Welcome to an informative episode of "JUSTIN AND THE [FOOD] ENTREPRENEURS," where host Justin Bizarro acquaints you with the critical aspects of food entrepreneurship. The episode offers an intriguing insight into the food truck industry, featuring an enlightening interview with Bella from Rockin' Burgers. Get inspired by Bella's journey from a typical 9 to 5 life to an outstanding young entrepreneur in the bustling food truck market of Boston.
Learn from Bella’s experiences, understand her struggles, and hear about the strategies that helped her food truck business thrive. Discover the balance of passion, hard work, and creativity necessary to keep your business interesting and successful. Listen as Bella shares her dreams of expansion and adaptation, reflecting her love for creativity and food innovation.
This episode is a repository of life-changing insights and lessons, showcasing the challenges faced by entrepreneurs during the pandemic. You'll explore an entrepreneur's perspective on maintaining personal health, work-life balance, and managing the stress that comes with financial instability. Understand the importance of working 'on' the business, not just 'in' it, for optimal success.
Join us as we journey through Bella's entrepreneurial adventure in the food truck niche. Learn how her listening skills, humility, and strong core values have been essential ingredients in her recipe for success. Immerse yourself in Bella's transformation from a shy introvert to an extroverted, successful entrepreneur, a testament to the power of personal growth and resilience.
Finally, dive into the world of food truck associations, collaborations, and friendly competition in the industry. Learn how the South Shore Food Truck Association members inspire each other, share experiences, and contribute to each other's growth. The episode wraps up on a high note with an enlightening segment on entrepreneurial leadership, growth, and the power of harnessing one's inherent abilities.
Tune in to this engaging episode for an exciting exchange of knowledge, guidance, motivation, and success stories in the world of food entrepreneurship. Don't miss the opportunity to glean from the experiences of more affluent peers in your entrepreneurial journey!
IG: @rockinburgers.ma
Address: www.rockinburgersma.com
Hosted By: Justin Ryan Bizzarro (IG: @justinbizzarro)
Who is Justin Ryan Bizzarro? – Justin Bizzarro is a serial food, restaurant, technology, media and marketing entrepreneur, who helped build a 24-year-old group of food and restaurant related businesses, he created with his father and business partners out of his family’s basement, in 1998. He is a highly desired business management, personal and athlete growth, free market, food diversity, and entrepreneurial leadership speaker. Justin’s expertise are in human growth, motivation, leadership and management development, health foods and beverages, global lean manufacturing facilities, vertically integrating businesses, food marketing and advertising, supply chain creation and management, direct to consumer fulfillment, transportation and distribution, personal brand building, restaurant development and construction, and entrepreneur acceleration. Justin received his BA in International Business and Management from Dickinson College, in 2002, and his MBA from University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, in 2014. He is currently pursuing his Master of Divinity in Leadership from Denver Seminary. His leadership and entrepreneur podcasts have positively impacted millions of people across the globe.
Thank you Deborah Michas [ IG: @deborahmichas ] for pushing me to do this Podcast, believing in me that I could conquer this and being my Co-Host for the first two years.
Find Us On SPOTIFY or wherever else you grow yourself through Podcasts . . .
Dominate Your Leadership Growth @ CENTURION LEADERSHIP BATTALION Show with Justin Ryan Bizzarro . . .
Want More Food? Get the Goodness Here @ DoorDash . . .
CHECK OUT: NY State of Mind [Clothing] Co. - www.nystateofmindco.com [ IG: @nystateofmindco ] . . .
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Music.
(00:18):
Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of Justin the Food Entrepreneur.
I'm Justin Bizarro. I'm your host. That's B-I-Z-Z-A-R-R-O.
You can find us on Instagram at JustinBizarro, B-I-Z-Z-A-R-R-O.
We do have an Instagram for Justin the Food Entrepreneur.
If anyone wants to follow us on there as well, we haven't posted anything in about a year.
(00:40):
We're still working on revamping that and trying to figure out how to move forward with that.
But if you do want to to be on the show and you are a food entrepreneur,
you can definitely go to either one of those pages, Justin the Food Entrepreneurs,
or at JustinBizarro, B-I-Z-Z-A-R-R-O, and there is a calendar on there that you can shine.
(01:00):
Yes, you can shine from being on the podcast, but you can sign up to be on the podcast and join us.
I look forward to that. I've seen some individuals already go on there and sign up.
Some new ones, which opens up a conversation, which I love talking to food entrepreneurs, obviously.
I love helping you guys build your businesses.
(01:20):
I like the conversations that I have with all of you, I would say,
especially over the last year, last two years, as we've done this show,
I've gained a lot of personal relationships,
long-term relationships, good friends through this podcast.
And I'm very grateful to that and to God and all of that.
I'm also grateful that I survived my first semester of seminary school.
(01:46):
Thank goodness. Three classes almost completed. I have some papers due this
weekend, but moving that along.
So that's been a blessing. So I'm very grateful to all of you out there,
the support, especially as I went through a life transition.
Almost didn't do the podcast again. and almost gave it all up after September of last year.
(02:07):
Wasn't sure what I wanted to do. Went through quite a thing in life with this
ex-significant other and wasn't sure that I wanted to do this or even work on Foodtopia,
the TV show anymore, and be sort of a public figure.
But I will tell you that the episode, the part three I just did with Bella,
(02:28):
who's our guest from Rockenburgers out of Boston, Massachusetts, Massachusetts.
When she reached out to me, she was the catalyst that sort of dragged me out
of the hole of I wasn't sure if I was going to podcast again.
And I sort of took a leave of absence for, I don't know, three or four months.
And she reached out and said she was ready to do another podcast.
(02:49):
So Bella, I appreciate that big time.
You, God worked through you for sure in my life.
My hope to always be able to repay that for you and let God work through me in your life as well.
So again, props to you and thanks for that.
And before I get started with Bella, if you like this podcast or the Justin
(03:11):
Ryan Bizzaro show or the Centurion Leadership Battalion, you know,
you can listen to us or follow us on Spotify or wherever else you grow yourself through podcasts.
And if you're an entrepreneur and looking for a group of entrepreneurs to grow
in a peer group and networking and weekly classes on how to grow your business
and grow as an entrepreneur.
(03:32):
Gorilla Brave is that. We are building that out.
We are working on that regularly.
Ivan and I started it not too long ago as a concept.
We've been developing that concept, that, but it's really cool to see all the interest there.
And we'll be adding Sam Fonseca to that mix over the next couple of weeks,
(03:54):
as well as a partner in that venture, because he's got such experience in the food business as well.
So keep your eyes out, guys.
If you're out there, you're struggling as a food entrepreneur,
you're wanting more than just this podcast.
You want peers, you want groups, you want real in-depth lessons on marketing,
advertising, menu development, supply chain, things like that.
(04:15):
I recommend signing up for that monthly Gorilla Braven meeting three times a
month and doing that for about an hour.
It has changed lives. It is helping people grow their businesses.
So thank you everyone for the support. Thanks for listening to my advertising self-marketing.
Now let's talk to Bella. Bella, how are you doing? Great. And how are you? I'm doing well.
(04:39):
I'm excited for your growth.
I'm excited for you. We've talked a little bit about you're now on your third
season as a food truck and two years into your business. How's that going?
It's going great. It seems to be getting better every day. We just wrapped the
(05:00):
job up at the Boston Police Department today.
And it's great just being able to go out there every day and be creative and
serve great food and keep a smile on our customers' faces.
It just doesn't get old for me. And it's just great.
I know I just had a lot of fun today and I have fun every day and And I just, I don't want it to end.
(05:25):
Well, I hope it leads to no more speeding tickets or parking tickets.
Maybe you got a favor now that you fed them food.
Let's hope so. So the, talk to me a little bit about the event today.
Cause I think it's a cool event. Like how did you get involved?
What did you serve in the menu? Like, and how many people do you serve?
(05:45):
What does something like this entail when you take on an event like this?
So they reached out to me this week. They're renovating their cafeteria for the summer.
So we were actually the first food truck in rotation that was able to get in
there and serve them lunch today.
We served about 100 people today.
And it's just kind of like a pay at the window event.
(06:08):
But we had the Nashville hot chicken sandwich on special today and fried chicken
drums and homemade mac and cheese.
Stuff that we don't normally have. But we ended up selling out of those two pretty quickly.
And of course, our normal burgers, like the cowboy and the classic burger and
the bacon burger and the best smash burgers ever were on the menu.
(06:33):
So we try to keep the menu pretty simple and quick for speed of service.
But everyone was super happy today and they were asking when we're going to
be back next. So I thought it went pretty well.
I mean, you're building quite a business, a food business and relationships there.
I mean, does it feel good when you help people in an event like today?
(06:56):
Like, obviously, it's an opportunity and there's a lot of like marketing and
advertising because you're creating word of mouth, basically,
and people are going to talk about your brand. I mean, talk a little bit about that.
Like, how do you approach an event like this?
How do you prepare for it? Like, how do you know how much to serve?
Like, you know, because you're forecasting and you, you know,
(07:19):
it's good to sell out, but you don't want to sell out. And then there's people that haven't eaten.
So how do you sort of go about forecasting and, you know, and making sure your
brand is represented properly?
So sometimes it's a little tough to tell with forecasting.
So I generally ask like how many people are in the office or how many people
(07:39):
they usually feed in the cafeteria every day.
That way we, you know, don't come and bring 50 burgers when we're going to sell 100 or 200.
So usually I take that number and divide it in half or sometimes I just take
30% of the number. And that's how I estimate how many people we're going to feed.
(08:01):
Unfortunately, I don't know who's going to order what, because sometimes we
sell more fried chicken than burgers. Sometimes we sell more burgers than anything.
And sometimes the only thing we really move is burgers.
So I usually bring two days worth of products just to make sure that nobody goes hungry.
(08:21):
My worst thing is having to shut the door on hungry customers.
It's happened before and it makes me cringe every time we have to do it.
So just bringing our best foot and bringing our best menu items forward and
just providing that awesome customer service with fresh food.
(08:42):
I just don't think we can go wrong there.
Talk to me a little bit about, you know, consistency,
the discipline that you have, You know, making sure that your products like
the Cowboy Burger, how do you make sure it tastes the same and it is the same
every time you guys serve it across different events?
(09:04):
So we take recipes and portioning very seriously to make sure that whether you
order a cowboy burger today or six months from now, that it will be the exact
same burger that you're craving.
So everything is very precisely measured out every time you order something.
All my seasonings are measured out. The chicken is all measured out.
(09:28):
The burgers, everything is the exact same size and has the exact same taste.
Every time you order that. And we take it extremely seriously because we want
all our customers to have the same experience with us.
