UKRAFT opens in downtown St. Louis

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Photography by Kevin A. Roberts

Matt Ratz

It was certainly crafty of Matt Ratz to launch UKRAFT, a health-based sandwich/wrap/salad concept in a low-risk food truck, but it wasn’t until the food truck–based 9 Mile Garden took off that UKRAFT’s business did as well. Pandemic be damned, Ratz and brother Mike Ratz opened their first brick-and-mortar location downtown, in Peabody Plaza, in mid-January.

How deep are your restaurant roots? When I was 18, I was a barback at the Broadway Oyster Bar and worked the door, which was a pretty cool job for high school guy. Every part of it was fun, which is what hooked me on the business. From there, I went to Harpo’s in Chesterfield and worked at a Mr. Goodcents during the day. I got my college degree while working those two jobs and then got into the bar and nightclub business. I owned Laclede Street Bar & Grill when building owner [Chris Sedlak] sold it to the group who opened the first Shack there. But even though I was young, 32, breaking up fights and worrying about who was of age started getting old. Getting to bed at 5 in morning was getting old. I began talking to Chris, who at the time owned, like, 10 Jimmy John’s. I became a GM and eventually an area director for him, working the St. Louis city stores, among others, so I know the downtown market well. I knew what was and wasn’t possible.

What was the attraction to Jimmy John’s? I liked the ease of the fast-casual sector. I liked the Jimmy John’s brand. I saw the profitability. I saw the ease. Compared to what I was doing—wrestling with beer and liquor cost and shrinkage—having to only worry about only a food component seemed like a snap. 

Is there a Jimmy John’s school, like McDonald’s Hamburger University? There is. In a month, they teach you the madness, the whole freaky-fast thing, and how to succeed. There’s a simple formula, but Jimmy John’s is not freaky fast—or profitable—if that formula is not followed. 

What is the formula? It’s all about simplicity. In my day, there were five meats, several garnishes, mayo and Dijon mustard, and one cheese: Provolone. You prep in accordance with established pars, which was key. You’d average the last four weeks’ sales on that day—that’s what you prepped for—and it was amazingly accurate. The product flow was consistent, and there was amazingly little waste at the end of the night.

What’s one thing that most people don’t know about Jimmy John’s?The history. Jimmy John was 19 and had just graduated last in his high school class. His father told him to join the Army or start a business and lent him $25,000 to do it.The first location, in 1983, operated out of a garage in Charleston, Illinois. Jimmy John distinguished himself by doing something very simple: He opened what was basically an after-hours sub shop that would deliver those subs after hours. But there was no grand scheme of creating this giant company until his banker took him aside one day and pointed out how much money he was making out of this little garage and that he was onto something. Successive units opened near college campuses in Macomb, Champaign... Heck, they hit every city in the Big 10. They hit the Chicago market and started franchising, which translated to thousands of units. The company was sold to Inspire Brands last year.

What was your main takeaway from Jimmy John’s? They taught me the fast-casual business in and out: how to succeed, why you were successful—all you had to do was execute. People choose fast-casual for a reason: They’re short on time, it’s convenient, there’s value, people know you get it fast, and there’s consistency. Corporate auditors stop by once a month unannounced to check on the store, the freshness, and the products. They weigh every single portion. 

Talk about freaky-fast delivery. Part of the secret is delivery management, as in only sending one or two orders out with each driver. But if the delivery didn’t arrive freaky fast—it didn’t matter if you were busy, there was a traffic jam, or it was snowing—you would hear about it. Being freaky fast is a blessing and a curse. 

How did you transition from Jimmy John’s into Wicked Greenz? Chris [Sedlak] wanted to take the fast-casual model and apply it to a chef-driven  healthy food concept featuring salads and soups instead of sandwiches. [Chef Justin Haifley] created the dressings and some incredible flavor profiles. Everything was well researched and well executed. We had a commissary kitchen from the beginning, so we could expand easily. We opened in downtown Clayton in mid-2016 in the old Bocci space. 

You opened another, larger location, with two drive-thru lanes, 18 months later in O’Fallon, Missouri. One of the lanes has a pickup window [to order] and the other was designed for picking up preordered food, an idea that was new at the time and preceded the curbside movement. 

