Interview with a Retailer: Flip Burger boutique in Atlanta
One of my favorite neighborhood spots of Flip Burger boutique. It’s a mere block from my house and the landmark by which I reference where I live now (as no one seems to have heard of Berkeley Park but everyone seems to have heard of Flip). The place is mad crazy busy all the time (it’s business time all the time, you could say) but the owner Barry and manager Sebastian sat down with me during a slight lull one afternoon to answer a few questions.
1. We’ve all seen the tremendous success of flip, I go by here almost every day and it’s rare that during lunch or dinner there is not some sort of line spilling out the front door onto the sidewalk. What has been the biggest challenge of this success you’ve seen?
Barry: Typically a restaurant has time to get used to doing what they do and they can do that comfortably as they gradually get busier. Right out of the starting gates it was very busy and we had to learn quickly. Now the challenge is how do we keep this feel where it is independent and hip and the quality is there with the eccentricities that make this place great — how do we duplicate that and transition into another location. The lines are getting shorter as the kitchen gets better and the food has gotten better but it’s allowed us to shorten the lines.
How has flip marketed itself?
Barry: We’ve done zero marketing and I haven’t spent a penny on any type of advertising. And we like that grassroots approach because it’s genuine. There’s nothing worse than contrived advertising. That’s been the most rewarding thing as we’ve gotten busier and busier and to know that it’s because we’re doing a good job and people are enjoying the experience.
While you’re definitely not a beer place, you have a nice list that’s not standard fare. One of my friends (with inferior beer preferences) recently ate at flip, and while normally a Miller/Bud kind of guy, the waiter talking him into trying Three Philosophers and he loved it. What types of things do you take into account when building a beer menu?
Sebastian: Our first thought was to make sure we have the local Atlanta beers – Sweetwater and ABC, then we wanted to cover the oldest of US breweries, which is Yeungling, and really is considered a staple for many people. And from there our list is not that big so we looked for flavors that complement our food. I wanted to do it with as many craft breweries from the US as made sense. We have the Full Sail session, which is a lager but made to be a pre-prohibition style and they also put it in this stubbly bottle like it used to be. We’re not trying to be the cutting edge, but we want to give them some interesting beers.
Barry: My top priority is for everything to have synergies. I want everything including the beer to complement the menu. We try to keep it outside the typical box of what you expect in a restaurant, we try and do burgers that no one really has and have the beer menu complement thats. I want there be a wow factor behind everything we do.
Waitress pops in and says “So you’re saying I’m different than what anyone else has”
Barry: I know you’re different? in a bad way (Everyone laughs)
You seem to care about this community (Berkeley Park) and this city. They say location is everything but how did you pick this spot?
We know we wanted to be in some sort of up-and-coming area and in a free-standing location, but honestly it’s a bit of luck that we ended up in this location. It’s perfect though, and creates a bit of an oasis where you have all of auto repair shops and then there is flip and it just intuitively felt right. I’m super happy that the neighborhood has embraced it and that I see all of you in here and that we get that support.
Atlanta is a very loyal market. There are a lot of big New York chefs and they’ve really struggled getting into this market, but I’ve spent my whole career in this city and I think my time here has paid off, not only in how it’s helped us do things the right way but in the ways the community has supported us.
Flip has done a great job dressing up accessible fare, bridging the gap between the normal and the gourmet. It reminds me of what a lot of microbreweries are doing, creating accessible “stepping stone” beers, like Sweetwater 420. Have you seen a trend in Atlanta towards gourmet food, and if so what do you think is behind that trend and how do you see it evolving?
Absolutely. You have Top Chef, Food Network, and all of these things bring chef-driven dining, as well as more complicated foods to the masses. The whole idea behind flip was that I’ve got 15 years experience in fine dining (as does Sebastian) and it’s very disconnected from the mass market. But it doesn’t need to be. You know, it’s stuffy, it can be stale. There was this huge vacuum in the market. You have fast food and fast casual, and fast casual is really just food as cheap as you can make it that you just dress up a little bit. I wanted to create a restaurant that had, at its core, the hipness but with the ingredients of a fine dining restaurant, but making it all much more approachable. So instead of dark environment we’ve made this a really light high energy environment. Really flip isn’t about burgers. It’s about high quality fine dining food for $15/head vs. $40 or $50 a head. I just chose the burger because I thought it was a very approachable medium? It’s just two buns and what can you stick between them. Well you can stick lobster sorbet in there. You can do whatever and Richard [Blaise] really complements that because he really thinks outside the box.
What’s your favorite beer/burger pairing on the menu?
I’d say the UFO Hefeweizen with the tuna burger. You have that slightly citrus flavor that’s fresh and it complements the spiciness of the tuna perfectly. I like the nuttiness of the Newcastle with the RB que burger.
Barry: I’m a Stella drinker at heart. So Stella and any of the above.
When will we see more locations?
2nd one is definitely in the works and hopefully a 3rd at some point. Next one will probably be somewhere over on the Eastside.
Image courtesy of CodePoet5150
Market research in the Midwest
I have been in Indiana this past week and we stopped in at Kahn’s in Indianapolis to pick up a few brewskies that we don’t get distributed down here. Purely for competitive research, mind you. We promise to have zero fun in consuming these beverages.