I love it. I think it is important, like menu development, developing menus
and processes and procedures to go with the menu items, those recipes,
(09:53):
following them exactly, portioning, measuring, just like you said.
I think, number one, it's good for your bottom line in terms of profitability.
But number two, it's good for that consistency so the consumers,
the guests, the customers get the exact same product that they get time and time again.
So I agree with you 100%. And it's one of the reasons I asked the question because
(10:17):
you and I have talked about it offline before.
And I think that for a business, especially in the food truck business,
making sure there's that consistency where at the very beginning,
if you're new to the food truck game or food trailer game, like every penny matters.
And so, you know, making sure you have that portion control and that management, I think is excellent.
(10:43):
What, like we've talked a little bit about previously about,
you know, managing your time, balancing your time.
Like I think the last two years, You've really given all of your time to the
food truck, but now you're finding you need to balance your time.
Let's talk a little bit about that. What's that been like? How did you figure
out that it was time to maybe balance your time a little bit better? And how do you do that?
(11:08):
So, yeah, before I was just working seven days a week from five,
six in the morning until 10 o'clock at night most days.
And that's between emailing, prep work, loading the truck.
I work 99% of the events on the truck. If I'm not on the truck,
I'm working another event at the convention center.
(11:28):
So this year we kind of got a head start this winter.
And I kind of
took advantage of that and worked a little
extra hard this winter so I can start taking a
day off just to relax and
just do completely what I want to do or
go out and sit on the beach or
(11:51):
go out with my friends or go to
a hockey game and it
was tough letting go of that and
it's hard for me to say no to booking
sometimes but I found myself to become
really overtired and grumpy and that's
how I kind of knew that it was time to change because everything was making
(12:15):
me upset and that's not the type of person I am I'm a very laid-back person
and I didn't want to start becoming that person either I think it's you know
just so we're all clear here.
Bella, you're only 22 years old, right? Yes. There you go.
If all of us could figure this out, Bella's age, I think regardless of you're
(12:38):
an entrepreneur or not, or someone trying to become an entrepreneur,
how we treat our business, how we treat the employees, how we treat our vendors,
how we treat our customers.
Depends on what kind of energy we're giving out, you know, and as a leader,
you know, for me, there's, I have a bunch of things I talk about,
(13:00):
but in seminary school, I've learned very, that there's five very important things.
That's your education and constantly educating yourself.
That's your experience, constantly gaining experience in what you want to do.
Exposer, constantly exposing yourself
to cultures, things that are uncomfortable for you so you can grow.
(13:23):
Emotions emotional intelligence like how
do i handle things emotionally how do
i react how do i receive feedback and see truth in it even if it's if it's someone
trying to be mean is there truth in it and keeping my composure and then those
things leading to the energy we give out to other people you know for me my
(13:45):
energy exists in my body and i've come to realize that it's the Holy Ghost,
the Holy Spirit that works inside of me.
And when I am tired or I am grumpy or I'm in a situation or environment that
isn't ideal, I unintentionally hurt those around me.
Okay. And that's why I think what Bella just said is so important because I'm
(14:11):
a good hearted, kind, laid back, calm person.
But when I was during COVID and things like that, and when I got stressful and
I was in Georgia instead of with my family unit in Denver, and I was working two shifts,
I would work a day shift, do my normal job, and then help train the night shift
(14:33):
until 11 o'clock at night and then be back at work the next day by 7.30, 8 o'clock.
I wasn't doing anything for my health, you know, and then working some weekends
trying to keep the businesses going as they were growing during COVID and working
through things like tons of customers that didn't pay us during COVID,
tons of big customers that were going into Walmarts and Costco's and Sam's Clubs
(14:58):
and grocery stores that we were producing millions of dollars worth of food
for that ended up not paying us, you know?
So I wasn't, I was trying to exercise. I was trying to balance out my life,
and the people that paid for it were everyone around me because I wasn't finding
that time or that day off, and I wasn't able to escape my work because my family
(15:23):
was also involved in it in some cases.
So in some cases, all I wanted to do was be with my family unit and relax,
but at the same time, it's all we talked about because we all work together. other.
So, you know, just some food for thought for everyone, pun intended.
And I just want to emphasize that with Bella, and it's something that she's doing at a young age,
(15:45):
and I've had periods in my life where I've done it and staying consistent in
it, and I've had periods that I haven't, where all of a sudden I go back to
what she was talking about is working from 6,
7 in the the morning to 10, 11 o'clock at night and not having any depth to my life.
So, you know, and that's when the business is, honestly, I think I'm doing the
(16:07):
most for the business, but I'm just working in the business.
I'm not working on the business. And those are the times the businesses have
suffered the most or my ego has been the biggest or my pride has been the biggest,
you know, and I don't take a step back because I'm, what happens when you do
that is you're looking at the tree, not the forest. Right.
You're looking at what's right in front of you, not the bigger opportunities and not the future.
(16:30):
And I've done it in relationships too. You know, I get caught up or I work really
hard on the relationship and I don't look at the bigger picture and I hurt the relationship.
So it's a little bit of vulnerability there.
But I think it's important as entrepreneurs that we talk about this.
You know, no one in my life ever guided me that way.
(16:51):
And I like that Bella's doing it. And sorry to keep talking. This is Bella's show.
But I just want to emphasize with the audience, I grew up on a farm.
I grew up with two parents who were working hard, working all the time, was how you had value.
And so for me, it's hard for me to gain value or feel valuable if I'm not working hard all the time.
(17:14):
And if anyone ever said anything that I wasn't a hard worker,
that was like my kryptonite, it would crumble me.
So I know there's a lot of people out there that have that type of work ethic
that have that type of motivation, but it doesn't always lead to a better life for sure.
All right, let's go on here. I just wanted to touch upon that because I think
(17:37):
you're doing such a great job in self-reflecting on that, Bella,
and realizing it now. I think it's important as an entrepreneur.
So, Bella, we've talked about the convention center. We've talked about the
Rocking Burgers in previous podcasts.
But I think...
(17:58):
One, I just want to say over the last year, the maturity, the growth that I've
seen in you, it's incredible.
Your composure, your humility, you know, things go wrong and all the time.
So let's talk a little, little bit about that.
I mean, maybe there's an example, or maybe there's some times where things haven't
always gone right or as expected.
(18:20):
How do you handle it and how do you lead through it?
So I've learned, I learned this.
And sometimes there's nothing you can do about certain situations.
It's not about how the problem occurs. It's how you fix it.
And unfortunately, not everything succeeds in business. And you kind of have
(18:42):
to test the water sometimes.
And sometimes you think an idea is really going to work right, and it doesn't.
And it's really infuriating and disappointing and all
you have to do is move forward and you know how can I
do better or how can I make up for this and we've
had a couple of those this winter and it's unfortunate but we've been able to
(19:04):
crawl out of it and move forward and we're back at where we were before that
which is great and we're very fortunate that we're able to recover pretty quickly from it I love this.
Would you say that your father's one of the largest or biggest,
I don't know how to describe it, mentors and someone who coaches you and gives
(19:27):
you a lot of leadership or advisor for you?
Absolutely. I really look up to my father. He's got some great advice and ideas.
And he's been in business for himself for over 35 years.
So he really knows.
He's trying to prevent me from making some of the mistakes that he's made in
the past. So I really take him seriously when he has ideas or he talks about
(19:51):
things that he doesn't recommend that I do.
And it's definitely helped steer me in the right direction.
And I give him a lot of credit for how quick the company's grown.
What would you say, if you could describe a couple core values of your business
or things that have made you successful, a mindset or a product or whatever,
(20:17):
if you could really pinpoint that, what are the things that you would say are
the superpowers of you and your business? this?
I'm going to be honest. I think a lot of it is honesty and integrity.
We're very transparent with our customers.
And even when they're selecting a private event menu, if I don't think that
(20:39):
the package that they're choosing is fit for their event, I'll be straight up with them.
And I'll tell them, even if it's like a package that's a lot more expensive,
expensive sometimes I talk them down and I
think it really impresses our customers and
our guests because a lot of business owners unfortunately wouldn't do that some
(21:01):
of them are just worried about making the money and I'm not saying all of them
because they don't but some of them really just don't care about the customer experience.
And I mean, I like this a lot.
And let's talk about this a little bit because you obviously do special events and catering.
(21:24):
Like, do you have different packages you use or do you have different menu items?
Like, how does it work if I want to bring you in for my wedding?
So I have four different standard packages we do. It's our best selling items.
For example, we have packages that just have a sandwich, you know,
(21:44):
fries and a drink. And then we go to all you can eat packages.
But there have been certain times where we have done like completely custom
menus. We did a Kentucky Derby party this past weekend, and the menu was entirely
custom for Kentucky Derby food.
So we were doing stuff that we don't normally do, like fresh chicken wings and
(22:08):
Nashville hot chicken sandwiches, which is why I kind of test ran them on the
truck this week beforehand.
And we were doing like pimento cheese stuffed corn muffins, just stuff that
we don't normally do on a daily basis.
And the customer actually ended up sending me an email telling me how important
(22:31):
food is to their yearly party and how amazed they were at the quality of the
food and the service and that they definitely want us back for another one of their parties.
So that makes me really happy. Everything is homemade.
And we work so hard to make everybody really happy.
And it really makes my day seeing emails and reviews like that.
(22:55):
Because whether it's a good feedback or bad feedback, it helps us improve for the future.
I like this a lot. Talk to me a little bit. How did the event go for,
I guess, the Derby days or whatever for the Kentucky Derby? How did you find?
Well, let me back up a little bit.
Yeah, let's talk about the event first, and then I'll ask a secondary question.
(23:18):
That's confusing. So how did that event go? Because your staff and you were
obviously preparing items that you wouldn't normally prepare.
So my staff did great. I was really happy with the way they were doing things.
Of course, I keep an eye on everything.
But one of the girls I have, she's been with me since basically started.
(23:39):
She started with us a month after we opened. and
she's kind of like the main girl that
helps me out and she just did phenomenal we were
able to quickly adapt and the event went really smooth everybody was you know
served really quick everybody had a sandwich in their hand within five minutes
(23:59):
and of course everything's made fresh and i i don't think it could have ran
any smoother especially considering the circumstances we were under.
Now, are any of those items that you did this past weekend going to enter your
catering or your truck in the future?
Did you have any items that did really well that are going to enter your concepts
(24:23):
or in the convention center?
Or let me ask another question, are these items doing well enough that you may
even come up with a chicken concept eventually?
So my dream actually was to do a
chicken truck at first because I have an incredible fried chicken recipe.
And my dad and one of his friends that actually came up with the name convinced me to do burgers as well.
(24:49):
And to be honest with you, when I first started the truck, I had no idea what I was doing.
