February 1, 2025 • 20 mins
Join us for an inspiring conversation with Annette Swindin, a 67-year-old entrepreneur who started her vegan food truck business at age 60 after surviving cancer. In this episode, Annette shares valuable insights about running a successful food truck business, including:
• How she acquired and modified her food truck
• Tips for managing events and customer service
• Using Square POS system for payment processing and data analysis
• Pricing strategies and cost management
• The importance of efficient food prep and quick service
• Working with colleges and event planners
• Transitioning from food truck to take-and-bake business
• Using eco-friendly, recyclable products
• Hiring the right personnel
Whether you're considering starting a food truck business or looking for inspiration to pursue your dreams later in life, Annette's story proves it's never too late to embark on a new entrepreneurial journey. Her experience demonstrates how determination, research, and excellent customer service can lead to success in the mobile food industry.
Connect with Annette Swindin:
- Instagram: @thegreenvegetarian
- Facebook: The Green Vegetarian
- Website: www.thegreenvegetarian.com
Follow Savvy Frugal Vegan:
YouTube
Instagram
Facebook
Check out the website for upcoming workshops, events, coaching, and more
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Heather (00:00):
I'm Heather Zeitzwolfe Savvy Frugal Vegan, I'm here to
(00:03):
help chef-preneurs, just likeyou, start, build and maintain a
vegan food business..
If you want to have financialsuccess in the vegan mobile food
industry...
whether it's a cart food truck,or pop up, I'm here to help you
with business hacks, tips,tricks, and the pitfalls to
avoid.
Are you ready to map out yourbusiness journey, then put the
(00:25):
key and the ignition a nd let'sgo for a ride.
I am here today with AnnetteSwindon.
From Vegan A Go Go and The GreenVegetarian.
She's a food truck owner.
She's done catering, pop ups,and I'm so excited to have you
on the show today.
Welcome!
Anette Swindin (00:44):
Thanks for having me.
Heather (00:45):
She is coming from her truck, which happens to be
extremely cold braving thiswinter front that we're in.
Where are you located?
Anette Swindin (00:52):
I'm in, Canton, Ohio, about, 50 minutes, south
of Cleveland.
It was minus twelve yesterdayand we're up to 23 today.
Heather (01:00):
That is rough when you have a food truck when, times
get this cold, do you keep yourfood truck open?
Do or do you have to close yourdoors
Anette Swindin (01:08):
I'm done in October.
It's too cold.
My first year I had the foodtruck.
I did some events in February,but it was so cold.
I couldn't open my windows toserve people.
once the stove and ovens gotgoing, it was okay.
But in October, most of the foodtrucks around this area are
pretty much done for the season.
There's a few still out but notmany.
Heather (01:28):
when does the season start again in your area?
Anette Swindin (01:31):
usually March, April,
Heather (01:33):
During that gap, to, keep the revenue coming in?
Are you doing catering pop ups?
Anette Swindin (01:37):
I've been doing some pop ups and, making food
and having people, purchasingfood from me.
starting in a couple of weeks,I'm putting my food in a local
grocery store.
Heather (01:48):
like a pre packed thing where people can take and bake
Anette Swindin (01:50):
Exactly.
I'm probably going to hit somefarmers markets There's a lot
around here.
They're all indoors, I'mprobably going to try and hit
them up.
months, I just needed a break
Heather (01:58):
on your website you talk about how you had Hodgkin's
and then it came back and youfound a vegan diet started the
food truck.
Prior to that, were you a chefalready or did veganism turn you
into a chef?
Anette Swindin (02:11):
When I got the food truck, had never worked in
a restaurant.
I was absolutely clueless.
I just went with it.
I used to tell people, I don'tread novels.
I'd read cookbooks.
I always like to cook.
and, Fortunately, in my area allthe other food truckers are so
nice and helpful.
They would help me in any waybecause, I was absolutely
clueless.
The first time the fire marshalcame on my truck to check out
(02:34):
the system.
I had no idea And he's like, youhave to be certified.
I played pretty dumb my firstyear.
Heather (02:39):
there's so much, regulation around having a food
truck.
You mentioned the fire marshal,there's food inspectors.
everywhere you go.
