Owning a Business
To become a business owner it’s often easier said than done. Anybody can have a creative business idea that seems very promising but actually going through with your idea and bringing it to life is the challenging part. In this blog I’m going to talk about how my parents and I started our food truck business. I’ll talk about the challenges we faced and still do and how we overcame them.
The first thing I believe you need in order to start your business is to find something you’re passionate about or you really enjoy doing. Even something that you do very well. Before my family and I started what is now Chuy’s Tacos Food Truck LLC the “founder,” my father worked in restaurants for over 20 years. In all sorts of restaurants. He gained a lot of experience and knowledge about different types of foods. Also after working in the restaurant industry for so long he was very familiar with how to work well in a kitchen with others, he got to the point of becoming kitchen manager. My dad loves to cook and he really enjoyed his job. However he discovered that he could probably one day work for himself instead of in a kitchen for someone else. I remember there would be events at the church we go to and they would ask my dad to cook for everyone. Almost like catering a banquet. He would do this for the church then for weddings and other private events. Meanwhile, he was still working at the restaurant. Even I worked at the restaurant with him in my junior and senior years if high school. So many people would compliment his food and ask “when will you open your own restaurant?!” people were impressed with his cooking. One day my father unfortunately got fired from his morning job for a very unjust reason. However he saw it as a blessing in disguise. Since he no longer had that morning job he was able to have more time and that’s when he decided to buy a food trailer and begin his own company. I’m not sure exactly how or what led him to the idea that we could sell food out of a trailer but my mom and I supported his idea.
Like everything in the beginning it was not easy. After you have your idea in mind and you decide to take the first step to making it reality, like my father went out to buy a food trailer, the next thing you have to do is get all the correct licensing and documentation to bring your idea to life. This was probably the hardest part because we had no idea what we were getting into. I never would have thought so many legal documents were required. Hours and hours of phone calls with different offices, with the insurance company, getting all things in order for the inspection. Mind you there is a lot of stress involved but it also costs money. For each type of permit. From registering your company as an LLC so that nobody can steal your name idea to getting our food service permit in our case. There is a lot that needs to be done before we could sell a single taco. I was beginning to feel like we weren’t going to make it and lots of doubt flooded my mind. It’s scary to think nobody even knows who we are and no one is even going to buy anything from us. After we established our name and logo and had all papers in order and we were cleared to sell we faced another challenge. Where in the world were we going to post up to sell. My dad decided to go out to construction sites and sell every morning. It wasn’t going too well for him but at least he was getting his name out there and people were getting to know him and his food. Eventually we found a good spot in Roswell in some apartment complexes where to this day we still post up every Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Now we have our regulars and new customers that come every week.
We’ve been blessed and I think my favorite part of working on the food truck is that I get to spend time with my family and I’m not out working for anyone else but my parents.
It’s important to note that Even after your business takes off and you see that things are going well you cannot get comfortable. you need to apply pressure on yourself in those helping you out in your business. You need to have your mind set on a goal you want to achieve at all times. That’s what will keep you motivated to keep going. Once you achieve one thing, come up with something else. Remember there is always room for improvement. My family and I saw that business was going well and within the second year we decided to expand our business and we purchased a food truck this time instead of a trailer. It had much more room than the trailer but it required a lot of labor before it could get working and make an income for the company.
My father named me the “manager” so that meant I was in charge of our agenda. As time passed we got busier and we were getting booked for more events. I won’t go through and list all the places we’ve been to. I will however mention that we had the privilege of going to Mr. Steve Harvey’s home over summer 2020 twice a week for June and July. Also we were outside of the Mercedes benz stadium when Mexico’s soccer team came to play. Just like that we have been a part of many other cool events.
After our second third year in business we went for our third food truck. This one is twice as big as the first one. Honestly our next goal from here is to open the restaurant in the near future.
Owning a business is fun and exciting however, with that come a lot of responsibility and long work hours and sacrifice. Every weekend after we finish selling from 5–11pm at our regular spot we go to the nightclub and sell out there until 4 or 5 am. Being a business owner has its pros and cons just like anything. It’s important to focus on the positive side to keep yourself motivated to keep going.