I didn't even know how to cook a burger the first time I was on the grill.
My only like grill training was, you know, cooking stuff for myself at home
and cooking steaks and everything to temp.
But everything ended up perfect and I've gotten really good at it.
(25:11):
So, but yeah, opening a chicken concept is something that I can definitely see
myself doing in the future.
And putting some of those menu items for future catering is something that I'm
definitely confident enough to do. because they just had that good of feedback.
Yeah, I love that. And it sounds like the police department's coming back for
(25:33):
some more burgers for you in the background.
That's what Boston Traffic does. Yeah, there you go. Boston Traffic, love it.
The willingness to step out of your comfort zone or step into new menus and
test new menus, do you like doing that?
(25:53):
Do you like the variety of developing new items and developing new menus for something like this?
I mean, talk a little bit about that. I mean, because you do talk about chicken
and burgers are new to you.
Do you like the creativity that's involved in developing new menu items and testing them?
I mean, I can't imagine they're always all successful, but maybe.
(26:16):
I love it. and it's a great way to
test market and give people
a reason to keep coming back to our food truck because
I've noticed when we have the same menu because sometimes
we're just too busy with private events
for me to be able to come up with a new concept for the week
I've noticed that our public sales will
(26:37):
decrease because I'm not giving obviously our
product is great but customers your weekly
customers they're going to get sick of the same menu every week they
want something new they want to try something new they don't
want to eat the same burger coming back every week
and i wouldn't either so i've noticed when
i drop specials and be really creative and it's a lot of fun it's it's fun for
(27:03):
my staff too they have a lot of fun with it and the best part of it is taste
testing i'm trying to stay away from it though so i try to take a you know a small bite of things and,
keep away trying to watch the figure but it's uh go ahead no i was gonna say no i continue on,
(27:25):
it's just it's been going great and um nashville hot last week and this week
it's gotten such a great response we keep running out of the nashville hot sauce
so i have to keep making more Thank you.
But that's a good problem to have. Yeah, there you go. I mean,
Nashville hot chicken or Nashville hot sauce, even burgers, or I've seen cauliflower,
(27:48):
Nashville hot cauliflower,
fried cauliflower, all sorts of stuff that's come out of that. What an amazing thing.
But I think also it has to do with how popular Nashville's becoming as a destination. nation.
But one of the things I want to talk about is every other week I meet a good
friend here in Denver at a place called the Cherry Cricket.
(28:09):
And it's basically burgers. They have chicken sandwiches and other sandwiches
as well. Maybe I have some other menu items. I have no idea.
But the reason I like going there is because every month they have a new monthly burger.
And so I get to try something new every time. I think we've been going there
now for six months in a row.
Maybe, yes, six months in a row we've been going there. And every month I get
(28:30):
to try a different burger or they have some new thing that they're experimenting with.
This month there was pimento cheese on there, onion rings, and so on and so forth.
And for back in April, there was a certain type.
In March, there was like corned beef on there as well as the burger and some
like a cranberry jam that they made it, a bacon cranberry jam on there, like a marmalade.
(28:56):
I forget the term I'm trying to look for, but it was, it was on there.
And I agree. I think that loyalty, I, we love going there cause the food's so good.
But if I had to order the same things off the menu all the time,
I probably wouldn't go back every other week, you know, to meet this friend
and have dinner every other week.
(29:16):
So I think it's that. So I agree with what you said.
And I think variety keeps people interested, not just as a special,
but switching things up.
Of course, there's the individuals that will eat the same thing off the menu day in and day out.
That's just the way it is. But I do agree with you that variety and keeping
(29:38):
things fun and interesting and transitioning,
whether it's monthly or seasonally, whatever is part of what makes a food business successful for sure.
Bella, what do you think, you know, what do you think that this, this is going to go?
Like, where do you think that as you've now had two years into this,
(30:03):
you're on your third season, you're about to hit high season.
I've got to imagine it's busier during the summertime than the winter, but I may be wrong.
Where are you seeing this going as you move forward? word?
We hope to expand into more locations eventually.
And obviously I'd love to see myself buying a second truck as well.
(30:25):
I think the food trucks are great.
It's a very seasonal thing, but we have a lot of fun. It's fast paced, high pressure.
I work very well under pressure. If I don't have any pressure on me, then it's not as fun.
I was the type of kid that used to do my homework while the teacher was collecting it.
So I always like, I get a lot more stuff done when I'm under pressure.
(30:51):
So I definitely want to see myself getting a second truck. I love the irregular of it.
I love the challenges every week.
Sometimes you have to feed so
many people in just a couple hours and it's stressful, but we get it done.
Yeah, I really, I admire that. And I agree with you.
(31:14):
I'm definitely the person that works better under pressure.
Definitely the person that learns from my failures and pivots.
I come in with plans, but I move very quickly and I pivot from those plans very quickly.
And being that type of individual, and I think you're this type of individual
(31:36):
too, once you become an entrepreneur, particularly at a young age, particularly in food,
a tangible good, you learn to work under the pressure because there's a lot of feedback.
There's a lot of things that can go wrong.
There's a lot of opinions and you're serving a lot of humans.
(31:58):
And so the ability to learn quickly, to handle the pressure,
but then also understand that as you become successful, you need to seek that
uncomfortability and put yourself under pressure.
Because once you've mastered something or the pressure's off,
comfortability is a dangerous place.
(32:20):
I've been there. Comfortability is bad for an entrepreneur.
I know most people don't want to hear that. They have these dreams of life being
easy and not hard and not stressful.
But for me, if I'm not growing now, if I'm in a spot where life isn't stressful
or there isn't pressure or I'm not growing, that's when I start to freak out.
(32:41):
Because that's usually when I'm not doing what I need to be doing to grow myself
or live God's purpose or align my will with him or help individuals or do what
I should be doing in my community,
in my businesses, or for myself or in my family or all of the above.
And don't get me wrong, I don't think we should stress ourselves out.
(33:03):
There's time. We need a break. We need to balance our lives.
But at the same time, we have to somewhat put ourselves under pressure in our
businesses or they're not going to grow.
You know, we have to take the time to step out of being in the business and
working on the business a lot.
You know, it's a big thing I always talk about.
And it's important. You know, and we see here what Bella's doing at 22 years
(33:27):
old with a food truck. She's got a mentor.
She's got someone she gets advice from. It's her father. Will it always be?
Probably as long as he's around, you know. But what Bella's also doing is she also listens.
She has other mentors in her life, I'm sure, and other people she's getting
(33:48):
advice from, and probably peers.
So I want to talk a little bit about that, Bella. You obviously are part of a food truck community.
What does that look like? What does it look like to work with the other individuals
in your business and in your life?
I'm part of the South Shore Food Truck Association, which is the South Shore is basically a region.
(34:16):
Towards the coast below boston that stretches
down to the cape and we're made up
about of about between 55 and 60
food trucks now and i go
i'm on the board of the association and just the
support that you get from other food truck entrepreneurs
and the advice they'll give that we
(34:37):
all give each other and helping each other out with menus and
pricing and packages and mechanical
questions it's just amazing to
be a part and to be able to help your
competition grow i love it and
you don't see the same energy when you walk into
restaurant depot all the restaurant owners seem to hate each other so i'm glad
(35:01):
i can be part of a community where we all help each other out and we're all
friendly with each other absolutely and i i've got to assume that you guys learn
from each other and share advice or help each other out when they're in need.
Absolutely. And there are some mistakes that I've made that I share with new
food truck owners not to make, whether it's a certain location or a certain event.
(35:24):
I just don't want other people to learn the hard way sometimes like I do.
Yeah, I agree with that. Sometimes we learn the hard way even if someone tries
to help us, unfortunately.
But I do agree with you. It's better to avoid things or at least maybe not solve
the problem exactly how someone did, but at least see that there's a problem
(35:48):
coming if you continue to do things that way for sure.
I know that to be 100% true in my own life. I wish I would have listened more and talked less.
It's something I did well in my younger years. It's something that I did less
of in my older years, especially over the last, you know, both in my relationships,
(36:10):
romantic friendships, and in my businesses also.
Should have listened more and talked less and given more value and understanding
that I can grow a lot more from listening and not talking.
So it's hard, I guess, when you do podcasts for a living, as well as,
(36:30):
you know, speaking to individuals and leading individuals and coaching individuals,
you often think that your voice matters, but, and it does if you can help someone,
but at the same time, I still, to this day, learn more from listening. I learned from Bella.
I learned from the podcasts we've done together a lot.
I've learned, she reminded me, and when we had the conversation off the podcast,
(36:55):
which is why I brought it onto the podcast, about balancing out our lives.
It's not something I'm doing a very good job of right now because I'm trying
to avoid all these emotions and the transformation that's going on in my life
And being alone and also starting all over again as an entrepreneur from ground zero.
(37:17):
So I'm keeping myself super busy because I don't want to deal with those feelings
and that loneliness. holiness.
So I appreciate it. And God spoke through her.
Like I said, she got me out of the depths of my dark night of the soul,
I will call it, spiritually,
and helped me get back into the podcast and take interest in it again and sort
(37:40):
of relaunch it and go about it with more consistency and discipline for sure.
I want to ask you a question, Bella. If you could compare yourself to who you
were two years ago when you started this to who you are now,
what areas as a businesswoman and a leader do you think you've grown in?
Where have you seen yourself improve or some of the things you weren't good at?
(38:04):
I guess making burgers would be one of them since we talked about the grill.
But I mean, where have you grown if you could compare yourself to that That
Bella, that 20-year-old Bella
that started this business, how are you different now? How have you grown?
What areas do you like yourself in now that maybe you didn't before?
(38:26):
I'm going to spin back to talking less and listening more.
I've done a lot more of that. And I've noticed that it's helped me grow a lot.
And for instance taking more
time to myself you know a lot of my friends have been telling me and my brother
for the longest time that i need to go out and just kind of enjoy my life more
(38:50):
i'm only this age once and the longest time i just didn't listen i thought i knew what the best for
me was, but sometimes it's your peers.
They see stuff that you don't see. And I didn't end up listening until I started seeing it for myself.
And I was like, wow, these people that really care about me, they're right.
(39:14):
I really do need to take time and enjoy my life a little bit.
Not completely doing nothing, but just taking that day and going to have fun
and spending that hard-earned money that I work so hard for.
It's definitely been huge for my growth in the past two years and listening to others' ideas,
(39:38):
whether it's business or a recipe or even special item and recommendations from customers.
It's just helped us grow as well as myself.
Another thing is I was I was very shy two years ago.
I kind of would say two words and then mumble back to the kitchen.
(40:00):
And now I'm just able to have those more in-depth conversations,
even on this podcast with customers, with friends, with family.
