Do You Have What it Takes to Own a Food Truck? | Career Crush

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0:53I-O, let's go! Every time I'm waiting in line at a food truck, I'm standing on my tippy toes trying to get a glimpse of what exactly goes on back there.

1:11So it is very intense in there. For this episode, I got in touch with an actual food truck owner to find out what it takes to own your very own restaurant on wheels. It's more than just cooking food or having great recipes. It's a lot of dealing with confusing regulations and rules, being prepared to fix a flat tire or broken generator. It costs a lot more money than I thought it did. Stick around if you want to find out what it actually takes to start your very own food truck.

1:47Owning a food truck, I think, is a very romantic idea to a lot of people. And owning any type of business is a romantic idea. It's like, hey, you're your own boss. I think it was pretty quick for me to realize that I literally work for everyone else as the owner of the business. That's John Moy. He's the founder and owner of the Moyzilla Food Truck based in Boston, Massachusetts. John actually started his career in finance back in 2008. But he found himself dissatisfied with the job. and despite his best intentions, was thinking a lot about joining the food world. At that point, the economy was kind of in shambles, and I just kind of felt fortunate to have a job.

2:26And my family had always been in the restaurant business, and I actually grew up hating the restaurant business just because I never saw my parents for holidays. The restaurant industry is hard. The hours are really long. So I never thought that I'd be drawn to it again, But I think I had it in my blood, so to speak. And I just kind of was looking for a way to get back into something tangible. Why did you decide to go the truck route instead of, you know, the brick and mortar restaurant? Yeah. So restaurants are super expensive. We just we just had I personally just didn't have the financial ability to kind of just jump in and, you know, lock into a lease.

3:11You know, I had no idea of my family has restaurants and I've worked in them before, but I've never owned a business. So I think just jumping into a 10 year lease or something like that was super daunting. I think the food trucks are and I think they still are a really good way for people to kind of test the waters of it. I didn't expect it to be as roomy as it was. Like you could actually fit like a decent amount of people in there. John said that it is one of their biggest trucks. So that makes sense. It's actually an old UPS truck, which is wild. Okay, so I need to know, how much does a food truck actually cost?

3:49I'm thinking it's like$30 ,000,$40 ,000. $82 ,000. That was like... Chevy is called the heartbeat of America for a reason. With SUVs made to move with your rhythm. The versatile Equinox tackles your entire day. the spacious traverse fits your crew and your whole weekend and tracks bring style with value you can count on all infused with tech that has your back so your drive always hits the right chord chevrolet together let's drive and we're live from the living room as doug eyes up the match day spread he's reaching for the buffalo wing perfect hang on what's this oh he's going for a can of Pepsi too.

4:37Incredible. What a finish. Sensational combination. Look at the delight on his face. There's no doubt about it. It just tastes better. Match days deserve Pepsi. Food deserves Pepsi. Grab a pack of Pepsi Zero Sugar for today's match. It's poetry in motion. Including everything though. The generator, the build out, the truck itself was 17 ,000. and then the rest of it is really like building it out, putting the electrical in, the plumbing in, and that type of thing. Our first truck cost$80 ,000, and then with other startup revenue, like startup costs associated with that, like the product, and most food trucks would rent a commissary, definitely over$100 ,000 to get a food truck business started.

5:30To save money, John actually moved home after graduation and started his career in finance. At this time, the food truck idea was far off, but it definitely helped him raise money when the time came. I actually, I lived with my parents right after I graduated school while I was working for a bit, which I'm like best decision of my life, I think, just because like I was able to save a bit of money after school, working at, working in the office. So let's talk money. How much does John make as a food truck owner and operator? When we started the food truck in the second year, we made$15 ,000 between my wife, my dad and I.

