In Minneapolis There Are Dual Restaurants Under The Same Roof

Restaurateur Jami Olson recognized that her fast casual eatery, Centro, in the Arts District of Minneapolis, would be considered a destination restaurant. Wanting to maximize her chances of success, she had an epiphany: why not have two eateries under the same roof to maximize her odds of profitability?

Rather than offering ghost kitchens that concentrate on delivery and can house several restaurant concepts under one roof but all for take-out, she opened Centro and Popol Vuh. Centro debuted in August 2018 and Popol Vuh six weeks later.

The size of the space also contributed to splitting into two eateries. The 5,500 square feet that came available seemed too large for one eatery so why not cut it in half?

Olson said, “Having the opportunity to open a dual concept restaurant gave us the ability to build in a safety net.”

Having two eateries under the same roof can lead to cost savings, maximizing resources, sharing staff, and working out of a shared kitchen.

Nor is Centro alone. In Winnetka, Ill, the George Trois Group operates George Trois, a nine-course tasing menu, under the same roof as Aboyer, an American-French bistro.

Indeed Olson prefers sit-down eateries to ghost kitchens. “I like for people to experience the ambiance. It’s more than food and drink but creating energy for the space,” she noted.

Olson started out developing the two eateries in 2016 but had to raise $2 million through family and friends to finance the construction, design, including two bars and a shared kitchen with line areas for both outposts, and two sets of bathrooms.

Each eatery attracted a different audience. Popol Vuh was a “refined full-service dining experience with elevated food and drink, with most dished cooked over a large wood-fired grill,” Olson said. Centro was a “fast-casual concept with Mexican street food with pitchers of margaritas and a large patio,” she added.

Under the guidance of head chef Jose Alarcon and his Mexican cuisine, Centro became a success. But when the pandemic hit, it created problems at Popol Vuh. “The price point just didn’t work,” she said. Olson transitioned Centro into a take-out eatery during the shutdown but closed Popol Vuh.

Seeing half the space stay vacant, Olson conjured up a whole new dining concept, Vivir, rather than try to restart the more refined place. Vivir operates as an all-day café that focuses on breakfast tacos, breakfast burritos, pastries, coffee and retail gifts.

Fast-casual fits for these frenetic times, Olson suggested. “People want to make their own experience,” she said, and things move faster without waiter service.

Olson made sure that the two concepts didn’t compete with one another but rather complimented one another. “Guests come in for the Centro Experience, but then end up walking through the market of Vivir where they might find a gift for a loved one or pint of homemade salsa to take home with them,” she noted.

“A dual concept allows us to customize our restaurants to appeal to guests every house of the day and any experience they want to have,” Olson explained.

Centro accommodates 85 patrons indoor, with the seat count doubling when the patio opens in the summer. Vivir seats 45 people, and its agave lounge, Escondido, adds another 12 guests.

Having proven that Centro was a success, she was able to obtain bank financing for her next ventures. In late spring of 2022, she’s opening a Centro Marketplace, an abbreviated Vivir and a third concept, which will likely specialize in burgers on Eat Street in Minneapolis. It will be spacious with about 7,000 square feet of front of the house space and contain considerable outdoor seating.

Then she envisions adding a third eatery in St. Paul, which she’s still ironing out, but expects it to operate as another dual concept space. And in the more distant future, enterprising Olson is aiming toward expanding into the Minneapolis suburbs.

“I’d like to open 10 locations in the Twin Cities metro, but will be careful not to oversaturate as we grow,” she said.

When Centro first opened, it didn’t do much take-out or delivery. “Honestly we were too busy and didn’t have enough space to grow those programs,” Olson noted. The pandemic forced it to develop a take-out program.

The central kitchen at the soon to be opened second location will provide the space for a delivery program. She’s partnering with DoorDash and GrubHub and developed its own in-house delivery service.

Asked the keys to the future success of Centro and its offsprings, Olson replied: 1) Maintaining the quality of the food quality, 2) Sustaining staffing including hiring junior front of the house staff and training them, 3) Choosing the right locations, 4) Ultimately, owning the building, which will offer greater flexibility.