Nate Hoops has spent over a decade in the restaurant industry. Whether working in a sandwich shop, bartending, or waiting tables, Hoops has always found himself drawn to the food industry. That’s why it’s almost unsurprising that Hoops and business partner Anthony Ngo wanted to open a restaurant that explored their Vietnamese roots. Soon after, Phodega was born. The Chicago-based restaurant describes itself as an “Asian American noodle and snack shop” because, in addition to offering dishes like pho or chicken rice, they also sell a variety of snacks from across Asia.
“If you’re not familiar with Vietnamese food, it can be kind of intimidating to go someplace where they don’t speak English, the menu’s not in English, and you don’t really recognize anything. So, we wanted to bridge that gap and make the food more approachable and easily shareable with people from all backgrounds,” explained Hoops.
The menu boasts a variety of pho options alongside banh mi, egg rolls, dumplings, and their special Phodega fries. But the business, similar to its menu, has undergone a slew of changes and pivots that have positioned it for steady growth. The one constant? Their use of Square tools at every moment along the way.
How it started: A thousand square feet and $500 a day
Hoops and Ngo opened Phodega in November 2019 in a space with a thousand square feet that could maybe fit 26 people. “So you basically would walk in the door and at the back of the room would be the counter and behind that was the kitchen and you could see everything from the door,” Hoops said of the initial setup. In addition to the small space, Hoops only had enough capital to run it with two employees—one in the kitchen, and one in the front to take orders with a Square Terminal.
Phodega also started out with paper tickets to relay orders to the kitchen. Because the first menu only featured four dishes and a few appetizers, Hoops opted for the most cost-effective solution. After all, the business was only bringing in $500 a day sometimes. But the paper tickets made it hard to keep track of orders and get them to customers in a timely manner, and it also made it difficult to efficiently look back on orders if needed.
The business eventually expanded its investment in Square to include the Square Kitchen Display System (KDS) so they could speed up orders and create cleaner organization in the kitchen. “The KDS makes it just way easier [to get orders out,] and it’s nice to be able to look back on everything. Just looking through the tickets is way easier and way cleaner on the KDS,” said Hoops.
How it’s going: Foot traffic, menu items, and staff doubled
A more detailed look at orders gave the business a leg up toward success when it moved to a bigger location because foot traffic doubled. On a street full of restaurants, the stakes for getting orders in and out in a timely manner became crucial, and the Square KDS helped them move with efficiency and speed, enabling them to build rapport and trust with customers in the new neighborhood.
With more space and more foot traffic, Phodega is expanding its menu based on its POS data, making the role of a singular system that handles both the kitchen display and the point-of-sale even more important. “We noticed there’s room to capitalize more on our lunch services, and we also noted that summer is a slower season, so we’re working on creating some lunch specials and summer dishes…so the reporting is definitely helpful,” said Hoops.
The ability to add images to the menu as it grows has also been key because it makes the checkout experience smoother for all staff. “I like that we’re able to add images to the point-of-sale, because we have a lot of snacks from across Asia, and our team might not know what it’s called, or it might be in a different language. For them to just visually see it and click it is a game changer,” said Hoops. This is especially imperative given that his staff—like everything else— has grown from two employees to 20.
The impact: New revenue streams and greater flexibility unlocked
A growing business means growing responsibilities for Hoops and Ngo, and the flexibility to handle business tasks on the go makes life a little bit easier. “On Mondays, I sit down at the computer and I break everything down. But during the week, I pretty much handle it all on my phone which makes my life way easier than having to [rely on] the physical POS system,” Hoops explained.
The added flexibility opens up a path for new revenue streams like catering, unlocking another growth lever for Phodega. “Catering is good because we can increase our hourly sales without having to do anything else,” noted Hoops. He and Ngo are currently focused on growing the catering arm, and the good news is that they won’t have to invest in a slew of new tools to make it sustainable.
Having the Square app on my phone, especially if I’m doing catering, makes everything seamless. It walks you through how to send an invoice. It’s nice to be able to do that on the fly. Same for payroll. If I’m out of town on a Monday, I can still run Square Payroll on my phone and just send the checks to my manager to print, which is huge. And I won’t have to bring my computer with me, which is nice.”
Nate Hoops → co-owner of Phodega
With the flexibility to handle things whenever, wherever, Hoops can also dedicate more time to the more exciting aspects of the business, like the vibe. The branding, the feel, and everything down to the stickers in the window are just as intentional as the menu. Consistently seeking new inspiration is crucial to curating the one-of-a-kind vibe of Phodega that customers have grown to love, which Hoops eloquently sums up in eleven words: “We want to be just a little cooler than everybody else.”