It's different.
licensing you might need orparking permits when you were
starting out, you bought a foodtruck and it happened to be
already a vegan food truck.
How did that come about?
Anette Swindin (02:55):
prior to getting the food truck.
I had Hodgkin's, the Hodgkin'sgot cured, but I was having
issues with my heart because mytumor, was wrapped around the
main arteries of my heart.
I had to have a triple that'swhen I became vegan.
a physician, asked if I had readDr Esselstyn.
a proponent of plant basedfoods.
I read his book and it kind ofchanged my mind.
(03:17):
from that I had to go to cardiacrehab.
I became friends with one of thenurses that's when I Really went
into vegan plant based cooking.
I did demonstrations for her itwas going well.
Then I started doing pop ups inmy home cooking classes in my
home and people were asking me.
Why don't you open a restaurant?
And I'm like, hmmmmm...I didn'twant that 24 7 commitment, so I
kind of thought, Oh, I shouldjust do a food truck.
(03:39):
the next day, a friend of minecalled me.
She found this food truck.
Some guy in Cleveland wants tosell it was like.
The planets aligned.
He was selling tacos.
It was not plant based.
Oh, when I walked into thetruck, you could feel the
grease.
It was terrible.
Long story short, he told me,oh, I bought the truck from St.
Louis and it was actually avegan food truck.
the people in St.
(03:59):
Louis, ended up getting a brickand mortar.
So they sold a food truck.
Heather (04:02):
the universe really wanted that food truck to be
vegan.
it had a short stint of, greasytacos that were not vegan.
then went vegan.
when you first started yourtruck being that you've never
been in the restaurant business,how did you come up with your
first menu and pick that out?
Anette Swindin (04:17):
I had been cooking, all along for, pop ups,
so I had a feel.
And my whole concept was to makeregular Meat eater foods and
turn it vegan because there'snot a lot of vegans in this area
or plant based up in Cleveland.
I never ventured my food truckup an hour away.
I was a little nervous going onthe highway with it.
Although she probably would havedone fine.
(04:37):
so I just kind of.
Like research, a lot of researchand decided, you know, burgers
loaded, nachos, vegan hot dogs.
then, had kind of a core menu.
And would do specials, likeoyster mushroom po boys.
I would, introduce people tojackfruit, buffalo, cauliflower
wraps, that kind of thing I,would.
Experiment and see what worked.
Heather (04:57):
did you try to keep your menu limited or were you
exploring different things?
did you structure it?
Anette Swindin (05:03):
I had sections.
I had, my burger section.
So it would be likeacheeseburger I would have like
three different burgers.
And then I would do, differenthot dog toppings, like a Chicago
dog, a chili dog.
then I would do loaded nachos.
They were really popular.
I had chili and cheese saucethatI made.
Everything was made from scratchwith the exceptions of the
(05:23):
burgers and the hot dogs.
I would buy those.
It would be cohesive like Iwould have.
Mac and cheese because I had thecheese sauce.
one thing led to the other Iusually had two specials, if I
got a deal on, cauliflowers Iwould do the Buffalo cauliflower
wrap.
They were really popular.
I have a local gal that does,mushrooms.
so I would do different thingswith oyster mushrooms and at the
farmer's market where theuniversity was, Kent State, I
(05:45):
would have a little bit of abreakfast menu because that was
early in the morning from nineto one,
Heather (05:50):
when you first started out, how did you know which
locations to go to?
How did you scout those out?
Anette Swindin (05:55):
my first year I did anybody that would take me,
which was mistake because I'dwalk away making 50.
then, I started getting smarterlast year.
I only picked events.
I knew I would do well at, inour town in Canton.
We have what's called 1stFriday.
It's kind of like a partydowntown.
the 1st years I did that, therewas only like 4 or 5 food trucks
(06:16):
and it was a big thing if yougot picked to do it.
this past couple years, the lasttime I did it, I was not happy.
There were 20 food trucks, waytoo many there's different
events around town.
I did well at farmers marketsbecause that's where more people
are healthy a lot of graduationparties.
I did, A couple of weddings, anddifferent parties.
when people say, oh, we havesome vegans, but will you make
(06:37):
regular food And I said, no, mytruck is a vegan food truck.