It's just been great, especially as an entrepreneur, for that kind of growth
and being able to establish those connections.
(40:22):
I think I will, a couple of things I want to echo.
I'm amazed at your growth from the year that we've known each other from doing the podcast.
I would say I'm really impressed by your ability to, I think as entrepreneurs,
(40:43):
we often start off as introverts.
And I think probably the best of us do. We're very internalizing.
We're very self-reflective.
We're very critical of ourselves.
We're very hard on ourselves, and we're very hardworking.
And so we're not always extroverted, but we learn to be. We develop that skill.
(41:05):
And I'm going to drop a tag for everyone.
This is a spiritual test. It's what God's gifts give us.
And you know we live in a society where we do all these personality tests in business,
and you know are we an introvert are we an extrovert are we an entrepreneur
are we an intrapreneur and i will just tell you what i've learned over the last
(41:30):
26 years and you know the briggs myers and all these things are do they tell
you where you are and they give you a snap snapshot of where you are?
Sure. Maybe. Possibly. In many cases, yes.
But the problem with those tests are they put you into a box.
They start to define you. They define your identity.
(41:51):
I did a lot of them in grad school. We did a lot of them in our companies.
We did a lot of these 360 reviews with our employees. Do I think they work?
Sure. In some ways. Can they help you grow? Sure, in some ways.
But the reality is this, and I'm actually glad Bella brought this up about extroverted
and introverted, is that those tests aren't good for your employees.
(42:17):
You think that they're going to help you lead? We think they're going to help us lead.
I should say we, because I did the same thing, put myself in that group.
And the reality is, is they, people lose their identity.
Five years down the road, if I've grown and I've changed and I still define me by that, who am I?
(42:40):
Okay. Should I retake the test? Okay. Maybe that'll help.
But it's not the gifts that were given by God. It's not the gifts that make us special.
And to define us by our personalities in a snapshot and then try to determine,
what kind of individuals are going to be or what kind of individuals those employees
are going to be and put them in positions where we then define them by those tests, it's not good.
(43:06):
Okay. And so if the audience wants a test that is Christian-based,
it is biblical-based, it's called an APES test.
It's the first test that comes in. It's $10. No,
I don't get any money from it, but I am going to promote it because for the
first time in my life as I've taken this test and I've had everyone I mentor
(43:28):
or coach take this test, it's actually a tool.
And yes, does it define you sort of in the moment? Sure.
Can you develop the other skills in it? Sure. But as an entrepreneur,
I will tell you that it has helped immensely with my understanding of the gifts
(43:49):
God has given me versus the gifts I have to develop.
It's given me a lot of clarity in those areas. Do I work on both? Absolutely.
Are they more oriented towards a church environment? Sure.
But as an entrepreneur or a business owner, you can use these tests and see
where people are. Are they an apostle?
(44:10):
Are they evangelical? Are they a shepherd?
You know, those are some of the things that we're talking about through a test like this.
Are they prophetic? Can they help determine the future by seeing people's patterns?
Those are valuable people in forecasting.
We talked about forecasting on this podcast. You want someone who's somewhat
prophetic, that can read situations, that can read people, that can read trends,
(44:33):
and tell you what the future is going to look like a little bit.
And we need teachers. That's the T. Are you a teacher?
Well, we need teachers in our business. Those are the people that help train
people, that help grow people, that help guide people.
So I recommend that to everyone. It's called an APEST, A-P-E-S-T.
And you'll be surprised when you look at your business and you see which one
(44:56):
of those categories are missing because you probably take on two.
So, I mean, for the audience, I recommend it.
It's not the end-all, be-all, all-test-or-relative, and maybe you aren't spiritual
and you don't want to do something like this, but what I'm telling you is that
there are certain things that are planted inside of us and they're greater than our personality.
(45:21):
They're greater than our patterns and our leadership as humans,
all of us are meant to be leaders. I talk about this a lot on other podcasts.
I talk a lot about it on this show throughout the years is every human is meant
to grow into a leadership position. That's why we are parents.
We are leading our children. We are to lead the next generation to make them better than we are.
(45:46):
We are to better equip them just like we hope to be better equipped than the generation before us.
And so we need to equip the next generation. So I recommend that if you want
to grow your business, you want to have a good business, grow the humans in your business.
How do I know? I've watched what happens when I was part of businesses as an
(46:09):
entrepreneur that didn't grow the humans, and the humans got comfortable.
And I've also been part of businesses that grew the humans, made them uncomfortable
so they would grow, put a little pressure on them, and watch those businesses
thrive. I'm watching it right now.
So Bella, as we sort of wrap this up, you know, I appreciate your time and your commitment.
(46:35):
Bella is a phenomenal entrepreneur. Like I will give you praises.
You're on time. You communicate well.
I'm going to tell you the things that I see about you just because I know I
don't, I think it should be part of this podcast.
As I get to know you guys, You communicate really well.
Bella is a strong communicator. She's not afraid to text or pick up the phone
(46:59):
and call and communicate.
Bella does what she says. If she says she's going to do something or be on a
call or be on a podcast or communicate with someone or someone I connect her to, she does it.
Other thing is Bella is probably one of the hardest working,
most disciplined and consistent individual and entrepreneurs I've met in a long
(47:23):
time, especially for her age.
It's the hard work, the ability to show up, do her job and build her business
is why her business is successful. Do I say you should work seven days a week, seven to 10?
Not always, but sometimes it's going to require you to do that as an entrepreneur.
(47:46):
And we know that Bella's willing to do it. A lot of people are not willing to
miss out on life temporarily or give up things in a moment to do that.
You can find balance by not doing it, but Bella does. And the last thing I'm
going to give you a compliment about, Bella, or something that I've noticed, is your creativity.
I don't know if you've ever thought yourself as a creative human,
(48:10):
but I would say the balance of discipline, running a business,
being profitable, and that side of your brain, and then the creative side of
your brain, the flexibility,
the humility, the ability to pivot.
It, those are two things that are usually opposing, you know,
and they're very hard to manage.
(48:31):
But for you, what I've seen, especially over the last couple of weeks,
as we've had more conversations and are working on a project together that I
can't wait, I'm very excited about for you and for us and the group I'm working with,
the ability to just navigate the waters peacefully and with humility and creativity
(48:56):
and discipline is pretty awesome.
So I will give that to you, Bella, as some of my closing thoughts.
So I hope you receive that well.
Thank you. And it definitely means a lot coming from you.
You've been extremely successful in your career and it's a huge compliment.
(49:17):
So thank you very much. And I'm glad that I'm on the right track. Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, I will compliment you on the listening part as well.
I think that's very hard.
I know I struggled with it a lot on and off in my career.
And I just think it's so important that you recognize it already and do that.
(49:38):
I've asked a lot of questions today.
I'm going to ask one more question.
As you have grown your business and as you've talked about a second food truck,
you have sort of a brick and mortar in the convention center.
(49:59):
Did you ever imagine that you'd be as far along as you are now in two years?
I mean, I know we have big dreams and thinking big is a big part of being an
entrepreneur, but did you ever think you'd be this far already?
We always hoped to be this far, but we never thought about it.
(50:21):
When I first started the company, we set up humble but very approachable goals,
but you still had to work hard to get to
those goals and it just amazes
me how we were able to surpass it and come
up with a great theme and a great product it's not it's definitely a lot harder
(50:45):
than I thought it was going to going to be it's a lot of work writing emails
and contracts invoicing and then running truck full-time as well.
It's like two or three full-time jobs put into one. But we're extremely grateful and thankful.
(51:05):
Believe in us including you it's just great to be part of a great opportunity
it really is and hopefully we continue to grow that's the goal and we're just
keeping those realistic goals,
but we still have to shoot for the stars but hopefully it keeps going the way
(51:26):
it does and that's all i can say yeah and i know i'm not alone um i know that
sam after our conversations patience.
Sam talking to you last week and what we're working on and the project we're
working on, he believes in you big time.
He's blown away by what you've done.
I know obviously your father as well and all your employees and customers.
(51:47):
I think that it's a humbling experience if you let it be. It's grounding.
Don't let it build the ego and the pride. I've made that mistake before in my
But I think for you, there's just such composure and discipline,
like I said, and consistency and ability to receive it from a place of humility.
(52:09):
I'm very excited for you. I'm very excited to see where this goes.
And I know with 100% certainty that you're going to be massively successful
as you build this business.
And you're building the foundation right now for a business that's going to
scale and be known everywhere.
(52:29):
Everywhere I think a lot of people are going to know the name rocking
burgers I think a lot of people are going to know the other
concepts you create and I think that it's going to be amazing what you do as
a leader and how you influence people and how you lead people and grow humans
as your career continues to
(52:50):
grow and people get to know who you are so I'm very excited for you Bella.
Anyone who knows me knows that my prayer list every morning and every night
is like 45 minutes long because I make sure I cover everything. I'm detail-oriented.
Who has time for that? Well, I just don't watch TV, really.
(53:11):
That's just who I am. I rarely watch TV anymore, but you are definitely on my
prayer list, you and your family and your business and your employees,
because I really believe that you're going to have a huge positive impact in the world.
And something that I always say is positively pollinate the world.
You are doing that with who you are, with the way you were raised, with your belief in God,
(53:34):
with who your parents are, so on and so forth, and the way they've invested
in you and grown you and especially your father and in learning from his 35
years of experience compounding that into the next generation.
I'm very excited for you.
Thank you. So I know that was long-winded. I tend to be long-winded these days,
(53:56):
but I'm like the old man who never stops talking.
Is there anything that you want to leave the audience with? Is there anything,
you know, burning desires that you want to say or anything that you feel that
might help anyone out there trying to be an entrepreneur before we wrap this up?
I'm going to continue to say what I always do. If you have a passion or drive
(54:19):
to start something, whether it's on the side at first, just do it.
If you have a great product or a great idea, just start working on it.
Come up with a business plan and shoot
for the stars it doesn't matter what people
say or what people think there's always
(54:40):
people out there that will appreciate your product and appreciate what you do
and just remember your products aren't for everyone so don't ever get discouraged
somebody leaves negative feedback or a negative review just take it as a lesson of how to provide
your customers with a more positive experience next time.
(55:02):
Absolutely. Where can they find you online, Bella, and how can they get a hold of you?
The best way to reach us is filling out a form on our website at www.rockinburgersma.com,
or you can find us on Instagram and Facebook at rockinburgers.ma,
(55:23):
or you can shoot me an email No.
Burgers that's r-o-c-k-i-n burgers and
a gmail.com amazing love
it i really enjoyed this bella thank
you for jumping back in and doing another show again thank you for pushing me
back in december getting me out of that that dark night of the soul and sort
(55:48):
of the path i was taking to sort of leave the podcasting behind me i i really
i'm giving you credit because i don't think i would
have done it without you and that nudge that you didn't even know you gave me. So it means a lot to me.
