Grains of Montana set to spread franchises across the United States
After a successful first year of starting a family business, Kyle and Travis Nielsen and their kin are taking the next big steps.
With the help of Tom Wilscam, of Denver, the partners are starting to franchise the Grains of Montana concept to the nation.
“What I’m finding is there is a mystique about Montana,” Wilscam said. “You think of Montana and you think about flour just like when you think of Idaho, you think of Idaho potatoes.”
Two weeks ago, Great Falls auto dealer Dave Pierce bought the second franchise and deals in Missoula, Denver and the master franchise for the state of Arizona are close, he said.
The Nielsen family bought the land at 926 Grand Ave. for the original restaurant. However, future franchises will lease land. That will keep per store costs down around $500,000 to $600,000 so they sell faster, Wilscam said.
The menu offers pizzas, raised-in-Montana-beef burgers and bread baked fresh from Montana grains.
But the missing ingredient, said Kyle Nielsen, is beer.
So he applied for a beer-and-wine license for the restaurant at 926 Grand Ave., and told his brother to “hand raise” 50 acres of malting barley.
“We grow the malting barley and we’re going to have someone turn that into beer for us,” he said.
Growing pains
Travis and his family and Mark and Linda Nielsen, the parents of the clan, live near Nashua and raise mostly grain on the family’s 15,000 acre Hi-Line farm.
Wilscam’s contribution is franchising know-how through his company, Cromwell Corp. Operations manager David Wyatt, who thought he’d always live in Denver, came to Billings for a three-month sales effort. He wound up liking the town, moving here and buying a house.
Despite the successes and careful planning, every startup business has a few problems.
The Grand Avenue restaurant already has outgrown its cooler and freezer space.
“I think we underestimated how busy we would be,” Kyle Nielsen said.
And when Grand Avenue gets widened next spring, business should be even faster paced.
Menu changes include soup bowls made of Montana bread and a popular reuben sandwich on swirled light and dark rye bread.
And Bullseye Beef raised on the Klamart Ranch near Winnett is formed into burgers and popped into the 600-degree pizza oven, so they seal quickly and stay moist.
Subscribe to my RSS feed! Thanks for visiting!
