From the pages of In Business magazine.
Justin Gibson, 42, discovered vomFASS, the oil, vinegar, wine, and spirits franchise, while studying abroad in Germany years ago.
“I walked into a vomFASS in Giessen one day looking for gifts for people back home and was blown away! I never thought oil and vinegar could be that amazing,” he recalls.
Gibson, an economics major at UW–Madison who went on to earn his master’s at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, had always wanted to start a business with his father, so when he realized vomFASS was offering franchise opportunities, he knew it would be a win-win.
Once back in the U.S., his dad agreed.
The duo purchased the rights to vomFASS USA in 2007. As master franchisees, they grew the business to more than 30 franchises nationwide, including the State Street store in Madison, one of Gibson’s original franchisees. “We recruited and trained the owner, but now we’re both franchisees of vomFASS International.”
That’s because in 2016, the international franchisor, noting their success in America, decided to buy the franchising rights back.
“By that time, the concept was proven, my dad was ready to retire, and my wife and I were starting a new family. It was time,” Gibson remarks.
The sale allowed Gibson to remove his franchisor hat and focus instead on running his University Avenue store as a franchisee. It also provided him with the capital needed to launch his new idea, delecTable, as a new revenue stream.
“We were coming up on a 10-year lease renewal on our space here, but the obligations we once had as a master franchisee no longer existed,” Gibson explains.
Office space required by the parent company for fulfillment and storage was no longer needed and suddenly became about 1,600 square feet of vacant space.
Gibson, once the catering manager for the White Horse Inn downtown, saw an opportunity to take advantage of a popular trend — culinary entertainment.
“We’d always had success with in-store events and cooking classes, and through the years I’d been intrigued with how engaged people were becoming in cooking shows and even in the chefs themselves, many who have achieved celebrity status. It’s all entertainment now, and I wanted to incorporate that into delecTable.”
delecTable launched in 2017 as “culinary dinner theater where the chefs are the stars, sommeliers and mixologists the co-stars, guests are the audience, and their palates are the judges.”
Drew Niedercorn is the full-time executive chef, but guest chefs also take part. Joel Olson conducts cooking classes.
The reservation-only restaurant can seat up to 50 diners, but smaller, private parties are also welcome.
For a minimum of $59 plus gratuity, diners enjoy a five-course meal prepared in the same room (and some at the same table) as the chef, receive a drink with each course (or they can opt out), and socialize with new friends in the process. Three large-screen TVs monitor the staff as they create their culinary theater.
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Not surprisingly, vomFASS oils, vinegars, liquor, and wine products take center stage, which has bumped product sales at the adjacent retail store.
Having been on both sides of franchising, Gibson says it’s much easier to launch a startup franchise business because many of the day-to-day decisions are already made by the franchisor.
“That said, a franchisee still lives and dies with their business decisions, but there’s just a lot more laid out in terms of how things should be done,” he explains.
delecTable, on the other hand, is Gibson’s own restaurant concept, so he was involved in every decision, from the equipment to the flooring and the countertops. “I really enjoyed the creative freedom of it all, but it was definitely more work to open a new business from scratch.”
Looking back, Gibson is especially proud that he was able to launch vomFASS USA with his dad, who is enjoying retirement these days. “I made him CEO and it was truly relationship-building. We had a reason to talk every day and our relationship always came first.”
In fact, their partnership was different than many father-son business experiences, he notes. “I wasn’t entering my dad’s business. I discovered vomFASS and we brought the company to the the United States and figured things out together.”
Now that he’s come full-circle, will he expand and franchise delecTable?
“It’s certainly a possibility,” Gibson hints, “but with two young kids at home, I’m focusing on the expansion of my family rather than expanding the business at this moment.”
vomFASS-delecTable
3248 University Ave.
Madison, WI 53705
(608) 204-0300
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