Audience, thank you guys. I love you guys. I appreciate all the concern,
all the reaching out, all the support on Instagram, all the sharing of the posts,
(56:13):
all the support and love I'm getting around the world.
We're in over 140 countries this podcast has listened to.
We have tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, and even millions of people
now that have been influenced by this podcast and the guests on the show.
I don't know what to say other than that. I never thought that that was possible.
(56:37):
I just wanted to make a difference for anyone I could in the podcast space,
in the food space, I should say, food and beverage entrepreneurs.
I wanted to help food entrepreneurs get more comfortable talking about their
businesses, pitching their businesses, as well as helping food entrepreneurs learn from each other.
(56:58):
I had no idea that we would expand past the United States.
And I had no idea that over the last year and a half, that this would grow the
way that it did in my darkest of moments, in the moments where I needed it the most.
Everyone, the guests, the viewers, I should say, or the listeners or the people
(57:23):
who love listening and growing from this podcast, I mean, all over the world
and the support that I've gotten, it means a lot.
And I know it means a lot to the guests on this show.
The reason they come on here is to grow and to help grow their businesses and
to have this conversation And they give their time to me and the show and to
the listeners. So that's a big deal.
(57:46):
Again, if you guys want to hear this or the other shows, you can listen to it
on Spotify or wherever else you grow yourself through podcasts.
And I just wanted to say I love you guys. I appreciate all of you big time.
Thanks for all the support and bearing with me as I've transformed from five
and a half years ago when we started this podcast to where I am now.
(58:09):
Now, and I appreciate what you guys have done for me and all the love that you've given me.
So with that, I'm going to die, and we're out.
Music.
Music.
(00:18):
Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of Justin the Food Entrepreneur.
I'm Justin Bizarro. I'm your host. That's B-I-Z-Z-A-R-R-O.
You can find us on Instagram at JustinBizarro, B-I-Z-Z-A-R-R-O.
We do have an Instagram for Justin the Food Entrepreneur.
If anyone wants to follow us on there as well, we haven't posted anything in about a year.
(00:40):
We're still working on revamping that and trying to figure out how to move forward with that.
But if you do want to to be on the show and you are a food entrepreneur,
you can definitely go to either one of those pages, Justin the Food Entrepreneurs,
or at JustinBizarro, B-I-Z-Z-A-R-R-O, and there is a calendar on there that you can shine.
(01:00):
Yes, you can shine from being on the podcast, but you can sign up to be on the podcast and join us.
I look forward to that. I've seen some individuals already go on there and sign up.
Some new ones, which opens up a conversation, which I love talking to food entrepreneurs, obviously.
I love helping you guys build your businesses.
(01:20):
I like the conversations that I have with all of you, I would say,
especially over the last year, last two years, as we've done this show,
I've gained a lot of personal relationships,
long-term relationships, good friends through this podcast.
And I'm very grateful to that and to God and all of that.
I'm also grateful that I survived my first semester of seminary school.
(01:46):
Thank goodness. Three classes almost completed. I have some papers due this
weekend, but moving that along.
So that's been a blessing. So I'm very grateful to all of you out there,
the support, especially as I went through a life transition.
Almost didn't do the podcast again. and almost gave it all up after September of last year.
(02:07):
Wasn't sure what I wanted to do. Went through quite a thing in life with this
ex-significant other and wasn't sure that I wanted to do this or even work on Foodtopia,
the TV show anymore, and be sort of a public figure.
But I will tell you that the episode, the part three I just did with Bella,
(02:28):
who's our guest from Rockenburgers out of Boston, Massachusetts, Massachusetts.
When she reached out to me, she was the catalyst that sort of dragged me out
of the hole of I wasn't sure if I was going to podcast again.
And I sort of took a leave of absence for, I don't know, three or four months.
And she reached out and said she was ready to do another podcast.
(02:49):
So Bella, I appreciate that big time.
You, God worked through you for sure in my life.
My hope to always be able to repay that for you and let God work through me in your life as well.
So again, props to you and thanks for that.
And before I get started with Bella, if you like this podcast or the Justin
(03:11):
Ryan Bizzaro show or the Centurion Leadership Battalion, you know,
you can listen to us or follow us on Spotify or wherever else you grow yourself through podcasts.
And if you're an entrepreneur and looking for a group of entrepreneurs to grow
in a peer group and networking and weekly classes on how to grow your business
and grow as an entrepreneur.
(03:32):
Gorilla Brave is that. We are building that out.
We are working on that regularly.
Ivan and I started it not too long ago as a concept.
We've been developing that concept, that, but it's really cool to see all the interest there.
And we'll be adding Sam Fonseca to that mix over the next couple of weeks,
(03:54):
as well as a partner in that venture, because he's got such experience in the food business as well.
So keep your eyes out, guys.
If you're out there, you're struggling as a food entrepreneur,
you're wanting more than just this podcast.
You want peers, you want groups, you want real in-depth lessons on marketing,
advertising, menu development, supply chain, things like that.
(04:15):
I recommend signing up for that monthly Gorilla Braven meeting three times a
month and doing that for about an hour.
It has changed lives. It is helping people grow their businesses.
So thank you everyone for the support. Thanks for listening to my advertising self-marketing.
Now let's talk to Bella. Bella, how are you doing? Great. And how are you? I'm doing well.
(04:39):
I'm excited for your growth.
I'm excited for you. We've talked a little bit about you're now on your third
season as a food truck and two years into your business. How's that going?
It's going great. It seems to be getting better every day. We just wrapped the
(05:00):
job up at the Boston Police Department today.
And it's great just being able to go out there every day and be creative and
serve great food and keep a smile on our customers' faces.
It just doesn't get old for me. And it's just great.
I know I just had a lot of fun today and I have fun every day and And I just, I don't want it to end.
(05:25):
Well, I hope it leads to no more speeding tickets or parking tickets.
Maybe you got a favor now that you fed them food.
Let's hope so. So the, talk to me a little bit about the event today.
Cause I think it's a cool event. Like how did you get involved?
What did you serve in the menu? Like, and how many people do you serve?
(05:45):
What does something like this entail when you take on an event like this?
So they reached out to me this week. They're renovating their cafeteria for the summer.
So we were actually the first food truck in rotation that was able to get in
there and serve them lunch today.
We served about 100 people today.
And it's just kind of like a pay at the window event.
(06:08):
But we had the Nashville hot chicken sandwich on special today and fried chicken
drums and homemade mac and cheese.
Stuff that we don't normally have. But we ended up selling out of those two pretty quickly.
And of course, our normal burgers, like the cowboy and the classic burger and
the bacon burger and the best smash burgers ever were on the menu.
(06:33):
So we try to keep the menu pretty simple and quick for speed of service.
But everyone was super happy today and they were asking when we're going to
be back next. So I thought it went pretty well.
I mean, you're building quite a business, a food business and relationships there.
I mean, does it feel good when you help people in an event like today?
(06:56):
Like, obviously, it's an opportunity and there's a lot of like marketing and
advertising because you're creating word of mouth, basically,
and people are going to talk about your brand. I mean, talk a little bit about that.
Like, how do you approach an event like this?
How do you prepare for it? Like, how do you know how much to serve?
Like, you know, because you're forecasting and you, you know,
(07:19):
it's good to sell out, but you don't want to sell out. And then there's people that haven't eaten.
So how do you sort of go about forecasting and, you know, and making sure your
brand is represented properly?
So sometimes it's a little tough to tell with forecasting.
So I generally ask like how many people are in the office or how many people
(07:39):
they usually feed in the cafeteria every day.
That way we, you know, don't come and bring 50 burgers when we're going to sell 100 or 200.
So usually I take that number and divide it in half or sometimes I just take
30% of the number. And that's how I estimate how many people we're going to feed.
(08:01):
Unfortunately, I don't know who's going to order what, because sometimes we
sell more fried chicken than burgers. Sometimes we sell more burgers than anything.
And sometimes the only thing we really move is burgers.
So I usually bring two days worth of products just to make sure that nobody goes hungry.
(08:21):
My worst thing is having to shut the door on hungry customers.
It's happened before and it makes me cringe every time we have to do it.
So just bringing our best foot and bringing our best menu items forward and
just providing that awesome customer service with fresh food.
(08:42):
I just don't think we can go wrong there.
Talk to me a little bit about, you know, consistency,
the discipline that you have, You know, making sure that your products like
the Cowboy Burger, how do you make sure it tastes the same and it is the same
every time you guys serve it across different events?
(09:04):
So we take recipes and portioning very seriously to make sure that whether you
order a cowboy burger today or six months from now, that it will be the exact
same burger that you're craving.
So everything is very precisely measured out every time you order something.
All my seasonings are measured out. The chicken is all measured out.
(09:28):
The burgers, everything is the exact same size and has the exact same taste.
Every time you order that. And we take it extremely seriously because we want
all our customers to have the same experience with us.
I love it. I think it is important, like menu development, developing menus
and processes and procedures to go with the menu items, those recipes,
(09:53):
following them exactly, portioning, measuring, just like you said.
I think, number one, it's good for your bottom line in terms of profitability.
But number two, it's good for that consistency so the consumers,
the guests, the customers get the exact same product that they get time and time again.
So I agree with you 100%. And it's one of the reasons I asked the question because
(10:17):
you and I have talked about it offline before.
And I think that for a business, especially in the food truck business,
making sure there's that consistency where at the very beginning,
if you're new to the food truck game or food trailer game, like every penny matters.
And so, you know, making sure you have that portion control and that management, I think is excellent.
(10:43):
What, like we've talked a little bit about previously about,
you know, managing your time, balancing your time.
Like I think the last two years, You've really given all of your time to the
food truck, but now you're finding you need to balance your time.
Let's talk a little bit about that. What's that been like? How did you figure
out that it was time to maybe balance your time a little bit better? And how do you do that?
(11:08):
So, yeah, before I was just working seven days a week from five,
six in the morning until 10 o'clock at night most days.
And that's between emailing, prep work, loading the truck.
I work 99% of the events on the truck. If I'm not on the truck,
I'm working another event at the convention center.
(11:28):
So this year we kind of got a head start this winter.
And I kind of
took advantage of that and worked a little
extra hard this winter so I can start taking a
day off just to relax and
just do completely what I want to do or
go out and sit on the beach or
(11:51):
go out with my friends or go to
a hockey game and it
was tough letting go of that and
it's hard for me to say no to booking
sometimes but I found myself to become
really overtired and grumpy and that's
how I kind of knew that it was time to change because everything was making
(12:15):
me upset and that's not the type of person I am I'm a very laid-back person
and I didn't want to start becoming that person either I think it's you know
just so we're all clear here.