Courtesy UKRAFT

So how did UKRAFT come about? I always wanted to do something with my brother, Mike, who also worked for Wicked Greenz. He learned kitchen savvy from Justin, who taught him how to make everything from scratch. He and I wanted to test a make-it-yourself healthy foods concept and started with a UKRAFT food truck to see if it had legs.

Did it? It was tough at first. With a brick-and-mortar, you have a honeymoon period. There is no honeymoon with a food truck. Food trucks are only as good as the events they book, and that takes time. On weekdays, we’d target businesses with no cafeterias that had 300 employees or more, and on weekends, we’d do as many events as we could. But there are a lot of food trucks now. 

So how do you break through? Ameren was building a new cafeteria and was using food trucks to facilitate lunches. Then they wanted to try out food kiosks inside. We’d call out to the truck outdoors to replenish what was needed…. “We’re down to two shrimp BLTs; we need another eight.” At that point, we realized the importance of a captive audience, which is what brought us to Regions Center in Clayton, the old Gourmet to Go location, and ultimately downtown. We needed more space for catering, so we committed. When the weather got bad—hot, cold, raining, snowing—there was a line out the door. 

Courtesy UKRAFT

How much did UKRAFT borrow from the Wicked Greenz concept? We’re both fast-casual chef-driven concepts with wraps and salads, but we created our own dressings and profiles. We have sandwiches and smoothies—they don’t—and we serve breakfast. There aren’t a lot of fast-casual breakfast offerings out there. Plus, we thought that there was also a market in breakfast catering, and we were right. 

What’s on the breakfast menu? Breakfast sandwiches, wraps, and bowls, which can all be customized, as can the avocado toasts, which continue to remain popular. We partnered with Park Avenue, which supplies the coffee.  

Is the food truck still rolling? Is it ever. We were at 9 Mile Garden three to four times per week this season, and it was amazing. We put out a brunch menu when they launched brunch. We can’t wait for next year. You know, 9 Mile almost put food trucks in a brick-and-mortar setting, because people knew where and when they could find you. Then, you acheive some success, and someone books you for a private gig. Pharmaceutical reps try us at 9 Mile, and our boxed catering business goes up. And there were multiple times when we were booked and referred a fellow food truck, so they come out ahead, too.

Talk about the importance of UKRAFT using locally sourced ingredients. Kuna sources a lot of local products now, which is something fairly new for them. They keep a close eye on both quality and price.

What’s your favorite lunch item on the menu? The Shrimp BLT panini, using Fazio’s ciabatta hoagie. It’s made with pesto grilled shrimp, tomatoes, arugula, applewood-smoked bacon, and herb aioli.  

How bad did the pandemic hurt the Clayton business? There’s no planning for something like that. Our business is a direct function of office occupancy, but we’re surviving. We went from 5 percent delivery business to 60 percent, so that helped. Hopefully we can hold on to a chunk of that, to continue to twist that negative into a positive.  

Courtesy UKRAFT

Yet you chose to open a second location in an office building downtown. The building owner liked the concept, and because of our success in another office building, they were more amenable than they would have been otherwise. Our rent obligations don’t begin until the emergency restrictions are lifted, which gives us time to build a catering and delivery business, so when things ramp up and the office workers return downtown, we’ll already be established. Since we have good street presence, we hope to attract visitors from CityGarden, which is right across the street, and we can deliver to Soulard, the SLU complex, and the Kingshighway hospital corridor.     

What’s your take on using self-delivery rather than a third-party service? Our employees will do the actual delivering—which I feel is preferable—but we are considering letting a third-party company operate our delivery platform. Those companies market customers using their apps—with bonuses, notifications, and rewards—better than we can, so that’s a decision we have to make. We can’t live with paying a company 30 percent, but being able to tap their marketing expertise is certainly worth a percentage.    

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Courtesy UKRAFT

How big is the downtown space? We have 70 seats, 2,000 square feet, with a lounge-y area and sidewalk seating on two sides of the building. There’s a counter and an order kiosk, too; sometimes using those is quicker and easier. 

So do the downtown offices need to fill back up for you to succeed downtown? Eventually, yes, but in the short term, we can get open and lay the groundwork. We opened right after the first of the year. For a health-driven concept like ours, there’s no better time.