Restaurateur

Haley Moseley, left, seen here with business partner Jessie Henderson, is a co-owner of GourMelt, a gourmet grilled cheese restaurant which recently closed its former location near the university, and then, on Jan. 10, re-opened in a new spot, 113 Los Altos Parkway, Sparks. Moseley and Henderson are also the titular duo behind Two Chicks, 752 S. Virginia St., a popular midtown breakfast destination. We spoke to her during a busy lunch rush at GourMelt only a few days after it opened.

Business is good so far?

We were completely slammed on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. We did not have any way to prep enough food for what happened in here … a good problem to have.

So the university spot is closed?

Yes. … When we first opened, at least West Street was open—whatever space was open, customers could park there, because we only had three spots in front of University [Terrace], and once they took that away, it was almost impossible for people to park and come and eat. And we thought we’d have a little more foot traffic from students—but no, they eat mostly on campus with their WolfBucks.

Why this location?.

We looked for two years for a spot. We looked in the northwest, and a couple of spots fell through, and then this came up. And when you’re driving over Pyramid [Highway], and you look out here, and you see all these homes—I was like, this is going to be good. And we talked to the guy at Yogurt Beach two doors down, and he said that this is his best performing store.

Two Chicks is such a hub of midtown. How is this different?

Well, GourMelt is the one that we always thought we could put in neighborhoods. So, you could put one in Spanish Springs, and you could put one in south Reno, and you could put one in the northwest, and you’re not going to compete with each other, because people tend to stay in their neighborhood when they’re home. And if you’re here, there’s everything. There’s a Marshalls and a Sprouts and a Home Depot and a Costco, and they don’t need to go anywhere else. So we’re servicing the Spanish Springs area. And when we open one in a few years in the northwest, we’ll be servicing the northwest area.

GourMelt was a food truck originally, right?

GourMelt was a food truck, started in 2011. We ran that for four years. We opened Two Chicks in 2014. Stopped doing the food truck. Opened GourMelt at the university in 2016, and just closed that about a month ago—well, Thanksgiving. And then opened this.

Tell me more about the menu here.

It’s all grilled cheese sandwiches, and we just added four entrée salads, so we can cater to people who don’t necessarily want grilled cheese or they’re low carb. We opened right after New Year’s, so this is a fear of the New Year’s resolution. But so far, that’s not happening. We’ve got a kid’s menu. You can feed your kid for $5—grilled cheese and a bag of chips. And we have beer and wine, which we didn’t have at the university.

What have you heard from the community so far?

Sparks in itself has been so welcoming. All the city council members came by and shook our hands. We’re restaurant number 188 in Sparks, Nevada, I learned on opening day. They’re just really happy to have local food. There’s tons of chains in Sparks; there’s not a lot of local food. Somebody on our very first day, our soft opening, just wandered in, and she loved it, and she posted it on Nextdoor, the app, and then her whole neighborhood showed up. Not kidding. Look behind us—it’s just neighborhoods. And they’re itching for some home cooking.