I'm not going to compromisethat.
And I could have made moremoney,
Heather (06:43):
Well, good for you.
we have to stand by our ethicsso much of being a vegan is
sending a message food can stillbe delicious.
Meat eaters can eat vegan foodand they'll probably enjoy
Anette Swindin (06:53):
a matter of fact.
A friend of mine, and herhusband neither one of them are
plant based, and her husband waslike, yeah, your food is so
good, you would never know thatit's vegan.
I know a lot of times when I wasat events, they didn't know one
time I had a guy come up to me,he ordered, pretzels with my
cheese sauce and he goes,there's something off with this
cheese I said, well, it's vegan.
(07:14):
And he goes, Oh, I have veganall over my menu all over my
truck.
I'm like, I'm so sorry.
You don't know how to read yeah,it's just different but one
person they ordered my chili macwhich was my chili with Mac and
cheese, and I layer it with morecheese sauce, and they were not
vegan.
They came back and told me itwas the best thing they ever
had, then I did another event,and they came.
(07:35):
We knew you were going to behere, so we had to come and get
that chili mac you made.
some people get it, which isnice.
Heather (07:41):
what is a big lesson that you have learned that other
food truck owners, should know?
Anette Swindin (07:46):
the most important thing for me was to
not take every event like myfirst year I did.
this past year, I was veryselective.
in past I might have done.
60 events for this season.
some people.
Do way more than that this pastyear.
I did maybe 30 I made just asmuch money.
the 1st year.
You probably should go out thereand do everything to get your
(08:08):
name known....
and then you can start.
Being a little more selective ifyou've gone to an event, there's
a lot of people there, you know.
Oh, I want to get my truck here.
that's very important.
a lot of times if you getcontacted and say, Hey, can you
do our event?
I always ask.
how many people do you expect?
how many food trucks are theregoing to be?
even though I'm a vegan foodtruck and it's very selective.
(08:31):
I found like at the Canton firstFriday.
when there were only five foodtrucks, I did well because
people would go, well, let's trythis, right?
There's 20 food trucks.
They have so much to choosefrom.
They're not going to pick avegan food truck if they're not
vegan.
be selective.
Heather (08:46):
What about the cost to be at these events?
Are some More expensive thanothers, and how do you justify
the cost?
Does it depend on how manytrucks are going to be there and
the promised amount of people atthe event?
Anette Swindin (08:58):
That's a big thing.
that's why I like doing farmersmarkets.
it wasn't very much, but some ofthese bigger events, they can be
275 the 1 event that I did.
Do that cost me 275.
I do well, and I've done itevery year it's worth it.
I make up my money.
Heather (09:14):
you've tapped into catering and other type of
events.
You mentioned corporate events.
How are you getting thoseclients?
Are they word of mouth?
networking?
How do you get those?
Anette Swindin (09:24):
Yes, mostly word of mouth That's one thing about
doing those events.
I would go on Facebook, in myarea, there's page called,
Northeast Ohio food truckspeople post.
looking for a food truck.
We have this event coming up onsuch and such date at this
place.
if you're interested, contact usthat's a good way to find
events.
once you're out there for ayear, they contact you.
(09:46):
Oh, can you do our event again?
I've already been contacted forseveral events for this season
So that's another thing there'sa lot on Facebook, I learned a
lot from different people askingquestions.
You have to watch out forscammers I got asked to do an
event at a country club.
I'm like, why would they want afood truck at a country club?
it was for this particularorganization and they were
(10:08):
having a meeting.
I said, I'm going to show up at.
That meaning and just find outmore about it because I didn't
get a good feeling Sure enough.
The woman said oh, that's ascam.
you just have to be careful ifanybody asks for money up front,
you just have to be reallycareful.
That's why I always went withplaces I knew events I knew
Heather (10:24):
that's very important because there's so many scammers
out there.
I put on a vegan event.
This past winter and there was aperson scamming on Facebook,
trying to sell tables at myevent.
