Brian Gasperson and Marty Bryan are co-owners, co-founders and co-conspirators on their journey with Circle Star Brands. Their most recent development? Cactus Canyon, a classy and modern take on Tex Mex located in Argyle.
As with their other brands, they make the dream team, as Marty inspires the food and design while Brian inspires the finer touches of the drinks and amazing service.
“The questions we ask ourselves are, ‘What's the void in the market and what drives people to come to our restaurant?’ And then, ‘How do we tie all that together to make it a fit for the best interests of our customers and employees?’” From these questions, the reality that Argyle is a food desert and the fact that this is their home turf made the decisions relatively simple.
“We knew there was a void in Argyle and we wanted to fill the void. We wanted a staple within the city limits that was something to be proud of, that the town of Argyle supported and was their place.” Tex-Mex seemed to be the perfect playing ground for creativity and raising the bar, not to mention feeding their very own neighborhood.
The head of house service that Brian heads up is a key component of the hospitality that Circle Star Brands is known for with all their restaurants. It relies on everything from the brilliant smiles you are met with by your host to the energy brought by what plays through the speaker. “We create an element of hospitality from the minute you walk in the door to the minute you walk out,” says Brian.
Brian’s passion for the subtle refinement of their drink menu is hard to ignore as he explains the intentionality and love put into making high-quality and flavorful drinks, “Every drink that we make has all-natural ingredients, made fresh and made daily, no packets.” Texas’ most popular drink, the margarita, is the star of their multi-layered drink menu with options ranging from jalapeno to mango, swirl to sangria, sweet to strong.
With more than 60 years of experience in the industry between the duo, they know that the quality and quantity of staff is the unspoken yet most fundamental element of excellent service, Brian says. “The average Tex-Mex restaurant might have five to seven servers in the front. We run 25 servers. That's the difference in our services. We staff like we're gonna be busy every night. We want lots of hands helping customers get the experience they want.”
Together, they make the dream team. And their families as well. “Part of what drives Marty and I is just being able to serve our community regardless of the type of food. We wanted to provide something in Argyle that supports the town where our kids go to school. Our boys play on the Argyle football team together. Everything's local. We're here locally, our kids are here locally and we're doing life locally.”
This local element is what brings the joy and fun to serving, Brian explains, getting to serve enthusiastic customers is one thing, but getting to love your literal neighbor is even better.