6:11So that was just like, okay. I was 26 at the time during our second season. I'm like, all right, that's okay. We can eat the extra dumplings we don't sell and we'll be okay. And then right now, actually, we had our best year in 2019 when we did over a million dollars in revenue. And our margin on our bottom line is about 20 % of that. And then we actually started paying ourselves. So my wife and I pay ourselves$75 ,000 a year right now just from the business. And so our total like take home income was probably around like 300 ,000 in 2019. And then COVID came and ruined it all, I'm sure. Oh yeah.

6:59And then we were back in the negative again. It was like, yeah, this felt, and that's in a lot of ways how it felt like year one again. It just, we weren't sure which of our employees were going to come back. None of our spots were there. They had all expired. And I think this past year has really been like year one, really just, you know, trying to learn things over again and how we can kind of be successful going into the future.

7:31Everything is going to break. And I think like you can't have nervous breakdowns about that because it's just going to happen. All the trucks are powered by generators, which essentially like they're on the food truck, but they supply power to like our refrigeration, our hand sinks and things like that. And those things, they just break all the time for whatever reason. And I think like without a generator, you can't take the truck out. So. Good sleep is everything. That's why Ollie's science back support is made with a blend of melatonin and L-theanine for both kiddos and grownups. So when your mind won't switch off, you've got something that can help.

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8:46Need a hiring hero? This is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. There's a lot. Oh my gosh. How do you deal with like the anxiety or like the just being nervous about that all the time? Like, do you deal with it or is it just ever present? You know, I, I think I've almost gone numb to it at this point. Like, I'm just like, they're like, if someone called me is like, Hey, John, this isn't working. I'm like, okay, let's think about it more rationally. And if we can fix it, we'll try to fix it. But, you know, starting the food truck, I had, I was like the least mechanically inclined person starting the food truck.

9:23Like I had no idea how to check the radiator fluid of a truck. But I think like my personality was just like, whoa, we're not going to be able to cook food if we don't figure this out. So I've like spent more hours probably than I thought going into it. Just, you know, learning how to fix generators or checking trucks out. And I still can't do a ton. But I think that eases my anxiety a bit knowing like I know the first steps to take if something goes wrong. I'm eating the dumplings.

10:01Our dumpling is kind of like a hybrid between a Chinese dumpling, like kind of a thicker skin, more hearty dumpling, and a Japanese gyoza. So it's pan fried on both sides and then kind of steamed to finish the cooking process. I like that they prep a lot of the food ahead of time. They bring it here, they cook it up fresh for people, and they bring like more than they could possibly ever need just to make sure that they don't run out or anything like that. John really started his business as a chef first with this vision of having a ton of different options on the menu, but he quickly realized that that just wasn't sustainable.

10:38Through the first season we had chicken yakitori, beef yakitori, four different kinds of dumplings on the truck, rice, noodles, and then a bunch of other things. And it was super fun and we had a huge menu, but I think like we would be able to only serve a hundred people during a lunch shift with that big of a menu. Um, we knew something kind of had to give, but I really wasn't ready to let that go just because like I got into it because I love to cook. So I was like, oh, we can't just offer like three or four things. That's no fun. But I realized to like the business side of things is that we really had to slim things down.

11:18So we cut our menu down quite a bit after the first season and we just saw huge improvements. What are the skills that I should prioritize learning if I'm going to be successful at this? Work ethic is kind of the biggest thing. It's like if you're not prepared to work seven days a week and you know 70 hours, it just right off the bat I don't think it I don't think it'd work. I think it was pretty quick for me to realize that I literally work for everyone else as the owner of the business. I feel like I work for my employees, you know, because I have a responsibility to them. Ultimately, I have to keep them happy.

12:00It doesn't make, it doesn't work if my team's not happy. In terms of specific to the food truck, being used to working in really warm conditions and also really cold conditions, that's an important characteristic. And I think just the ability to to just kind of problem solve on the fly. Do I want to start my own food truck? Honestly, I don't have the money, cooking ability, or stress tolerance for any of this. I think I'm just gonna stick to peeking through the window, enjoying my food, and crushing on the people that are inside.

12:46to our channel to see more interviews with people actually living the dream. Bye!

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