I could not believe it
Anette Swindin (10:37):
It's frightening.
especially with food trucks,people get burned, if you do a
catered event, just say it's Xamount my minimum is this and
whatever it might be and be realup front And then at like
corporate events, I say, myminimum to be there is a 1000
dollars.
if I make 1000 dollars.
you don't owe me anything.
if I only make 800, You owe me200 you can play hardball with
(10:59):
them if you're traveling far,they're telling you, oh, we have
300 employees and then you getthere and you're making all this
food and.
then no one buys it.
You want to make sure you'repaying for your food that you
made.
Heather (11:11):
that's a great idea to have a minimum as a base so that
you'll at least make that if notmore.
Anette Swindin (11:16):
I had to learn the hard way if they don't want
to pay it's not worth beingthere because you can't make all
your food and come home andyou've made negative 500.
That's just not worth it.
Heather (11:25):
Right.
driving there with gas prices,and you buy ahead and you think
that you're going to sell acertain amount of food and now
you have all this inventory andyou can't get rid of it.
Unfortunately, food does notkeep for very long.
Anette Swindin (11:38):
yeah, so that's that's real important to learn
You have to learned the hardway.
when you're beginning, you doeverything because you want your
name out there.
Heather (11:46):
Yeah.
And you get excited Oh, someonewants me.
They said, yes, and then we putdown our guard and we forget
like, Oh, there's scammers outthere or, Oh, maybe they're
inflating the numbers of peoplethat are going to buy or be at
the event.
Anette Swindin (11:57):
And they definitely do that.
And then, there's times At thisbig event my girl that helps me,
we set everything up I get inthe truck It wouldn't start.
sometimes that happens I missedout on that event because my
truck wouldn't go.
you can make money, depending onwhat area you're in.
my area.
I tried to keep with mainstreamstuff because if I did anything
(12:18):
too outrageous, it would be toodifferent I tried to make
everything as healthy aspossible..
but, depending on where you'reat, you can do wonderful things,
you know, I sold a lot ofburgers.
and they were burgers that Ipurchased from a company called
motif.
you can't buy them in the store.
I went to a vegan, convention inNew York a couple of years ago,
and I found them there they werejust so delicious and lower in
(12:40):
fat even though I've been vegan,since 2009, so quite a long
time, I still loved burgers,cheeseburgers.
to me, they came close to what Iremembered, a real cheeseburger,
and people loved them.
Heather (12:51):
when you first started, what is one thing that you
learned
Anette Swindin (12:54):
if you own a food truck and you're new, make
sure you have a lot.
Extra cash because you neverknow what could happen to the
truck my generator was acting upI had to get that fixed it's
always a little bit ofsomething.
Heather (13:05):
There's so many moving parts that can go wrong.
when you first started out, didyou have savings put aside?
Did you take out loans?
Anette Swindin (13:13):
I was fortunate.
I had a savings.
so I was able to buy my truckand, go from there.
lot of credit card.
I kind of maxed out you know, gobuy food and stuff But then, you
make money and you, pay themoff, you definitely have to have
some reserve of money or areable to get money I don't know
if I mentioned, I am selling mytruck.
anybody needs a food truck.
I got a really nice food truck Iloved doing it but when you do
(13:37):
everything by yourself, it'shard.
that's why I think I'm going tobreak off and do take and bake
stuff.
I'll be very sad when my truckgoes,
Heather (13:44):
food trucks are a great way of getting your name out
there being seen in thecommunity as stepping stone for
something else.
it could mean a brick and mortarthat you're doing more catering,
individual pop ups, parties, andthen like you're doing getting
into a whole new stream ofincome Right.
I'm assuming you're going toeither cook from home or have a
commissary kitchen.
(14:04):
how did you get into the localgrocery store?
Anette Swindin (14:06):
when I don't have the truck anymore.
I have a commissary kitchen andthis particular store contacted
me.
they knew of my truck heard Iwas thinking of selling it they
were asking me, what are yougoing to do?
they have a commissary too.
they contacted me.
And then they go, oh, we wouldlove you to.
Sell your food in ourcommissary.
I haven't done it yet because Ifound out I have to have another
(14:27):
certification It's like amanagement certification.
And I'm like, oh, my God, I'vebeen running a food truck for 6
years.
So.
she goes, well, yeah, I know.
So
Heather (14:36):
Do you have to have labels with the contents?
