Growing a Business: From Food Truck and Farmers' Market to Storefront
Starting a food business at a farmers' market or as a food truck is generally a low-cost approach for many entrepreneurs. With very little overhead, market vendors and food truck operators can test the waters and determine whether the demand for their products is great enough to support opening a storefront. We chatted with Mariah Salvat of Southern Roots Filling Station and Brittny Lowery at The Happy Grilled Cheese to gain insight on how to shift gears and open a brick-and-mortar location.
********
MARIAH SALVAT
Owner, Southern Roots Filling Station
Background: Toward the end of my time as a vendor at the farmers’ market, I started offering a weekly meal delivery service. I would send out a menu and people would order from that and I would deliver once a week. It was really fun and I was able to be more creative than I was at the markets. The idea for a brick and mortar came about from a location becoming available. We'd recently moved to Riverside and there was a store I never saw open and I thought to myself that would be a great location. One day we were out walking and the space was newly vacant. We called the next day and later that week we were sitting down signing a 5 year lease. It was definitely a case of putting the cart before the horse, but we saw an awesome location, we had a great product and so we took the chance.
How location reflects the brand: Since we first opened in Riverside, people have asked us to open in so many places, but a second location at the beach felt doable. I had set parameters for where I wanted our next space to be. I wanted it to be in Atlantic Beach and I wanted people to be able to ride bikes and walk to our spot. Again, it was rather serendipitous with the location because we were out in Atlantic Beach and saw a spot for rent that fit all of my criteria. My husband JP called and within a week, we were signing a lease.
Challenges: Time. There is never enough of it. It is hard to juggle the needs of both places and add two children to the mix and sometimes it seems like things are out of control. But, we are finding our rhythm and a new routine and it (knock on wood) seems to be working. There are always curve balls and you have to learn to stay calm and go with the flow. One day it's the AC and the next it's the drains.
Advice: Be ready for anything and know that it takes time to iron out the kinks. We have a great crew at both locations and that is everything. We are always working on communication and making sure both locations are in the know with what's going on. But ultimately, it is the people we have chosen to employ that really keep things top notch.
BRITTNY LOWREY
Director of Operations, Managing Partner | The Happy Grilled Cheese
Background: For us, opening a brick and mortar after operating a food truck was a natural progression. Being mobile is so much fun and we get to serve different neighborhoods and offices all over the community, but we heard from many of our customers that they'd love the opportunity to have a permanent location to visit. On the business operations side, it's very helpful to have a home base for our employees and it certainly made prep and operations much more streamlined.
How location reflects the brand: Feedback from longtime customers has been tantamount to our decisions. We know how to reach our customers with the food truck, so we were ready to see how it felt to operate in a neighborhood that had always been welcoming of the food truck. We added dinner hours, weekend hours and beer and wine to the Mandarin location to give that neighborhood something unique.
Challenges: We just opened our first location in Austin, Texas in January so operating in a new state has definitely been a learning curve. We've been in the industry long enough in Jax to understand the permitting, the licensing requirements, and we have a feel for our community. Austin has been a whole new experience for us and it's been a lot of work but so much fun to experience that growth.
Advice: You can't do it all yourself. You have to train your staff and then trust your staff. The right people will take ownership and make sure the brand stays consistent from the food to the experience. We have an amazing regional manager who loves organization so recipe books, operations manuals and accountability for our kitchen are priorities. Our goal from the beginning was to make sure that operations were seamless whether you have a Daddy of the Mac from Downtown, the food truck, Mandarin or while on vacation in Texas.
