Staff Photo by Matt Hamilton / Brandy Burgans and Jason Jones at Mellow Mushroom in Chattanooga on Tuesday, December 14, 2021.Jason Jones started selling insurance online in April 2020, not because he wanted to, but because he was a restaurateur in the early days of the pandemic.
"I made some money, but I really disliked it," says Jones, who, with his wife, Brandy Burgans, owns and runs Chattanooga's two Mellow Mushroom restaurants. The pizza eateries were closed for more than two months, from mid-March until Memorial Day weekend, he says.
"I was absolutely certain we could fold," Jones says. "There was a ton of anxiety. Without some of the federal assistance, we might not have made it."
The couple did make it, though, and are in the process of celebrating milestones. Chattanooga's original Mellow Mushroom on Broad Street turns 20 later this month, and the East Brainerd location marked 10 years in December.
One more thing to celebrate: After seven months, Jones quit his insurance gig in November 2020.
"Pizza's easier to sell than insurance," Burgans quips.
Jones, a Chattanooga native, says he put Mellow Mushroom in his sights while he was in Atlanta attending Georgia State University. The restaurant was first established in 1974 in Atlanta, and there are now 170 Mellow Mushrooms across the U.S.
"I tended bar there to put myself through school," Jones says, "and I fell in love with the brand. The ethos of Mellow Mushroom – free-spirited, creative, warm, open – really appealed to me."
After graduation, Jones decided to return to Chattanooga to pursue a Mellow Mushroom franchise. He opened the doors to the Broad Street location in February 2002, and the East Brainerd store followed in December 2011.
"To me, a second location was a foregone conclusion," he says. "It was always part of the plan."
A global pandemic was not part of that plan, but Jones and Burgans, who wed in 2016, found themselves dealing with it in early 2020. Burgans, a tattoo artist, says she threw herself into helping with the restaurant after the pandemic shut down her trade.
"We didn't have a budget for staff – a lot of the kids who'd worked for us had moved back home – so it was all hands on deck," she says.
Mellow Mushroom
* Address: 205 Broad St. and 2318 Lifestyle Way* Online: mellowmushroom.com* Launched: 2002 downtown and 2011 in East Brainerd
Jones says that while revenues at the restaurants are back to pre-pandemic levels, each location runs with 20% less staff than he'd like. Burgans adds that she and Jones spent $30,000 on recruiting last year – a 95% increase.
"Like everyone else, we struggle to get the right people on our team," Jones says, "but the pay scale has definitely been raised. We're running with fewer [people], but the people we have are getting paid more."
Burgans says she's back in the tattoo business, having opened a private studio in the Southern Saddlery building, but only for a day or two per week.
"I'm kind of an accidental restaurateur," she says. "Whatever needs the most attention is where I need to be, and right now it's the restaurants. We've got 80 people who need to pay bills, so that's more important.
"There's nothing like walking through the restaurant when it's full – people laughing, joking, enjoying pizza. It's such an honor for me to be a part of this. It's the joy of my life," Burgans says.
And Jones admits that he doesn't look at his business the same way he did two decades ago.
"When I first started at 27, I wanted a half-dozen or 10 restaurants," he says, "but the cost-benefit analysis at 47 is way different.
"You never say never, but I won't even be looking for new opportunities in the next couple of years. I've become more content with what I have, and I just want to keep doing what I'm doing," he says.