I picked up some Goose Island, Founders, Three Floyds, Hair of the Dog, some Bell’s I hadn’t seen, and others. Upon looking at all of these lined up, it appears that I “gravitated” mostly towards dark beers and bitter beers. Get it? Gravitated?
I need a nap.
Faces of Monday Night: Scott “Social Butterfly” Williams
We’re going to attempt to start a new feature in which we briefly document some of the Monday Night die-hards. How often can you expect a new “Face of Monday Night”? Approximately whenever nothing else is going on. So let’s get to it.
Scott “Social Butterfly” Williams
Scott is what we call a workhorse. He’s not the best workhorse, however, because he’s really social. Sometimes we have to throw hop pellets at him to get him to focus on cleaning fermenters instead of talking to people. He is best known for carrying our wrenches around in his back pocket while walking around because he think it makes him look like a badasss (it doesn’t).
When he isn’t stealing wrenches, Scott works in commercial real estate. But don’t ask him about it, because if he had a bad day there’s a good chance he will take a swing at you with a Monday Night wrench. We don’t care about your safety, but we could be liable.
In summary, Scott “Social Butterfly” Williams is definitely a feather in our cap. Always willing to help out (as long as he has a Monday Night in his hand), he’s THE go-to guy when we’re looking for someone to “disappear” our wrenches.
A talk with Atlanta’s Hop City owner Kraig Torres
“Beer is what I’m passionate about.” So says Kraig Torres, owner of the recently opened Hop City Craft Beer & Wine on Atlanta’s Westside. And once you glance around his store, you’ll take him at his word. We recently had a chance to sit down with Kraig and talk shop, next door at the newly opened 5 Seasons Westside.
In addition to industrial-strength racks of craft beer, Hop City features concrete floors, old brick, plenty of windows, homebrewing supplies, and wine. Though we didn’t really notice the wine. So what makes Hop City different from any other package store?
- Selection. Kraig currently stocks over 1300 different beers. “I have everything worth carrying in Georgia,” Torres says.
- Organization. Hop City is organized by style, not brand, a novel idea in craft beer. And admittedly, one that will take us a few trips to get used to. On my last trip I remember yelling, “Hey, where is all your other stuff from French Broad?” But it makes sense, according to Torres: “Why wouldn’t you want to shop for beer the same way you shop for wine?” Now when people know about a beer they like and want to try something similar, all they have to do is look around the same section. It’s a way to open people up to new favorite beers.
- Service. Kraig and his staff are approachable, knowledgeable, and self-proclaimed beer fanatics. They are ready to share their recommendations for both casual and seasoned beer drinkers.
- Love of beer. There are a lot of little things Hop City does to make sure that their beer is always at its best. Most of them consumers would never notice. For instance, there are no fluorescent lights in the store that might hurt the beer. The windows are UV treated. The store is kept at 70º year-round.
Kraig has been in the Atlanta area for 16 years, and got into craft beer the same way most people do ? via car collision repairs. Actually, Kraig has been passionate about beer since he tasted Moosehead as a youngster. Though his road from passion to vocation took a detour through the auto body industry. Torres founded Collision Works Auto Body in Buckhead in 2003 (which he later sold). Before business trips he would research local brewpubs to visit.
But why start a craft beer retailer? The first inkling of the idea came from Kraig’s homebrewing experiences, and things started to click after that. “I’ve been a Green’s customer for years,” says Torres. People see him milling around and would ask him to help them pick out their beer. “It drove me crazy.” Kraig thought there had to be a better way to sell and organize beer, and also thought that Atlanta was ready for it.
Kraig started the business plan for Hop City about a year and a half ago. He was laid off from another auto body shop he had been managing. Losing your job can sometimes be a blessing in disguise, as it gave Kraig the opportunity to focus on what he was truly passionate about. Hence the name “Hop City.” The name was picked from a list of about 100 names, and it makes sense when you hear Kraig talk about his favorite beers: “I like dark, nasty beers and hoppy, hoppy beers.”
And although Hop City is only a couple months old, Kraig has his eye on the horizon. The store surpassed its first month’s sales goals, and Kraig thinks he may have landed on a winning concept. Five years from now, I wouldn’t be surprised if another Hop City popped up somewhere else in Georgia.
No, Scratch THAT! Brewing back on!
The Queen canceled on Joel, so we’re back on for brewing tonight. See you between 8 and 10!
Scratch that – BREWING CANCELED
Due to a variety of factors, we are canceling brewing tonight. Specifically, Jonathan is feeling rough, I am stuck at the office, and Joel has dinner plans with the Queen of England. Lame? Yes. Yes, indeed.
But as a consolation, we are making some good progress on the business front and should have a full stash of beers next week. More soon…
Birthday Boy
Ladies, gentlemen, and ladies, today is a day unlike all others. It is our esteemed marketing guy and master of mind control’s birthday. Happy birthday, Jonathan.
If you’re looking for a special way to recognize your favorite brewery-in-planning blogger, here are a few gift ideas…
- An ironic tee shirt
- 3-ply toilet paper
- Tickets to a Swedish/Korean-indy-folk-progressive-alt-bluegrass concert. Any will do.
Or just send the man an e-mail or a “Twitter e-mail”, whatever you kids call it.