Today we’d like to introduce you to Brendan Viele
Hi Brendan, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
We founded Francis early 2021. The three owners are friends and long time vegetarian/vegans that had worked in omnivore restaurants forever, and were excited to start something for ourselves that better fit our values. We launched our first venture as the resident operator of a food truck at Sociable Cider, a cidery and brewery in NE Minneapolis. We were one in a line of several up start restaurants that got their start in the incubator food truck program at Sociable. We were able to get started with 4 “staff” (aka Francis owners and family) and small chunk of cash. During the planned year of operation on the truck, we met the owners of a long-running and beloved Thai restaurant in Northeast MPLS. They offered to us to lease their building as our first brick and mortar bar and restaurant. We opened Francis NE bar and restaurant – the only fully vegan, full bar restaurant in Minnesota – on January 9th, 2023 after several months of renovations. After a year, we started considering opening a second location. We found a building in another great neighborhood of Minneapolis, Longfellow, that was a long-running burger restaurant and had a patio and parking lot, two assets that our first location lacked. We opened our second burger joint on November 21, 2024. Having just celebrated 4 months of serving the Longfellow neighborhood, we are looking forward to Minnesota summer, and welcoming guests onto a beautiful new patio that we have in the works.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Our first year we operated a food truck through the Minnesota winter. We only closed a handful of times – usually when the snow was falling too hard and heavy to physically keep the service window open. We frequently served when the temps were well below zero – rocking long johns, snow boots and toe warmers. Come summer time the truck would sometimes be well over 100 degrees – BEFORE we turned on fryers and grills. We prepped and cooked nearly every dish that left the truck, and washed every dish ourselves. It wasn’t for the faint of heart. Similarly, turning a Thai restaurant into a burger joint was a challenge – complete with replacing a well-used 12 foot commercial wok station with grills and fryers, building a 20 foot bar, and converting a walk in cooler into a draft beer system. Opening a second location, while maintaining our high standards at our Northeast spot, was also challenging, as you might expect.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Francis Burger Joint?
Francis is the only fully vegan, full bar, full service restaurant in Minnesota. I suspect we may be the only restaurant of this variety in a several state radius in the Midwest. We consider ourselves, and have come to be known as, a “gateway” vegan concept – which is to say we have folks come in every day that are skeptical about trying something vegan, and leave pondering how something without animal products could be so delicious and satisfying. We started with the aim to be a comfortable, welcoming, warm neighborhood joint, knowing that taking great care of our neighbors/guests would be the foundation of a successful restaurant/business. Along the way we also have fulfilled a dream – to have people come visit from all over the US and even other countries.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
Growing up I was extremely active and wanted to try everything and do as much as I could. I was lucky enough to have a crew of similarly aged kids in the neighborhood and we were constantly playing games and sports outside. Into highschool and college, I played soccer and ran track, and played in bands and the orchestra.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.francisburgerjoint.com
- Instagram: @francisburgerjoint
