We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Vik & Lina Khasat. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Vik & Lina below.

Hi Vik & Lina, thanks for joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

The concept of The Dirdie Birdie was actually born out of a time I think many were familiar with around Spring 2020…sitting on the couch at home reminiscing of the things we used to do and places we used to go back when it was safe to be outside. Date nights for us almost always included a fun new restaurant, one of our favorite bars or an interactive activity we could experience together. More often than not, we opted for mini golf as a fun but competitive way to spend time together and even bet on who’s making breakfast the next morning or buying the next drink.

We looked forward to visiting these places again, Even more so, instead of bouncing around to different spots…what if it was all under one roof? We immediately fell in love with the idea but the high was short lived as we quickly realized we didn’t have the knowledge or experience to build something of this magnitude, higher risk of the industry and the ongoing pandemic that was closing down many other concepts at the time. We knew it was a massive risk but from there we sort of became obsessed with the vision and idea of bringing such a unique concept to our city- especially one that is indoors during the not so outdoor friendly summer months.

We started making calls and heard our fair share of no’s but kept going and going. We built a fantastic team who also shared the same excitement as we did given this blend of creativity, great food/drinks and subtle nod to our favorite city. Many more ups and downs followed but the rest is history, we opened to a line around the block in November 2022 and have been enjoying the since.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

The Dirdie Birdie is more than a great restaurant, bar or new age mini golf experience. It is certainly these things but all together provides a unique experience to share with friends, family, co workers and more. We’ve hosted parties ranging from wedding rehearsal dinners to big corporate events to 70th birthday parties. We’ve had visitors come in for a great bite and are blown away by the golf course and have had others come in for the golf course and fall in love with our dining options. We feel everything is incredibly purposeful and intentional with a high attention of detail and hope others can see that as well. Evolving the classic, fun and often goofy game of mini golf to a more classy and refined space and offering was a big goal of ours as well.

Both Lina and myself aren’t your traditional restauranteurs by any means. In fact, neither of us have any direct experience in the industry prior to The Dirdie Birdie. We just had a vision, a solid understanding of our strengths and weaknesses, a big appetite for risk and whole lot of determination to get this concept off the ground.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

Word of mouth is hard to beat in any circumstance it seems. Simply offering a best in class service or product will bring in new customers as those in the community talks to others or brings them there on their next visit. We’re incredibly grateful to those who gave us a chance early on and helped spread the word that there’s a new concept in town and it’s worth checking out given all the other incredible spots in Austin.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

Finding funding for this business during the depths of the pandemic was no easy task. Very few banks were interested as they already had several other clients that were defaulting on loans and missing payments. Although they liked the idea there was very little appetite for risk. We eventually locked in a loan through the SBA with a high level of collateral needed. An added level for risk for us but when you’re obsessed with the vision you simply keep moving the ball forward. Thankfully, with stable cash flow and established brand, the road to expansion looks far easier than before.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.dirdiebirdieatx.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedirdiebirdie/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thedirdiebirdie

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