Nick Jacobson grew up enjoying fine wine and meals with his foodie parents. So, it was only natural that he’d find his way into the restaurant biz. But getting there and staying there are two different things.

The owner/operator of 360 Bistro in the Belle Meade neighborhood of Nashville credits the success of his 19-year-old restaurant to his constant and consistent attention to cost management, his decision to cook the classics, and the painstaking maintenance of a 1,000-selection wine program.

Boxerbrand: What first drew you into the restaurant business, and what ultimately led you to open 360 Bistro?

Nick Jacobson:
I honestly fell into this business. I graduated from the University of Tennessee in 2002 and was at a crossroads—either go back to school or figure out a career path. I’ve always loved wine, and by osmosis, because my parents had me around good wine from a young age, I gravitated toward hospitality.

At the time I started to learn the ropes, Nashville only had one wine bar. I knew someone who was investing in early-stage franchises in Georgia, and I became the first franchisee to open a wine bar in Belle Meade. We ran it for about two years, but the franchise restrictions made me want to go further the concept, so I broke away from the franchise model after two years and launched 360 Bistro in 2007.

Boxerbrand: The name “360 Bistro” suggests a full-circle approach. How does that philosophy show up in the restaurant today?

Nick:
That early business experience taught me so much, about what worked, and what didn’t, so when I decided to create my own concept, I thought about how my understanding of restaurants and hospitality had come full circle, and that the bistro was the result of this earlier learning curve.

One way our guests benefit from our philosophy is in the menu we present them with, and in our responsiveness to their suggestions.

When I was first starting out my goals as a restauranteur, I leaned toward creating something unique to the area and of creating a menu worthy of a destination experience. Experience has taught me that you can have unique menus with deeply inspired cuisine, but if your customer doesn’t share your vision, they’ll find a restaurant that does.

So, one of the first things I did was to take stock of our neighborhood and calculate what menu a truly neighborhood restaurant in Tennessee should provide.

We’re in a very old-money part of Nashville, called Belle Meade. And we’re very much a neighborhood restaurant. I know my guests. There’s constant dialogue between guests and staff, and one of the things we’ve done as a business is to listen, and to be responsive.

When we realized that instead of trying to be a destination restaurant, we needed to cook for our guests and what they want, we filled out our menu with elevated versions of classic dishes, like steak frites, steak au poivre and French onion soup. And they’re priced such that our regulars are coming in once or twice a week.

We’ve had record-breaking sales and profitability since COVID, so it’s working.

Boxerbrand: How would you describe your core business philosophy when it comes to balancing food quality, guest experience, and profitability?

Nick:
Maintaining a viable business and product consistency requires my constant attention so that we’re profitable, but we don’t squeeze people.

Food cost is the number one driver of profitability, so I track it obsessively.

I do this with an app called MarginEdge.

I enter invoices and recipes and the ingredients of these recipes down to the ounce and the app tracks price fluctuations and alerts us when there’s a change in cost. The app only works as well as the records I keep, so I keep incredibly accurate records of our inventory, and am constantly inputting these numbers.

It’s a great tool for minimizing surprise costs while maintaining consistency in our product.

Boxerbrand: What operational systems have made the biggest difference in running the business day to day?

Nick:
We’re a very wine-centric restaurant with one of the largest wine programs in the state. We have about 1,000 selections, and even as Nashville explodes with restaurant growth, our wine program sets us apart.

Because we maintain a $300,000 inventory of wine, an app we use for tracking this inventory, called BinWise, is our most useful and valuable operational tool. Our physical wine list is about 120 pages long, and we’ve been building the collection seriously since around 2010, so the app allows us to offer unique verticals and vintages that many competitors simply don’t have.

The app is also critical to managing our robust whiskey program.

Boxerbrand: How do you approach menu development—what stays, what goes, and what evolves?

Nick:
As owner and operator, I made the decision to stay out of the kitchen and let our talented chef run the show there. And we give our chef and cooks the best ingredients to work with. We use Allen Brothers out of Chicago for our beef supply, for example, and our guests trust us to source the best ingredients on their behalf.

Boxerbrand: Labor continues to be a major challenge in the industry. What’s helped you attract and retain staff?

Nick:
Nashville is one of the most competitive labor markets in the country, especially with celebrity chefs and massive restaurant groups moving in. I don’t have the ability to financially compete with those groups.

What I can offer is quality of life. I have about 35 employees, and around 20 have been with me for at least a decade. Of our eight servers, six have been here for 12 years. That kind of longevity is huge.

I learned early on that if you treat people with respect and they make good money, they stay. This is a neighborhood restaurant, and the rapport between staff and guests is another strong reason for longevity in our workforce.

Boxerbrand: How do you manage rising food and operating costs without compromising the guest experience?

Nick:
Food cost generally runs about 33 percent for us—not amazing, but solid. Our per-person average is around $95, which is strong for a neighborhood restaurant.

I also have a fantastic lease by virtue of getting in here 20 years ago. Our hourly cooks can make up to $32 an hour. Liquor costs are in the low 20-percent range, wine around 30 percent, and labor never goes over 30 percent. Those guardrails matter.

Boxerbrand: What does good leadership look like in a restaurant setting?

Nick:
Leadership means consistency, especially under pressure. It’s about showing up every day, setting expectations, and backing your people. If you do that, accountability tends to follow naturally.

Boxerbrand: What keeps guests coming back to 360 Bistro beyond the food?

Nick:
It’s the familiarity. We know our guests, and they know us. That relationship is what makes a true neighborhood restaurant work.

Boxerbrand: How does being part of the Nashville dining scene influence your business decisions?

Nick:
Nashville as a whole can be misleading. Belle Meade isn’t talked about as a culinary hub, and we like that. It keeps us off the radar. Between us and Sperry’s, we capture most of the high-end dining in the area.

There’s been an explosion in hospitality here, and we do see new faces—but we’re happy being a bit of a hidden gem.

Boxerbrand: Have your goals for the restaurant changed over time?

Nick:
They’ve evolved, but the core hasn’t changed. We want to do what we do well and keep refining it.

Boxerbrand: We have to ask—how did your menu covers work out ?

Nick:
I love our Boxerbrand menu covers. We just got new synthetic leather ones. We use a four-page dinner menu, a three-page wine-by-the-glass menu, plus separate cocktail and lunch menus. It’s all Boxerbrand.

Boxerbrand: Looking back, what advice would you give someone thinking about opening their first restaurant?

Nick:
The idea of owning a restaurant is incredibly romanticized. I meet people all the time who say it’s been their dream.

It takes a ton of time, and it has to be a labor of love. If you’re not doing it from that place, you’re not going to do it well. The money can’t be the primary motivator—it won’t carry you through the hard days.

360 Bistro uses Boxerbrand’s Classic menu covers in their table presentation. Thank you!