Six years ago, Twigs Bistro & Martini Bar opened in an 800-square-foot space in the food court at River Park Square downtown. Today, it has upscale restaurants in North Spokane and on the South Hill, a larger space in the downtown mall, and plans to open a new restaurant soon in the Wandermere area north of Spokane.


What had been a tiny venture with 12 employees now is a fast-growing chain with 160 workers. Despite Twigs rapid expansion, its owners, Jeff and Karen Blackwell, say theyre neither shaken nor stirred by the pace. Instead, theyre pursuing aggressive plans to open one new restaurant each year, and are looking at franchising down the road.


This fall, when the Blackwells expect to open their new restaurant in the Wandermere Business Park, on the west side of U.S. 395, they also plan to convert the Twigs restaurant at 9820 N. Nevada to an upscale wine bar. Theyre looking at opening another Twigs eatery in 2008, possibly at the planned Pointe at Post Falls retail center or the Riverstone development in Coeur dAlene. After that, they likely will shift their focus outside of the Spokane market, possibly to Arizona.


Were having fun, Jeff Blackwell says. There havent been any growing pains; the company runs smoother now and the success has made us a more professional company.


The Blackwells and their son, Trevor, who owns a minority interest in the business, operate the Twigs restaurants through QOL Restaurant Group Inc., a Spokane company. The QOL name stands for quality of life.


Jeff Blackwell says QOL will hire an additional 100 people when the new Twigs at Wandermere opens later this year, and with added sales from the new location and the converted wine bar, the company will hit annual revenues of $9 million.


QOL has bought about an acre of land at the south end of the Wandermere Business Park, overlooking the large manmade lake there, for its new restaurant, he says. Russell Page Architects, of Spokane, is designing the two-story, 8,400-square-foot restaurant, which also would include a 1,000-square-foot corporate headquarters on the second floor.


The building will feature what Blackwell calls a contemporary eclectic design, and is to include a 208-seat dining room and a bar elevated above the dining room that will include tiered seating, a water feature, and a fireplace, he says. The restaurant also is to include a 150-seat patio with gas fire pits and a patio bar. The Blackwells plan to use the design as a template for future Twigs restaurants.


Construction is expected to start May 1, and the restaurant is projected to open Oct. 1, Blackwell says. Vandervert Construction Inc., of Spokane, will be the contractor on the $3 million project.


Meanwhile, the Blackwells plan to remodel the Twigs on Nevada Street in September and to open the planned wine bar there in October. They decline for now to disclose the new name for that location, which wont be called Twigs.


The remodeling project would include installing a serpentine bar that would wind through the entire restaurant, as well as a wood-fired grill and a wood-fired stone oven, Blackwell says. The regional American cuisine that is to be served there will range in price from $12.95 to $29.95, compared with the $6.95 to $20 price range at Twigs.


The first Twigs


The Blackwells, who are Spokane natives and have operated eateries in other malls here, conceived the concept for Twigs in 2001, when the company that owns River Park Square approached them with the idea of opening a wine bar in the food court there. While developing the wine-bar concept, the couple decided to focus on creating a restaurant that specialized in martinis instead of wine and offered a full menu.


With the help of Spokane designer John Rovtar, the Blackwells designed a trendy, eclectic dcor for the mall restaurant. They chose a menu that features what they call a global fusion of southwestern, classic American, Mediterranean, and international cuisine.


The couple wanted a one-word name for the eatery, and eventually settled on Twigs, deciding to tag on Bistro & Martini Bar to emphasize the eight martinis on its original menu. They launched the restaurant in June of 2001.


It just took off, Jeff Blackwell says. We were different and became a new trendy hotspot, and people kept telling us it didnt look like a Spokane restaurant.


Karen Blackwell says the martini bar quickly gained popularity. Twigs now serves 24 signature martinis.


People kept coming in saying they had heard we make the best lemon drops, she says of that flavored martini.


As demand rose at the restaurant, the Blackwells decided to open a second Twigs location. In the fall of 2003, they remodeled and converted the Bella Union Bistro restaurant they had operated for five years on Nevada and opened a second Twigs eatery.


Shortly after they opened the second location, QOLs companywide business volume shot up 300 percent, Jeff Blackwell says. At that time, the couple decided to sell a minority portion of the business to their son, who assumed the position of director of operations.


That was the turning point for us, when we realized we could expand the concept, Blackwell says of the successful opening of the second Twigs. We saw that it wasnt just River Park Square; it was the Twigs concept.


By 2005, demand at the North Side Twigs was so strong that customers had to be turned away at the door, he says. In the fall of 2005, the Blackwells added roughly 1,000 square feet of space to the dining room area and expanded the martini bar, giving the building a total of about 3,800 square feet of floor space. As a result, revenues jumped sharply, he says.


The couple next set their sights on the South Hill. They leased a 7,400-square-foot space in the new Village at Regal Pond development, at the northwest corner of 44th Avenue and Regal Street. Blackwell says they decided to open a restaurant there because of its location, Tuscan design, and pond setting with patio seating.


That restaurant opened last April. In 2006, the companys overall revenues climbed 165 percent compared with 2005, Blackwell says.


Sales at the Regal Pond location far exceeded our expectations, he says.


During construction at the South Hill outlet, the Blackwells started negotiating with the shopping centers management to relocate their River Park Square restaurant. The restaurant there had outgrown its cramped quarters, and the dcor didnt fit the theme they had developed at the other locations, Blackwell says.


The two parties agreed to relocate the eatery to a larger space across the atrium to the west from its original location, on the third floor of the mall. They moved to the new location in October and changed the menu to include upscale items, rather than focusing on quick-service food.


We wanted it to feel like it was part of the atrium, but upscale, Blackwell says.


Since then, sales at that restaurant have nearly doubled, he says.


The Blackwells attribute the success of the Twigs restaurants primarily to their staff, menu mix, and affordable prices. Karen Blackwell says she occasionally has seen customers at one Twigs location at lunch and another location at dinner on the same day.


We focus on hiring the best possible staff, using the freshest ingredients, and emphasizing customer service, Jeff Blackwell says. Lots of restaurants will tell you that, but its really what has made the difference for us.


The most popular menu items at Twigs typically are its salads, followed by its appetizers, entrees, and sandwiches, he says. In terms of martinis, the lemon drop still is the crowd favorite.


The metropolitan feel of the restaurants dcor also has contributed to Twigs popularity here, Blackwell says. He says people have asked him if hes worried about competition from several new, trendy restaurants that have been opening here, but asserts that those restaurants actually have boosted Twigs business.


The new restaurants have helped people open their minds to different cuisines and to the martini bar, Karen Blackwell says. More people come downtown now because of the variety of restaurants available to them, so we help each other out.


The Blackwells say theyve been approached by developers in the Northwest to open more locations in this region, as well as by a large franchise company in Arizona thats interested in working with the Blackwells to open restaurants there. Theyre considering the possibility of franchising or merging with another company, but for now are focusing on new restaurants their own company will own.


Contact Emily Brandler at (509) 344-1265 or via e-mail at emilyb@spokanejournal.com.