Just five years into their run with food truck The Grilled Cheeserie, Joseph Bogan and his wife Crystal are getting ready to expand into a real-deal bricks-and-mortar location and partnering with ever-growing restaurant group Fresh Hospitality. But it wasn't so long ago that the Bogans weren't sure just what kind of eatery they were going to open.
After Joseph and Crystal moved here from California, a grilled-cheese food truck wasn't the only option on the table. "We were thinking about things that we missed about living in L.A.," Joseph recalls. "I wanted to open a late-night Mexican diner." While the mind reels at the thought of our own local version of Rick Bayless' Xoco, the Bogans chose another route.
The couple had seen the rise of the food-truck boom in Southern California, where Roy Choi's Kogi BBQ truck drew lines of hungry diners wherever it parked. Joseph worked at his cousin's soft-serve ice cream truck for a while, and the Bogans saw an opportunity to make a splash in the Nashville market.
Joseph knew they wanted to specialize in a particular type of food, because the most successful L.A. trucks "did one thing and did it awesome. You want to be known for one thing. We decided that it had to be an elevated version of something."
James Beard Award-winning chef John Fleer is a family friend of Crystal's, and he offered some valuable advice about what was happening in world of Southern cuisine. "John told us that the South was screaming for comforting and nostalgic food," says Joseph. "And that led us straight to grilled cheese."
"Besides," admits Crystal, "My love of cheese is overpowering, and the possibilities are endless." Joseph agrees, "Bread and cheese are a blank canvas."
But the couple knew they wanted to create something more than just a simple decadent cheesy bread. Crystal wanted to emphasize seasonality in her menu in the style of Nancy Silverton of La Brea Bakery and Mozza and Annie Miller of L.A.'s Clementine Bakery, where Crystal once worked. Secondly, they wanted to ensure that their business was sustainable, both in sourcing and operation.
"We do a lot of research on our ingredients, especially our responsibly sourced meat standards," says Joseph. "We expect our suppliers to be sustainable, responsible and local when possible. We're committed to keep supporting local farmers and suppliers, and we never want to outgrow our ability to source that way."
As they grew the business from one Grilled Cheeserie truck to two, the couple discovered they were a good team. "It helps that there are two of us," says Joseph. Crystal interrupts humorously, "Joseph loves a good spreadsheet." Joseph continues, "I've always been creative, but I love math too. I didn't go to college or train for this. We really trained ourselves along the way."
The Bogans received support from the Nashville Business Incubation Center, which provided space to park their trucks overnight and to set up a commissary kitchen. Joseph credits the TSU-affiliated program for helping them develop a more professional operation. "They put things on our radar as a small business that you wouldn't necessarily think of, like insurance and HR." The Grilled Cheeserie prides itself on their standard operating procedures, training and employee handbooks — not the norm for a food truck business.
It was this business acumen combined with serious culinary chops, social media talent and a commitment to local sourcing that has led to rapid and steady growth for The Grilled Cheeserie as well as the opportunity to expand into a new bricks-and-mortar operation in Hillsboro Village. As their five-year agreement with the business incubator neared expiration, the Bogans began searching for a new home. Still, their mobile business was — and still is — a major focus.
"We have every intention to keep running the food trucks," says Crystal.
"We never intended the trucks to be a stepping stone to something else," says Joseph, "and the reason we haven't sought out bricks-and-mortar was because we've had such success with the trucks. But we feel that if you're standing still, you're moving backwards. We just hit five years of operation last November, and we have the systems in place where it seems that a restaurant seems like the next logical step in our growth."
While the Bogans were seeking out commercial property to build a new commissary kitchen and possibly a 30-seat attached cafe, a real estate agent suggested they meet with Fresh Hospitality, the fast-casual restaurant concept group behind spots like Cochon Butcher, Biscuit Love and several others. Fresh Hospitality has been aggressively expanding in Nashville.
But Crystal was skeptical. "I never imagined partnering with anyone," she says. "We never entertained the idea when people had approached us in the past."
To the Bogans' surprise, the meeting was more about Fresh selling its vision to the Bogans than vice versa. "We left that meeting loving Fresh's response to our stance on not outgrowing our brand or compromising on our principles," says Joseph. "They didn't bat an eye. They didn't want us to compromise or mess with our brand."
Crystal adds, "We were validated by talking to Pat Martin [of Martin's Bar-B-Que] and Karl and Sarah Worley of Biscuit Love," both of whom have partnered with Fresh Hospitality. "They told us all about the talented team at Fresh that we would have access to."
"We wouldn't give up part of our business if we didn't see the value of the tools they will contribute to help us expand our business over the next five to 10 years," says Joseph. "We could have done it on our own, but they offered us the opportunity to grow so much bigger."
"My food truck employees are going to have health care benefits!" says Crystal. "That's unheard of."
Their first joint venture will be The Grilled Cheeserie restaurant in Hillsboro Village in the former location of Sunset Grill. They'll share the space with two other Fresh concepts, I Love Juice Bar and Biscuit Love.
"We put a truck in the Nashville Farmers' Market to see if people wanted to find our food in the same place five days a week, and the response has been fantastic," says Crystal. "Now with the new restaurant, we'll have stable locations in two great neighborhoods."
The new 65-to-85-seat fast-casual restaurant — which the Bogans hope to open in the late summer or early fall — will feature an expanded menu from the truck's offerings. In addition to several options of specialty cheesy sandwiches, The Grilled Cheeserie will offer soups and tater tots. They also plan to take advantage of the extra space they don't have on the trucks to create more fresh side dishes like a roasted beet salad.
Although there are no plans to serve alcohol — "It didn't really fit with our brand," says Crystal — there's a different sort of bar that has them excited.
"We'll have the first Boylan's soda fountain in the state," she says. "We're going to bring the modern and nostalgic design together as part of the restaurant's aesthetic, and we're committed to using the best quality ingredients, like all Tennessee milk. We're not just going to use syrups to flavor our milkshakes and floats. Plus I just love the theatrics of hand-scooped shakes."
As someone who has created thousands of meals à la minute just a few feet away from her customers on The Grilled Cheeserie food truck, Crystal Bogan appreciates the value of culinary theatrics. But now she'll actually have some air conditioning while she works.
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