Bella, you're only 22 years old, right? Yes. There you go.
If all of us could figure this out, Bella's age, I think regardless of you're
(12:38):
an entrepreneur or not, or someone trying to become an entrepreneur,
how we treat our business, how we treat the employees, how we treat our vendors,
how we treat our customers.
Depends on what kind of energy we're giving out, you know, and as a leader,
you know, for me, there's, I have a bunch of things I talk about,
(13:00):
but in seminary school, I've learned very, that there's five very important things.
That's your education and constantly educating yourself.
That's your experience, constantly gaining experience in what you want to do.
Exposer, constantly exposing yourself
to cultures, things that are uncomfortable for you so you can grow.
(13:23):
Emotions emotional intelligence like how
do i handle things emotionally how do
i react how do i receive feedback and see truth in it even if it's if it's someone
trying to be mean is there truth in it and keeping my composure and then those
things leading to the energy we give out to other people you know for me my
(13:45):
energy exists in my body and i've come to realize that it's the Holy Ghost,
the Holy Spirit that works inside of me.
And when I am tired or I am grumpy or I'm in a situation or environment that
isn't ideal, I unintentionally hurt those around me.
Okay. And that's why I think what Bella just said is so important because I'm
(14:11):
a good hearted, kind, laid back, calm person.
But when I was during COVID and things like that, and when I got stressful and
I was in Georgia instead of with my family unit in Denver, and I was working two shifts,
I would work a day shift, do my normal job, and then help train the night shift
(14:33):
until 11 o'clock at night and then be back at work the next day by 7.30, 8 o'clock.
I wasn't doing anything for my health, you know, and then working some weekends
trying to keep the businesses going as they were growing during COVID and working
through things like tons of customers that didn't pay us during COVID,
tons of big customers that were going into Walmarts and Costco's and Sam's Clubs
(14:58):
and grocery stores that we were producing millions of dollars worth of food
for that ended up not paying us, you know?
So I wasn't, I was trying to exercise. I was trying to balance out my life,
and the people that paid for it were everyone around me because I wasn't finding
that time or that day off, and I wasn't able to escape my work because my family
(15:23):
was also involved in it in some cases.
So in some cases, all I wanted to do was be with my family unit and relax,
but at the same time, it's all we talked about because we all work together. other.
So, you know, just some food for thought for everyone, pun intended.
And I just want to emphasize that with Bella, and it's something that she's doing at a young age,
(15:45):
and I've had periods in my life where I've done it and staying consistent in
it, and I've had periods that I haven't, where all of a sudden I go back to
what she was talking about is working from 6,
7 in the the morning to 10, 11 o'clock at night and not having any depth to my life.
So, you know, and that's when the business is, honestly, I think I'm doing the
(16:07):
most for the business, but I'm just working in the business.
I'm not working on the business. And those are the times the businesses have
suffered the most or my ego has been the biggest or my pride has been the biggest,
you know, and I don't take a step back because I'm, what happens when you do
that is you're looking at the tree, not the forest. Right.
You're looking at what's right in front of you, not the bigger opportunities and not the future.
(16:30):
And I've done it in relationships too. You know, I get caught up or I work really
hard on the relationship and I don't look at the bigger picture and I hurt the relationship.
So it's a little bit of vulnerability there.
But I think it's important as entrepreneurs that we talk about this.
You know, no one in my life ever guided me that way.
(16:51):
And I like that Bella's doing it. And sorry to keep talking. This is Bella's show.
But I just want to emphasize with the audience, I grew up on a farm.
I grew up with two parents who were working hard, working all the time, was how you had value.
And so for me, it's hard for me to gain value or feel valuable if I'm not working hard all the time.
(17:14):
And if anyone ever said anything that I wasn't a hard worker,
that was like my kryptonite, it would crumble me.
So I know there's a lot of people out there that have that type of work ethic
that have that type of motivation, but it doesn't always lead to a better life for sure.
All right, let's go on here. I just wanted to touch upon that because I think
(17:37):
you're doing such a great job in self-reflecting on that, Bella,
and realizing it now. I think it's important as an entrepreneur.
So, Bella, we've talked about the convention center. We've talked about the
Rocking Burgers in previous podcasts.
But I think...
(17:58):
One, I just want to say over the last year, the maturity, the growth that I've
seen in you, it's incredible.
Your composure, your humility, you know, things go wrong and all the time.
So let's talk a little, little bit about that.
I mean, maybe there's an example, or maybe there's some times where things haven't
always gone right or as expected.
(18:20):
How do you handle it and how do you lead through it?
So I've learned, I learned this.
And sometimes there's nothing you can do about certain situations.
It's not about how the problem occurs. It's how you fix it.
And unfortunately, not everything succeeds in business. And you kind of have
(18:42):
to test the water sometimes.
And sometimes you think an idea is really going to work right, and it doesn't.
And it's really infuriating and disappointing and all
you have to do is move forward and you know how can I
do better or how can I make up for this and we've
had a couple of those this winter and it's unfortunate but we've been able to
(19:04):
crawl out of it and move forward and we're back at where we were before that
which is great and we're very fortunate that we're able to recover pretty quickly from it I love this.
Would you say that your father's one of the largest or biggest,
I don't know how to describe it, mentors and someone who coaches you and gives
(19:27):
you a lot of leadership or advisor for you?
Absolutely. I really look up to my father. He's got some great advice and ideas.
And he's been in business for himself for over 35 years.
So he really knows.
He's trying to prevent me from making some of the mistakes that he's made in
the past. So I really take him seriously when he has ideas or he talks about
(19:51):
things that he doesn't recommend that I do.
And it's definitely helped steer me in the right direction.
And I give him a lot of credit for how quick the company's grown.
What would you say, if you could describe a couple core values of your business
or things that have made you successful, a mindset or a product or whatever,
(20:17):
if you could really pinpoint that, what are the things that you would say are
the superpowers of you and your business? this?
I'm going to be honest. I think a lot of it is honesty and integrity.
We're very transparent with our customers.
And even when they're selecting a private event menu, if I don't think that
(20:39):
the package that they're choosing is fit for their event, I'll be straight up with them.
And I'll tell them, even if it's like a package that's a lot more expensive,
expensive sometimes I talk them down and I
think it really impresses our customers and
our guests because a lot of business owners unfortunately wouldn't do that some
(21:01):
of them are just worried about making the money and I'm not saying all of them
because they don't but some of them really just don't care about the customer experience.
And I mean, I like this a lot.
And let's talk about this a little bit because you obviously do special events and catering.
(21:24):
Like, do you have different packages you use or do you have different menu items?
Like, how does it work if I want to bring you in for my wedding?
So I have four different standard packages we do. It's our best selling items.
For example, we have packages that just have a sandwich, you know,
(21:44):
fries and a drink. And then we go to all you can eat packages.
But there have been certain times where we have done like completely custom
menus. We did a Kentucky Derby party this past weekend, and the menu was entirely
custom for Kentucky Derby food.
So we were doing stuff that we don't normally do, like fresh chicken wings and
(22:08):
Nashville hot chicken sandwiches, which is why I kind of test ran them on the
truck this week beforehand.
And we were doing like pimento cheese stuffed corn muffins, just stuff that
we don't normally do on a daily basis.
And the customer actually ended up sending me an email telling me how important
(22:31):
food is to their yearly party and how amazed they were at the quality of the
food and the service and that they definitely want us back for another one of their parties.
So that makes me really happy. Everything is homemade.
And we work so hard to make everybody really happy.
And it really makes my day seeing emails and reviews like that.
(22:55):
Because whether it's a good feedback or bad feedback, it helps us improve for the future.
I like this a lot. Talk to me a little bit. How did the event go for,
I guess, the Derby days or whatever for the Kentucky Derby? How did you find?
Well, let me back up a little bit.
Yeah, let's talk about the event first, and then I'll ask a secondary question.
(23:18):
That's confusing. So how did that event go? Because your staff and you were
obviously preparing items that you wouldn't normally prepare.
So my staff did great. I was really happy with the way they were doing things.
Of course, I keep an eye on everything.
But one of the girls I have, she's been with me since basically started.
(23:39):
She started with us a month after we opened. and
she's kind of like the main girl that
helps me out and she just did phenomenal we were
able to quickly adapt and the event went really smooth everybody was you know
served really quick everybody had a sandwich in their hand within five minutes
(23:59):
and of course everything's made fresh and i i don't think it could have ran
any smoother especially considering the circumstances we were under.
Now, are any of those items that you did this past weekend going to enter your
catering or your truck in the future?
Did you have any items that did really well that are going to enter your concepts
(24:23):
or in the convention center?
Or let me ask another question, are these items doing well enough that you may
even come up with a chicken concept eventually?
So my dream actually was to do a
chicken truck at first because I have an incredible fried chicken recipe.
And my dad and one of his friends that actually came up with the name convinced me to do burgers as well.
(24:49):
And to be honest with you, when I first started the truck, I had no idea what I was doing.
I didn't even know how to cook a burger the first time I was on the grill.
My only like grill training was, you know, cooking stuff for myself at home
and cooking steaks and everything to temp.
But everything ended up perfect and I've gotten really good at it.
(25:11):
So, but yeah, opening a chicken concept is something that I can definitely see
myself doing in the future.
And putting some of those menu items for future catering is something that I'm
definitely confident enough to do. because they just had that good of feedback.
Yeah, I love that. And it sounds like the police department's coming back for
(25:33):
some more burgers for you in the background.
That's what Boston Traffic does. Yeah, there you go. Boston Traffic, love it.
The willingness to step out of your comfort zone or step into new menus and
test new menus, do you like doing that?
(25:53):
Do you like the variety of developing new items and developing new menus for something like this?
I mean, talk a little bit about that. I mean, because you do talk about chicken
and burgers are new to you.
Do you like the creativity that's involved in developing new menu items and testing them?
I mean, I can't imagine they're always all successful, but maybe.
(26:16):
I love it. and it's a great way to
test market and give people
a reason to keep coming back to our food truck because
I've noticed when we have the same menu because sometimes
we're just too busy with private events
for me to be able to come up with a new concept for the week
I've noticed that our public sales will
(26:37):
decrease because I'm not giving obviously our
product is great but customers your weekly
customers they're going to get sick of the same menu every week they
want something new they want to try something new they don't
want to eat the same burger coming back every week
and i wouldn't either so i've noticed when
i drop specials and be really creative and it's a lot of fun it's it's fun for
(27:03):
my staff too they have a lot of fun with it and the best part of it is taste
testing i'm trying to stay away from it though so i try to take a you know a small bite of things and,
keep away trying to watch the figure but it's uh go ahead no i was gonna say no i continue on,
(27:25):
it's just it's been going great and um nashville hot last week and this week
it's gotten such a great response we keep running out of the nashville hot sauce
so i have to keep making more Thank you.
