hill and other D.C. neighborhoods, as well as some in Virginia.