Anette Swindin (14:38):
yeah, the label has to have what's in it.
fortunately, when you do plantbase, you won't have any
unrecognizable names.
It'll be like.
Nutritional yeast, you know,onion powder, onions, so that's
good.
you do have to have it labeled.
a couple of years ago, I was thevegan chef at a that was a
really nice event because it wasduring winter months, it took me
(15:00):
an hour to get there and I hadto get up at 430 in the morning,
but it was worth it.
anyway.
a lot of opportunity out therewith a food truck.
That's for sure.
go to a college because theyalways have some sort of events
going on all the time
Heather (15:12):
who would they contact at a college?
Is there a particular department
Anette Swindin (15:15):
call the college and say, I'm looking for the
events planner they might say,we don't have that.
then say, I have a food truck.
I'm looking at the person thatmight want to.
Book us or whatever.
they'll tell you who to go to.
Fortunately, all the collegeshad contacted me because there's
not very many vegan food trucksin my area.
So, if they wanted plant base,they always would say, we heard
(15:36):
about you and positive reviews.
I was very lucky I'm sad, tosell the truck, but just on to
the next venture.
Heather (15:42):
when you first bought the truck, being that it was
already a vegan truck, then itwas a taco truck, Did you have
to do much as far as repairs orupgrades to it, or was it pretty
much ready to go?
Anette Swindin (15:51):
it was pretty much ready to go.
there was just a flat top inhere.
There wasn't an oven.
the 1st year I did use that.
the fryer was in here.
I never use the fryer.
the 2nd year I.
Got the fire out and then I hada stove put in like a regular
stove.
that was probably the only thingI changed in the truck.
(16:11):
when I purchased it, it wasready to go.
I had my refrigerators and mysteaming, table ready to go.
Heather (16:18):
if someone wants to buy your truck, then it's pretty
much good to go.
Anette Swindin (16:21):
nice about my truck is my generator's built
in.
if you go events you'll noticepeople, have their generators
away from the truck Mine's builtin.
So, all I have to do is hit theswitch and it goes on.
My propane tank is also built inunderneath the truck.
when I bought the truck, I hadno idea about any of this.
I didn't realize how lucky I was
Heather (16:41):
You hear so many horror stories about all the things
people have to do
Anette Swindin (16:44):
Someone was watching over me for sure.
Heather (16:46):
when you first were taking payment, you're new to
all of this, did you have A POS.
were you taking cash creditcards?
How did that work for you?
Anette Swindin (16:53):
I take any form of credit cards and use, square.
I highly recommended you do haveto pay for that.
It's a percentage of your totalsales.
It didn't amount to that muchbecause then at the end of the
event.
I would put the menu on theSquare app I could see how many
burgers I sold, how many nachosI sold.
it was really nice.
then I knew year to year, Oh, Iwent to this event last year and
(17:17):
sold a lot of mac and cheese, soI better make a lot of mac and
cheese.
it was really helpful.
highly recommend Square.
Heather (17:24):
I love that you looked back at the data and you made
conscious decisions around like,this is what sold before.
I'm going to double down on thisagain the next year.
How did you determine yourpricing?
Did you just look at whateverybody else was doing?
you measuring each thing tofigure out how much you're going
to charge?
How did that work for you?
Anette Swindin (17:40):
I would get yelled at by my sister.
You don't know exactly how muchyou make.
And I kind of did because like,let's say a burger.
I knew how much I paid perburger per piece of cheese.
hamburger bun.
I figured, okay, it cost me X tomake this.
I can charge X, X, X, to makeprofit.
my prices were well withineverybody else's food trucks.
Heather (17:59):
what about all of the extra things like utensils I
don't know in Ohio if you haveany kind of regulations but some
places they have to becompostable Did you have any
restrictions to abide by thatwas more expensive
Anette Swindin (18:11):
since I'm a vegan food truck, I try to be,
proactive.
recyclable.
products that's what I use inyour pricing, you figured how
much is that going to cost you?
Heather (18:20):
any last thoughts you want to tell people if they're
wanting to take the same kind ofadventure you have?
Anette Swindin (18:26):
I would say go for it.
I did this adventure at 60.
I'm turning 67 in April.
that's why I decided it's timeto semi retire the food truck.
