A ROADMAP TO ‘TOWN’

By Joe Gombach

In November 2021, four members of Texas Beta gathered in a living room for a brainstorming session. Recording their ideas on a whiteboard, they formulated a plan for their own startup.

That was the beginning of Town, an all-in-one digital operations platform for restaurants.

“We all knew that we wanted to be in business together, and we trusted in each other’s abilities,” Taylor Brewster Texas Tech ’20 said.

Taylor — along with Alec Hernandez ’18, Drew Pickens ’19, and Mason Still ’20 — worked to get their company off the ground, guided by their experiences with Phi Psi. All four had leadership roles with their chapter. Alec and Drew each served as presidents, Mason as social chair, and Taylor as treasurer. 

“My experience as chapter president helped prepare me for my role with Town in several ways,” Drew said. “It taught me how to set clear goals, define objectives, and build a roadmap to actually achieve them.”

Brotherhood was one of their biggest assets. “There’s a level of trust and accountability that already exists when you’ve lived together, worked on a variety of projects, and gone through challenges as brothers,” Mason explained. 

Their backgrounds inspired the idea for Town. Alec’s mother owns salons in Cypress, Texas. Taylor’s parents owned two bars in Dallas. They saw firsthand how much hard work goes into operating small businesses and how central those businesses are to communities.

“They were always working,” Taylor said of his parents. “I’d say that’s what helped me the most, just seeing how hard they worked.” 

Those insights inspired the vision for what Town could offer. Third-party apps may help drive customers to local restaurants, but they also charge steep commissions and control customer data. Many platforms also favor large chains over small independent restaurants. Identifying that flaw in the system, the brothers asked what they could do to change the status quo.

Their solution was to give restaurants control over their online presence. Thanks to Town, local restaurants can take online orders without giving up a piece of the check to a third party. Town offers website customization, commission-free online ordering, tools to manage reservations and waitlists, customer loyalty programs, and help hiring local talent.

The initial stages of the company were anything but glamorous.

“Meaningful progress doesn’t happen overnight,” Drew said.

Cash-strapped and working long hours, the co-founders learned by building, testing, and adjusting to feedback. Their business progressed through consultation with thousands of restaurants. Drew said his experience with Phi Psi taught him “the importance of staying consistent and executing at a high level, no matter what challenges come up.”

Mason, the company’s CEO, believes his fraternity background prepared him to overcome the obstacles involved in leading a startup.

“Phi Psi taught me a lot about leadership, responsibility, and how to manage different personalities,” he said. “More than anything, it gave me confidence in leading from the front and staying composed when things don’t go as planned.”

He also appreciates the advantages of co-founding a company with his brothers.

“It makes communication easier and the culture stronger because everyone knows how the others operate under pressure. We can be brutally honest with each other without taking it personally, and that’s rare to find in any environment.”

“The best part of working with my fraternity brothers every day has been seeing how our dynamic from college has grown into something both professional and fun,” Drew said.

“The most surprising part has been how seamlessly that brotherhood carried over into the startup world. It’s like we took the same energy we had in college and turned it into a team that actually gets things done.”

Town now powers online ordering for hundreds of restaurants across the country. Today, the company’s biggest challenge is balancing that growth while maintaining the high level of service clients have come to expect. Fortunately, membership in Phi Psi imbued the co-founders with confidence, resourcefulness, and the ability to execute under pressure, all of which contribute to Town’s ongoing success.

The brothers still stay connected to Texas Beta, where they laid the foundation for their business. That influence can be found on the company’s website.

“We are four brothers from small business families, inspired by our parents’ dedication and struggles to share their craft with the community. We are dedicated to hearing the voices of small business owners and building something you love.”