Welcome to Like a Boss, where we go over the two B’s: business and Bossier. For this edition, we’re going to add another couple B’s: burgers and beer (those are the two best B’s, FYI).

This is the inaugural episode and we’re talking to one of the rising stars in the local business world in Grant Nuckolls. He started the first Twisted Root Burger Co. franchise in Louisiana in 2013 and expanded to Bossier last year. He is also involved in Shreveport Magazine and just helped launch the first Crawfest at Betty Virginia Park in Shreveport.

In this episode, you’ll hear Grant talk about…

• Why he does what he does…“I come from a family of small business owners. In the back of my mind, I always wanted to own my own place. I didn’t want to leave, I wanted to do it in my hometown.”

• What is goal when it comes to Twisted Root? “There’s some great burger restaurants that are mom and pop dives or the corporate ones that do what they do well, but we want more than that. The food and beverage is important but so is the atmosphere and getting ingrained in the community and businesses around you.”

• Their approach is with a patio, live music, and drinks all flowing together to create something out of the ordinary when it comes to a burger restaurant… “If all you’re doing is selling hamburgers in a white box, even if it’s a great hamburger it’s a boring place to go eat.”

• How the original Twisted Root owners put him through the wringer to start his own franchise….Grant said he had never stepped foot in a commercial kitchen before he went to the owners with idea that the restaurant would play in Shreveport. But that experience taught him a huge business lesson: Do your research and actually do it. He spent took two or three weekends a month for five or six months doing everything from bussing tables, working with their CFO, to eventually cooking. “Everything you’re going to have to do in this business, I tried to get a taste of.”
• Why did he expand Twisted Root to Bossier? “It’s a really community-based city that values its military, its civic leaders, its police and fire. It’s a growing city, one of the only growing cities north of I-10. From a dollars and cents standpoint, it made sense to come to Bossier because the population is growing.”

• What is it about Bossier’s business climate that Grant finds advantageous? “When you walk into city hall, they’re in their office with open arms. I had always heard that, but it was the truth. Having folks in city hall who are there to help you goes a long way.”
• And finally, in a perfect world, what would Grant’s business look like & how would it impact Bossier’s community here? He said they’re here for the long haul as a community partner. “When people walk in and just think they’re getting a burger, they leave with a smile on their face. We want to employ local people and be there for their vendors, customers and employees.”

For more Twisted Root, visit their website HERE. 

Join host Sean Green, publisher of northwest Louisiana’s premier business publication BIZ. Magazine, every month for a live interview with a Bossier business leader through the Bossier Chamber of Commerce Facebook page.