But that's a good problem to have. Yeah, there you go. I mean,
Nashville hot chicken or Nashville hot sauce, even burgers, or I've seen cauliflower,
(27:48):
Nashville hot cauliflower,
fried cauliflower, all sorts of stuff that's come out of that. What an amazing thing.
But I think also it has to do with how popular Nashville's becoming as a destination. nation.
But one of the things I want to talk about is every other week I meet a good
friend here in Denver at a place called the Cherry Cricket.
(28:09):
And it's basically burgers. They have chicken sandwiches and other sandwiches
as well. Maybe I have some other menu items. I have no idea.
But the reason I like going there is because every month they have a new monthly burger.
And so I get to try something new every time. I think we've been going there
now for six months in a row.
Maybe, yes, six months in a row we've been going there. And every month I get
(28:30):
to try a different burger or they have some new thing that they're experimenting with.
This month there was pimento cheese on there, onion rings, and so on and so forth.
And for back in April, there was a certain type.
In March, there was like corned beef on there as well as the burger and some
like a cranberry jam that they made it, a bacon cranberry jam on there, like a marmalade.
(28:56):
I forget the term I'm trying to look for, but it was, it was on there.
And I agree. I think that loyalty, I, we love going there cause the food's so good.
But if I had to order the same things off the menu all the time,
I probably wouldn't go back every other week, you know, to meet this friend
and have dinner every other week.
(29:16):
So I think it's that. So I agree with what you said.
And I think variety keeps people interested, not just as a special,
but switching things up.
Of course, there's the individuals that will eat the same thing off the menu day in and day out.
That's just the way it is. But I do agree with you that variety and keeping
(29:38):
things fun and interesting and transitioning,
whether it's monthly or seasonally, whatever is part of what makes a food business successful for sure.
Bella, what do you think, you know, what do you think that this, this is going to go?
Like, where do you think that as you've now had two years into this,
(30:03):
you're on your third season, you're about to hit high season.
I've got to imagine it's busier during the summertime than the winter, but I may be wrong.
Where are you seeing this going as you move forward? word?
We hope to expand into more locations eventually.
And obviously I'd love to see myself buying a second truck as well.
(30:25):
I think the food trucks are great.
It's a very seasonal thing, but we have a lot of fun. It's fast paced, high pressure.
I work very well under pressure. If I don't have any pressure on me, then it's not as fun.
I was the type of kid that used to do my homework while the teacher was collecting it.
So I always like, I get a lot more stuff done when I'm under pressure.
(30:51):
So I definitely want to see myself getting a second truck. I love the irregular of it.
I love the challenges every week.
Sometimes you have to feed so
many people in just a couple hours and it's stressful, but we get it done.
Yeah, I really, I admire that. And I agree with you.
(31:14):
I'm definitely the person that works better under pressure.
Definitely the person that learns from my failures and pivots.
I come in with plans, but I move very quickly and I pivot from those plans very quickly.
And being that type of individual, and I think you're this type of individual
(31:36):
too, once you become an entrepreneur, particularly at a young age, particularly in food,
a tangible good, you learn to work under the pressure because there's a lot of feedback.
There's a lot of things that can go wrong.
There's a lot of opinions and you're serving a lot of humans.
(31:58):
And so the ability to learn quickly, to handle the pressure,
but then also understand that as you become successful, you need to seek that
uncomfortability and put yourself under pressure.
Because once you've mastered something or the pressure's off,
comfortability is a dangerous place.
(32:20):
I've been there. Comfortability is bad for an entrepreneur.
I know most people don't want to hear that. They have these dreams of life being
easy and not hard and not stressful.
But for me, if I'm not growing now, if I'm in a spot where life isn't stressful
or there isn't pressure or I'm not growing, that's when I start to freak out.
(32:41):
Because that's usually when I'm not doing what I need to be doing to grow myself
or live God's purpose or align my will with him or help individuals or do what
I should be doing in my community,
in my businesses, or for myself or in my family or all of the above.
And don't get me wrong, I don't think we should stress ourselves out.
(33:03):
There's time. We need a break. We need to balance our lives.
But at the same time, we have to somewhat put ourselves under pressure in our
businesses or they're not going to grow.
You know, we have to take the time to step out of being in the business and
working on the business a lot.
You know, it's a big thing I always talk about.
And it's important. You know, and we see here what Bella's doing at 22 years
(33:27):
old with a food truck. She's got a mentor.
She's got someone she gets advice from. It's her father. Will it always be?
Probably as long as he's around, you know. But what Bella's also doing is she also listens.
She has other mentors in her life, I'm sure, and other people she's getting
(33:48):
advice from, and probably peers.
So I want to talk a little bit about that, Bella. You obviously are part of a food truck community.
What does that look like? What does it look like to work with the other individuals
in your business and in your life?
I'm part of the South Shore Food Truck Association, which is the South Shore is basically a region.
(34:16):
Towards the coast below boston that stretches
down to the cape and we're made up
about of about between 55 and 60
food trucks now and i go
i'm on the board of the association and just the
support that you get from other food truck entrepreneurs
and the advice they'll give that we
(34:37):
all give each other and helping each other out with menus and
pricing and packages and mechanical
questions it's just amazing to
be a part and to be able to help your
competition grow i love it and
you don't see the same energy when you walk into
restaurant depot all the restaurant owners seem to hate each other so i'm glad
(35:01):
i can be part of a community where we all help each other out and we're all
friendly with each other absolutely and i i've got to assume that you guys learn
from each other and share advice or help each other out when they're in need.
Absolutely. And there are some mistakes that I've made that I share with new
food truck owners not to make, whether it's a certain location or a certain event.
(35:24):
I just don't want other people to learn the hard way sometimes like I do.
Yeah, I agree with that. Sometimes we learn the hard way even if someone tries
to help us, unfortunately.
But I do agree with you. It's better to avoid things or at least maybe not solve
the problem exactly how someone did, but at least see that there's a problem
(35:48):
coming if you continue to do things that way for sure.
I know that to be 100% true in my own life. I wish I would have listened more and talked less.
It's something I did well in my younger years. It's something that I did less
of in my older years, especially over the last, you know, both in my relationships,
(36:10):
romantic friendships, and in my businesses also.
Should have listened more and talked less and given more value and understanding
that I can grow a lot more from listening and not talking.
So it's hard, I guess, when you do podcasts for a living, as well as,
(36:30):
you know, speaking to individuals and leading individuals and coaching individuals,
you often think that your voice matters, but, and it does if you can help someone,
but at the same time, I still, to this day, learn more from listening. I learned from Bella.
I learned from the podcasts we've done together a lot.
I've learned, she reminded me, and when we had the conversation off the podcast,
(36:55):
which is why I brought it onto the podcast, about balancing out our lives.
It's not something I'm doing a very good job of right now because I'm trying
to avoid all these emotions and the transformation that's going on in my life
And being alone and also starting all over again as an entrepreneur from ground zero.
(37:17):
So I'm keeping myself super busy because I don't want to deal with those feelings
and that loneliness. holiness.
So I appreciate it. And God spoke through her.
Like I said, she got me out of the depths of my dark night of the soul,
I will call it, spiritually,
and helped me get back into the podcast and take interest in it again and sort
(37:40):
of relaunch it and go about it with more consistency and discipline for sure.
I want to ask you a question, Bella. If you could compare yourself to who you
were two years ago when you started this to who you are now,
what areas as a businesswoman and a leader do you think you've grown in?
Where have you seen yourself improve or some of the things you weren't good at?
(38:04):
I guess making burgers would be one of them since we talked about the grill.
But I mean, where have you grown if you could compare yourself to that That
Bella, that 20-year-old Bella
that started this business, how are you different now? How have you grown?
What areas do you like yourself in now that maybe you didn't before?
(38:26):
I'm going to spin back to talking less and listening more.
I've done a lot more of that. And I've noticed that it's helped me grow a lot.
And for instance taking more
time to myself you know a lot of my friends have been telling me and my brother
for the longest time that i need to go out and just kind of enjoy my life more
(38:50):
i'm only this age once and the longest time i just didn't listen i thought i knew what the best for
me was, but sometimes it's your peers.
They see stuff that you don't see. And I didn't end up listening until I started seeing it for myself.
And I was like, wow, these people that really care about me, they're right.
(39:14):
I really do need to take time and enjoy my life a little bit.
Not completely doing nothing, but just taking that day and going to have fun
and spending that hard-earned money that I work so hard for.
It's definitely been huge for my growth in the past two years and listening to others' ideas,
(39:38):
whether it's business or a recipe or even special item and recommendations from customers.
It's just helped us grow as well as myself.
Another thing is I was I was very shy two years ago.
I kind of would say two words and then mumble back to the kitchen.
(40:00):
And now I'm just able to have those more in-depth conversations,
even on this podcast with customers, with friends, with family.
It's just been great, especially as an entrepreneur, for that kind of growth
and being able to establish those connections.
(40:22):
I think I will, a couple of things I want to echo.
I'm amazed at your growth from the year that we've known each other from doing the podcast.
I would say I'm really impressed by your ability to, I think as entrepreneurs,
(40:43):
we often start off as introverts.
And I think probably the best of us do. We're very internalizing.
We're very self-reflective.
We're very critical of ourselves.
We're very hard on ourselves, and we're very hardworking.
And so we're not always extroverted, but we learn to be. We develop that skill.
(41:05):
And I'm going to drop a tag for everyone.
This is a spiritual test. It's what God's gifts give us.
And you know we live in a society where we do all these personality tests in business,
and you know are we an introvert are we an extrovert are we an entrepreneur
are we an intrapreneur and i will just tell you what i've learned over the last
(41:30):
26 years and you know the briggs myers and all these things are do they tell
you where you are and they give you a snap snapshot of where you are?
Sure. Maybe. Possibly. In many cases, yes.
But the problem with those tests are they put you into a box.
They start to define you. They define your identity.
(41:51):
I did a lot of them in grad school. We did a lot of them in our companies.
We did a lot of these 360 reviews with our employees. Do I think they work?
Sure. In some ways. Can they help you grow? Sure, in some ways.
But the reality is this, and I'm actually glad Bella brought this up about extroverted
and introverted, is that those tests aren't good for your employees.
(42:17):
You think that they're going to help you lead? We think they're going to help us lead.
I should say we, because I did the same thing, put myself in that group.
And the reality is, is they, people lose their identity.
Five years down the road, if I've grown and I've changed and I still define me by that, who am I?
(42:40):
Okay. Should I retake the test? Okay. Maybe that'll help.
