The Nielsen family chose the name Grains of Montana to emphasize the origin of their food. The brothers, raised on the farm that they purchased from their parents in the mid-1990s, expected to produce flavorful bread, but have surprised themselves with the quality.

“We modeled our restaurant after Panera, but our bread is so much better. The quality of wheat makes a tremendous difference in the flavor of bread,” Nielsen says. “We have only one variety of wheat in our flour. Typically, in a commercial milling facility, there are 50 to 100 varieties of wheat of all qualities that go into flour used to make bread.”

Nielsen flour is made without bleaching or removing brans, creating a high-fiber, high-protein, dark-colored flour. “You get the true wheat flavor in our breads, and they have a home-baked feel; they are heavier and denser,” Nielsen says.

The restaurant’s atmosphere is intended to be as homestyle as the bread. Furnishings are rustic, with floors of quarry tile and hardwood, warm-colored walls, leather seating, and large photos of the Nielsen farm. The Grains owners are developing a video for the restaurant about harvesting wheat on the farm.

“We use an insignificant amount of our wheat at this point,” Nielsen says. “But the hope is that the chain will get so big, we will need a lot of our product.”