Today we’d like to introduce you to Gerard Klass
Hi Gerard, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Soul food is a culinary tradition with roots in the West Indies, the Caribbean and the southern United States. Gerard & Brittney Klass, founder of Minnesota’s Soul Bowl, a build your own soul food, which is committed to presenting the foods of their childhood in a flavorful, healthy and beautiful way.
About Gerard and Brittney: Gerard understands the food business through and through. Prior to co-founding Soul Bowl with his wife Brittney, Gerard had over 10 years of experience at Kaskaid Hospitality; concluding his time as Executive Chef where he opened new restaurant concepts in the South, East Coast and Midwest. Gerard graduated with a degree from Le Cordon bleu is 2009. Brittney worked every level of hospitality from fast food to fine dining in her 14 plus year career at various restaurants minneapolis. Throughout their entrepreneurial journey Gerard & Brittney have pioneered the pop-up scene in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area receiving both local and national acclaim.
Known for their love of community, Gerard & Brittney have always been intentional about curating a culturally vibrant environment using his superpower of integrating technology in the customer experience cycle. Soul Bowl has been featured in Uninterrupted with Google, Minneapolis Saint Paul Magazine, Minneapolis/Saint Paul Business Journal, Midwest Living and a number of local, regional and national publications. Soul bowl was awarded one of the top 50 restaurants in Minnesota by msp mag. Soul also was in the Minnesota state fair as a new vendor this year receiving a best vendor award. Currently they can be found at their North loop location inside Graze, Target Center, Target field, U.S. Bank concession stands and Minnesota state fair. Gerard was just awarded 40 under 40 in business & Top 50 black leaders you should know by Minneapolis /St. Paul Magazine. Gerard and his wife Brittney are own two concepts in the Mill City Neighborhood of Minneapolis Klassics Kitchen + Cocktails and C.R.E.A.M cafe.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Being an entrepreneur is full of its ups and downs. I personal view the ups and downs are character building and guide post on life journey. The pandemic hit 6 months after we put our life savings into opening soul bowl. We watched all of the other restaurants in our food hall close up shop in one day. Without a backup plan we endeavored to stay open and face the unknown. State and city restrictions were changing daily. We had a friend who gave us the idea to set up a way to our customers to donate to sponsor meals. Our home church gave us the first donation that kickstarted our food for your soul program. This program saved our business. Our community sponsored over 3000 meals that we would deliver anywhere in the greater metro area. During a tuff time we were able to server our community. After George Floyd was murdered Minneapolis was in civil unrest. We used our limited resources to feed people in our community who were fighting for justice. We also had to close two concepts that we opened B.A.D. Wingz and Soul Bowl Richfield. The lesson of closing two restaurants though difficult have put us in the much better position today.
As you know, we’re big fans of Soul Bowl, Cream cafe, Klassics Kitchen + Cocktails. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Me and my wife Brittney own and operate three businesses.
Soul bowl is the first of its kind build your own bowl soul food restaurant. Offering a mix of soul food, Caribean food and bbq. Our goal was to create a customizable experience the eliminates all of the barriers for entry for guest to enjoy soul food. We have focused on service, presentation, offering a menu that can accommodate most major allergies and dietary restrictions. We have a large amount of plant based, vegetarian and gluten free options. Soul bowl has exceeded our wildest dreams taking soul food to places it’s never been like the all 3 sports arena in Minneapolis and the Minnesota state fair. We are proud to see soul food thrive in a very diverse culinary scene. Our goal is to continue to make sure that soul food lives on into the next generation.
Cream Cafe is a coffee shop that specializes in creating a community space for guest to connect and refuel. We offer a monthly coffee flight that allow our guest to try new creations that push the boundaries of coffee drinks. Cream also offer breakfast all day and a hearty lunch menu. We love this space because we get to see our community connecting.
Klassics Kitchen + Cocktails is our love letter to Minneapolis. We blend of our heritage, culinary travels and experience, educations and ingredients and techniques we have learned across the way. Steeped in Caribbean and comfort food flavors . Its paired with a craft cocktail program that reinvents classics cocktails we new ingredients. Klassics has an upscale casual theme that loves to celebrate our guest.
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
I am always reading something. I am product of classics hospitality books like ‘settling the table and lesson in service. I am a big fan of unreasonable hospitality. I love to watch Joshua wiseman, Hueston Mack. In our house were always watching something to do with food on YouTube from bon appetite, nytimes, pbs, somebody feed Phil, high on the hog. I strive to be a student of this endless industry. I also am a fan of max luxados book and leadership.
Contact Info:
- Website: klassicsmn.com and soulbowlmn.com
- Instagram: @c.r.e.a.m__cafe @soulbowlmn @klassicskitchen
- Facebook: @soulbowlmn @klassicsmpls