But it's not the gifts that were given by God. It's not the gifts that make us special.
And to define us by our personalities in a snapshot and then try to determine,
what kind of individuals are going to be or what kind of individuals those employees
are going to be and put them in positions where we then define them by those tests, it's not good.
(43:06):
Okay. And so if the audience wants a test that is Christian-based,
it is biblical-based, it's called an APES test.
It's the first test that comes in. It's $10. No,
I don't get any money from it, but I am going to promote it because for the
first time in my life as I've taken this test and I've had everyone I mentor
(43:28):
or coach take this test, it's actually a tool.
And yes, does it define you sort of in the moment? Sure.
Can you develop the other skills in it? Sure. But as an entrepreneur,
I will tell you that it has helped immensely with my understanding of the gifts
(43:49):
God has given me versus the gifts I have to develop.
It's given me a lot of clarity in those areas. Do I work on both? Absolutely.
Are they more oriented towards a church environment? Sure.
But as an entrepreneur or a business owner, you can use these tests and see
where people are. Are they an apostle?
(44:10):
Are they evangelical? Are they a shepherd?
You know, those are some of the things that we're talking about through a test like this.
Are they prophetic? Can they help determine the future by seeing people's patterns?
Those are valuable people in forecasting.
We talked about forecasting on this podcast. You want someone who's somewhat
prophetic, that can read situations, that can read people, that can read trends,
(44:33):
and tell you what the future is going to look like a little bit.
And we need teachers. That's the T. Are you a teacher?
Well, we need teachers in our business. Those are the people that help train
people, that help grow people, that help guide people.
So I recommend that to everyone. It's called an APEST, A-P-E-S-T.
And you'll be surprised when you look at your business and you see which one
(44:56):
of those categories are missing because you probably take on two.
So, I mean, for the audience, I recommend it.
It's not the end-all, be-all, all-test-or-relative, and maybe you aren't spiritual
and you don't want to do something like this, but what I'm telling you is that
there are certain things that are planted inside of us and they're greater than our personality.
(45:21):
They're greater than our patterns and our leadership as humans,
all of us are meant to be leaders. I talk about this a lot on other podcasts.
I talk a lot about it on this show throughout the years is every human is meant
to grow into a leadership position. That's why we are parents.
We are leading our children. We are to lead the next generation to make them better than we are.
(45:46):
We are to better equip them just like we hope to be better equipped than the generation before us.
And so we need to equip the next generation. So I recommend that if you want
to grow your business, you want to have a good business, grow the humans in your business.
How do I know? I've watched what happens when I was part of businesses as an
(46:09):
entrepreneur that didn't grow the humans, and the humans got comfortable.
And I've also been part of businesses that grew the humans, made them uncomfortable
so they would grow, put a little pressure on them, and watch those businesses
thrive. I'm watching it right now.
So Bella, as we sort of wrap this up, you know, I appreciate your time and your commitment.
(46:35):
Bella is a phenomenal entrepreneur. Like I will give you praises.
You're on time. You communicate well.
I'm going to tell you the things that I see about you just because I know I
don't, I think it should be part of this podcast.
As I get to know you guys, You communicate really well.
Bella is a strong communicator. She's not afraid to text or pick up the phone
(46:59):
and call and communicate.
Bella does what she says. If she says she's going to do something or be on a
call or be on a podcast or communicate with someone or someone I connect her to, she does it.
Other thing is Bella is probably one of the hardest working,
most disciplined and consistent individual and entrepreneurs I've met in a long
(47:23):
time, especially for her age.
It's the hard work, the ability to show up, do her job and build her business
is why her business is successful. Do I say you should work seven days a week, seven to 10?
Not always, but sometimes it's going to require you to do that as an entrepreneur.
(47:46):
And we know that Bella's willing to do it. A lot of people are not willing to
miss out on life temporarily or give up things in a moment to do that.
You can find balance by not doing it, but Bella does. And the last thing I'm
going to give you a compliment about, Bella, or something that I've noticed, is your creativity.
I don't know if you've ever thought yourself as a creative human,
(48:10):
but I would say the balance of discipline, running a business,
being profitable, and that side of your brain, and then the creative side of
your brain, the flexibility,
the humility, the ability to pivot.
It, those are two things that are usually opposing, you know,
and they're very hard to manage.
(48:31):
But for you, what I've seen, especially over the last couple of weeks,
as we've had more conversations and are working on a project together that I
can't wait, I'm very excited about for you and for us and the group I'm working with,
the ability to just navigate the waters peacefully and with humility and creativity
(48:56):
and discipline is pretty awesome.
So I will give that to you, Bella, as some of my closing thoughts.
So I hope you receive that well.
Thank you. And it definitely means a lot coming from you.
You've been extremely successful in your career and it's a huge compliment.
(49:17):
So thank you very much. And I'm glad that I'm on the right track. Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, I will compliment you on the listening part as well.
I think that's very hard.
I know I struggled with it a lot on and off in my career.
And I just think it's so important that you recognize it already and do that.
(49:38):
I've asked a lot of questions today.
I'm going to ask one more question.
As you have grown your business and as you've talked about a second food truck,
you have sort of a brick and mortar in the convention center.
(49:59):
Did you ever imagine that you'd be as far along as you are now in two years?
I mean, I know we have big dreams and thinking big is a big part of being an
entrepreneur, but did you ever think you'd be this far already?
We always hoped to be this far, but we never thought about it.
(50:21):
When I first started the company, we set up humble but very approachable goals,
but you still had to work hard to get to
those goals and it just amazes
me how we were able to surpass it and come
up with a great theme and a great product it's not it's definitely a lot harder
(50:45):
than I thought it was going to going to be it's a lot of work writing emails
and contracts invoicing and then running truck full-time as well.
It's like two or three full-time jobs put into one. But we're extremely grateful and thankful.
(51:05):
Believe in us including you it's just great to be part of a great opportunity
it really is and hopefully we continue to grow that's the goal and we're just
keeping those realistic goals,
but we still have to shoot for the stars but hopefully it keeps going the way
(51:26):
it does and that's all i can say yeah and i know i'm not alone um i know that
sam after our conversations patience.
Sam talking to you last week and what we're working on and the project we're
working on, he believes in you big time.
He's blown away by what you've done.
I know obviously your father as well and all your employees and customers.
(51:47):
I think that it's a humbling experience if you let it be. It's grounding.
Don't let it build the ego and the pride. I've made that mistake before in my
But I think for you, there's just such composure and discipline,
like I said, and consistency and ability to receive it from a place of humility.
(52:09):
I'm very excited for you. I'm very excited to see where this goes.
And I know with 100% certainty that you're going to be massively successful
as you build this business.
And you're building the foundation right now for a business that's going to
scale and be known everywhere.
(52:29):
Everywhere I think a lot of people are going to know the name rocking
burgers I think a lot of people are going to know the other
concepts you create and I think that it's going to be amazing what you do as
a leader and how you influence people and how you lead people and grow humans
as your career continues to
(52:50):
grow and people get to know who you are so I'm very excited for you Bella.
Anyone who knows me knows that my prayer list every morning and every night
is like 45 minutes long because I make sure I cover everything. I'm detail-oriented.
Who has time for that? Well, I just don't watch TV, really.
(53:11):
That's just who I am. I rarely watch TV anymore, but you are definitely on my
prayer list, you and your family and your business and your employees,
because I really believe that you're going to have a huge positive impact in the world.
And something that I always say is positively pollinate the world.
You are doing that with who you are, with the way you were raised, with your belief in God,
(53:34):
with who your parents are, so on and so forth, and the way they've invested
in you and grown you and especially your father and in learning from his 35
years of experience compounding that into the next generation.
I'm very excited for you.
Thank you. So I know that was long-winded. I tend to be long-winded these days,
(53:56):
but I'm like the old man who never stops talking.
Is there anything that you want to leave the audience with? Is there anything,
you know, burning desires that you want to say or anything that you feel that
might help anyone out there trying to be an entrepreneur before we wrap this up?
I'm going to continue to say what I always do. If you have a passion or drive
(54:19):
to start something, whether it's on the side at first, just do it.
If you have a great product or a great idea, just start working on it.
Come up with a business plan and shoot
for the stars it doesn't matter what people
say or what people think there's always
(54:40):
people out there that will appreciate your product and appreciate what you do
and just remember your products aren't for everyone so don't ever get discouraged
somebody leaves negative feedback or a negative review just take it as a lesson of how to provide
your customers with a more positive experience next time.
(55:02):
Absolutely. Where can they find you online, Bella, and how can they get a hold of you?
The best way to reach us is filling out a form on our website at www.rockinburgersma.com,
or you can find us on Instagram and Facebook at rockinburgers.ma,
(55:23):
or you can shoot me an email No.
Burgers that's r-o-c-k-i-n burgers and
a gmail.com amazing love
it i really enjoyed this bella thank
you for jumping back in and doing another show again thank you for pushing me
back in december getting me out of that that dark night of the soul and sort
(55:48):
of the path i was taking to sort of leave the podcasting behind me i i really
i'm giving you credit because i don't think i would
have done it without you and that nudge that you didn't even know you gave me. So it means a lot to me.
Audience, thank you guys. I love you guys. I appreciate all the concern,
all the reaching out, all the support on Instagram, all the sharing of the posts,
(56:13):
all the support and love I'm getting around the world.
We're in over 140 countries this podcast has listened to.
We have tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, and even millions of people
now that have been influenced by this podcast and the guests on the show.
I don't know what to say other than that. I never thought that that was possible.
(56:37):
I just wanted to make a difference for anyone I could in the podcast space,
in the food space, I should say, food and beverage entrepreneurs.
I wanted to help food entrepreneurs get more comfortable talking about their
businesses, pitching their businesses, as well as helping food entrepreneurs learn from each other.
(56:58):
I had no idea that we would expand past the United States.
And I had no idea that over the last year and a half, that this would grow the
way that it did in my darkest of moments, in the moments where I needed it the most.
Everyone, the guests, the viewers, I should say, or the listeners or the people
(57:23):
who love listening and growing from this podcast, I mean, all over the world
and the support that I've gotten, it means a lot.
And I know it means a lot to the guests on this show.
The reason they come on here is to grow and to help grow their businesses and
to have this conversation And they give their time to me and the show and to
the listeners. So that's a big deal.
(57:46):
Again, if you guys want to hear this or the other shows, you can listen to it
on Spotify or wherever else you grow yourself through podcasts.
And I just wanted to say I love you guys. I appreciate all of you big time.
Thanks for all the support and bearing with me as I've transformed from five
and a half years ago when we started this podcast to where I am now.
(58:09):
Now, and I appreciate what you guys have done for me and all the love that you've given me.
So with that, I'm going to die, and we're out.
Music.
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