Photograph by Kevin A. Roberts
One might think a guy who spent four years instructing chefs in restaurant kitchens might have been be dissuaded from getting further involved in the business. Todd Kussman saw it all, heard it all, yet didn’t run and hide from it all. He bought a French gourmet bakery in O’Fallon, Mo., added dinner hours, and changed the name to Oak Barrel American Bistro and Artisan Bakery. So is opening for three shifts a day a brilliant restaurant survival tactic or a recipe for zero family life? Let’s just say Kussman has it all figured out…and he still plans on playing a lot of baseball with his two sons. —G.M.
I would have thought all of your exposure to restaurants would have scared you away from them. You knew the risks.
I wanted to use all my skills—cooking, marketing, and sales—to better take care of people and hopefully build something for my kids. I can always go back to the corporate gig.
What was your corporate gig?
Ten years in sales and marketing in pharmaceuticals and consumer products. I wanted to go to culinary school—that’s where my passion was—so I attended The French Culinary Institute in New York City for a year, while working in restaurants there, then went to work selling combination ovens to chefs.
Explain what combination ovens are.
Combi ovens, as they are known in the trade, were introduced in the U.S. in 2004. They cook with steam or convection, or a combination of both, which makes them faster than a standard convection oven. They can add or take away moisture. They cook sous-vide. And you can dry fruit or vegetables.
OK, but will it make beef jerky?
Absolutely. It can grill, roast, sautée, fry like a deep fryer…and then it steam-cleans itself.
How common are they, and how expensive?
Only 7 percent of commercial kitchens have them; they cost $25,000, but there is a half-size version for residential use. I demoed them to corporate chefs four days a week for four years.
I smell oven burnout.
I have two small boys at home. That was my motivation to make a change to something closer…and I knew restaurants.
Then you decided to buy a 10-year-old French bakery.
The prior owners had attempted a European version of the Bread Co., but most of the build-out here was a waste. I envisioned a rustic American restaurant, set above all the value-driven chain restaurants.
What’s your business plan?
Well, the existing bakery customer now has a new bistro to try and the bistro customer we hope will discover his new favorite bakery. Plus, we’re self-financed, so we’re in a better position to ride out any storms.
A bistro can become known for little things like bread and butter. It’s a barometer.
I don’t understand why restaurants serve inappropriate bread—like beignets for dinner—or no bread at all. And I’m shocked at how even nice restaurants treat bread as an afterthought. We’re already well known for our breads, so the bistro will feature several, accompanied by different compound herb butters.
In this day and age, should menus be big or small?
I feel a well-executed, seasonal, limited menu—three salads, four appetizers, six to eight entrée offerings, plus a dessert cart—will be ultimately more successful than a shotgun menu that never changes. My goal is to pique everyone’s interest in at least half the menu.
So who is everyone—who’s your average customer?
There are high-density, upper-income neighborhoods all around us, plus 5,000 corporate employees nearby, and all their out-of-town guests. In the past, they were almost relegated to go back toward the city for something nicer. I want to provide an urban experience in the suburbs. Those people don’t want to be taken to a Cracker Barrel.
What changes do you feel are necessary?
We will maintain a relatively relaxed atmosphere, but change from a French bakery into an American artisanal bakery.
Which is what exactly?
More seasonally driven baked goods. You won’t find pear or apple pastries unless they’re in season. And fewer of those little, dainty European pastries. Our foundation is now driven as much as possible by what’s growing on the local farms.
How will you transition from lunch to dinner?
At 4 p.m., the lights go down and we cover the tables with linens, which will appeal to early diners as well as later ones. Incoming guests will immediately see the pastry cases…a gentle reminder from us to not forget dessert. We hope to serve dinner until 10 p.m.
Today’s customer has a lot of choices, though. How do you address that?
Rewards programs work. A full restaurant attracts people…as does a full parking lot. It says, “This place must be good.” People go where the action is, and it doesn’t matter if some of them are dining at a discount. Volume can overcome that.
Will the bistro have any unique design features?
A big, wooden farmer’s table; local farmers discussing their products at special dinners; and off-site dinners at their farms. Farming has now come full circle…from small family farms to large corporate farms and now back.
Will the lunch service change?
Only the way we present it. Some diners are intimidated by having to pronounce croque-monsieur or salade de poulet, and often sheepishly say, “Oh, I’ll just have…the chicken salad.” If that’s what it is, that’s what we’ll call it.
What do you need to do to be successful? There’s a trend for restaurants to open for more days and more hours.
We have 46 seats for three shifts a day, seven days a week. We’re lucky we’re part bakery, though, or that wouldn’t make sense.
What mistakes did you see in the field that you knew not to repeat?
Many food operations succeed brilliantly in one aspect and fail in another: great food and bad service; great service, lousy build-out. I hope my background allows me to nail them all.
What will be your biggest challenge?
Taking a casual two-shift bakery environment to the next level—an intimate, relaxed dining experience—without alienating our core customer.
Is the bakery niche getting bigger, smaller, or holding its own?
Artisanal bakeries are coming back. Most 30- to 50-year-olds—double income earners—don’t cook and were never taught to bake, but still crave things their moms or grandmoms baked. Today’s artisanal bakeries bake like Grandma did…and draw you to that memory.
With all of the sugar substitutes on the market, are desserts trending toward being lower-cal?
Baking with Splenda works well with some items—and I do want to promote healthy alternatives—but for some reason, there is little demand for sugar-free goods. Yet I lost 60 pounds in seven months largely eliminating sugar from my diet, so where we can influence dietary changes, we will.
Anything you tried that just didn’t sell?
Macaroons. We just can’t sell ’em. And peanut-butter cookies…we sell six to 10 a day. But if we get rid of them, six to 10 customers will ask for ’em back.
Is baking labor-intensive, or can one guy do it all?
I’m fortunate to have Mike Provence as our lead baker, but there are several cake decorators and support people who help him handle the morning and lunch business, leaving myself and a sous-chef to concentrate on dinner… I’m lucky that I don’t need to be here from dawn to midnight.
It has to be difficult working in a bakery and not snacking.
When your pastries evoke big smiles, you can’t help but want a little yourself.
Affordable luxuries will never go out of style.
I am amazed how a truffle or two can magically change someone’s day. How can you not like being a part of that?
