Photograph by Katherine Bish
Like any 50-year-old restaurant veteran, chef Dana Holland has designed kitchens big and small, but nothing as unusual as the tent-roofed, open-air, has-it-all, U-shaped model of efficiency known as Babalu’s Snack Shack. Now in its second year at the Kirkwood Farmers’ Market, Babalu’s is the rare example of how simple the restaurant business can be: four days a week, a built-in clientele, and a small menu of time-tested, surefire winners, many of them featuring Holland’s line of Fallen Angel sauces. And when we learned he has a cult following for a sandwich called the Three Little Pigs, well, we just had to investigate.
Did you always know you wanted to be a chef? I was a chemistry major who wanted to be a forensic scientist, but one visit to the local forensics lab convinced me I didn’t want to be in a lab all day. Hah, now I’m in a kitchen all day.
How early did you get into the business? I got my first chef job with Fio [Antognini] back in 1982 and stayed with him for 3 years…he sent me on a summer stint to Minneapolis and the next summer to Europe. Later, I met a chef who had just bought one of the first Mac computers…it was $6000. We thought we could use it to write data-based recipes and possibly attach food costs and menu prices and do inventory control. We started a company called Culinary Software in Boulder in 1990, which is still in existence today as Chef Tec. We added scheduling, nutritional analysis…all sorts of other applications. I moved back to St. Louis in 1996 when my father got ill, but still have ownership in that company.
Any other peripheral interests? My 5 year stint in Boulder [from 1990-1995]--setting up those systems--was the only time I was out of the kitchen. I’d lug around this huge computer just to give a demo…and that’s if the chef remembered the appointment. It was a hard sale.
How did the idea for Babalu’s come to you? My partner and I were attracted by New York’s carts and kiosks and all the mobile specialty trucks. We decided to resurrect Babalu’s, a concept I had done previously in the CWE. I look at Babalu’s as “a permanent cart.”
Did customers warm up to the concept? Slowly. Word spread over the winter, and people were expecting us this season. Now we’re Thursday through Sunday, and I go shopping twice a weekend. We’re to the point now where we need a bigger boat.
Has there been an increase in traffic at the Farmers’ Market and has it impacted the business? Yes and yes. Babalu’s fits right in with the continuing emphasis on eating fresh and buying from the local guys.
So do you expand? I don’t know. I tend to overdo it. I need to take my own advice and keep it as simple as possible. I added breakfast sandwiches because of requests from the market vendors… Now my Three Little Pigs sandwich has reached cult status.
I’ll bite. What’s in it? Sliced ham, a bacon-and-cheese omelet, topped with pulled pork, all on a bun. Hey, it’s the restaurant business. We’re all a bunch of functioning crazy people.
Do you think these “seasonal mini-restaurants” are a sign of the times? I’m crazed by them. Tropical Moose right next door has the right formula. One product [snow cones], simple variations, not expensive. I’m helping them develop something they can do over the winter, another single item that they can run with.
Any other “one product” ideas? A hot dog place with a better product…locally-made dogs, sausages with some texture, and a 31 flavors-type topping bar, from kraut to kimchee to squirts. Plus do fresh-made sides. I’d just bring a fresher –and versatile--element to that concept…it could be a shack like Babalu’s, a kiosk, in a mall food court or a student union, at a county fair…
I think that’s a viable idea. I’d also love to partner up with a busy gas station and do some different kind of grab-and-go item.
So next year, will there be a bigger Babalu’s or more Babalu’s? That question may get answered by the Health Department.
How’s that? They feel they need to get a handle on outdoor grilling. There are now pits and smokers all over town, so there’s a newfound concern for sanitary conditions.
How does that impact you? We had a difficult time getting them to pass my little Katrina kitchen. Next year, who knows? Regulations change… There are no definitive answers. We may make Babalu’s more permanent …build a roof and sides, but keep the cooking area open.
Do you have a favorite Babalu’s story or anecdote? A woman called recently asking if we had seating for seven. We said, “yes we do, we have several picnic tables that will seat that many.” She paused a bit, then finally said, “yeah, that will be fine, can we make a reservation for seven people?” We said “ma’am, do you know our place is outside, at the farmer’s market?” Now, clearly unimpressed, she replied, “Ohhhh, I see.”
What’s the story on Fallen Angel, your line of Caribbean finishing sauces? I was making those sauces at the original Babalu’s and selling them packed in zip-lock bags, so I decided to start bottling them. Then we hit on their spice element and began packaging spice rubs, 12 of them. We called that line Sun Drenched Foods because my God-fearing partner was just plain uncomfortable with the name Fallen Angel. “Sun Drenched” was pleasant and middle of the road. Then, unfortunately, he and I had a falling out.
What happened then? I’ve been in a holding pattern as I recover from the fallout. Plus, both my wife and I had some health issues in 2007, so that product line has, quite frankly, been low priority. The Kirkwood Farmers’ Market has allowed me to sell my sauces at Babalu’s …you’ll find my mom hawkin’ ‘em on Saturdays.
How else do you market your products? I’ll be at the Best of Missouri Market in the fall with a pared-down product line: four spices and two sauces. And I’ll also be launching something new, a trail mix called Monkey Mix.
That last statement will require a full explanation. I wanted to call it Hot Nasty Nuts, but then…
…Let me guess: Your partner intervened again? Yeah, but this time he was probably right.
Monkey Mix sounds…different. We just liked the name “monkey.” The signature blend has several kinds of spiced nuts, raisins, banana chips, and 60 percent dark chocolate. Something that’s salty, sweet, and spicy should sell. I see it as part of a made-in-Missouri gift basket.
What advice would you have for people who want to bring their consumable products to market? Beta-test it at every fair and farmer’s market before you commit, and listen to the feedback. Most importantly, create something that will move. That’s why I like Monkey Mix. Sauces tend to sit half-used in the fridge. The dreamers out there need to be working on the next potato chip.
That is the secret, isn’t it? Create a consumable that’s addictive, where the guy’s ripped into the bag before he ever leaves the parking lot, then comes back to get more tomorrow. And that, I hope, describes Monkey Mix.