I figured I was in my lastchapter of my life.
I should just go for it.
So I would say go for it.
I knew absolutely nothing.
if I can do it, anybody can doit.
(18:46):
I did a lot of reading andresearch.
you have to have some extramoney available.
to pay for gas and propane andall of that, but it is
definitely worth it.
it depends on your area too.
Heather (18:56):
you've got such a great personality.
I think that probably lentitself for you.
Getting so many gigs, throughyour truck you have this aura
about you it's very comforting.
Anette Swindin (19:06):
Oh, yeah.
on big events, I had somebodyhelp me taking orders that
person is very important mybacks.
To whoever's buying my foodbecause I'm busy prepping it.
So whoever is your person takingthe money make sure they have a
great personality because youcould lose sales fortunately,
I've had great people helping methat were just as vivacious and
(19:26):
Fun, a lot of people would makecomments.
Oh, those 2 girls were so muchfun she was phenomenal.
I've had great people to helpalso you have to be fast.
That's really important.
There's only ever been 2 peopleon my truck, me and another
person.
And I'm the only 1 that'sbasically doing the food.
1 time I went to a food truckand there were 3 people helping
and the food took forever.
(19:46):
I have everything prepped andready to go because people hate
to wait.
Heather (19:50):
especially at an event where there's things going on.
Maybe there's music and peoplewant to get to a concert.
They're just going to getannoyed.
you don't want that to be whatthey remember you by
Anette Swindin (19:59):
exactly.
Heather (20:00):
Annette, thank you so much for being on the podcast
today.
Anette Swindin (20:03):
Oh, thanks for having me.
It was so fun.
if you know anyone that wants afood truck, contact me.
I'm Heather Zeitzwolfe Savvy Frugal Vegan, I'm here to
(00:03):
help chef-preneurs, just likeyou, start, build and maintain a
vegan food business..
If you want to have financialsuccess in the vegan mobile food
industry...
whether it's a cart food truck,or pop up, I'm here to help you
with business hacks, tips,tricks, and the pitfalls to
avoid.
Are you ready to map out yourbusiness journey, then put the
(00:25):
key and the ignition a nd let'sgo for a ride.
I am here today with AnnetteSwindon.
From Vegan A Go Go and The GreenVegetarian.
She's a food truck owner.
She's done catering, pop ups,and I'm so excited to have you
on the show today.
Welcome!
Anette Swindin (00:44):
Thanks for having me.
Heather (00:45):
She is coming from her truck, which happens to be
extremely cold braving thiswinter front that we're in.
Where are you located?
Anette Swindin (00:52):
I'm in, Canton, Ohio, about, 50 minutes, south
of Cleveland.
It was minus twelve yesterdayand we're up to 23 today.
Heather (01:00):
That is rough when you have a food truck when, times
get this cold, do you keep yourfood truck open?
Do or do you have to close yourdoors
Anette Swindin (01:08):
I'm done in October.
It's too cold.
My first year I had the foodtruck.
I did some events in February,but it was so cold.
I couldn't open my windows toserve people.
once the stove and ovens gotgoing, it was okay.
But in October, most of the foodtrucks around this area are
pretty much done for the season.
There's a few still out but notmany.
Heather (01:28):
when does the season start again in your area?
Anette Swindin (01:31):
usually March, April,
Heather (01:33):
During that gap, to, keep the revenue coming in?
Are you doing catering pop ups?
Anette Swindin (01:37):
I've been doing some pop ups and, making food
and having people, purchasingfood from me.
starting in a couple of weeks,I'm putting my food in a local
grocery store.
Heather (01:48):
like a pre packed thing where people can take and bake
Anette Swindin (01:50):
Exactly.
I'm probably going to hit somefarmers markets There's a lot
around here.
They're all indoors, I'mprobably going to try and hit
them up.
months, I just needed a break
Heather (01:58):
on your website you talk about how you had Hodgkin's
and then it came back and youfound a vegan diet started the
food truck.
Prior to that, were you a chefalready or did veganism turn you
into a chef?
Anette Swindin (02:11):
When I got the food truck, had never worked in
a restaurant.
I was absolutely clueless.
I just went with it.
I used to tell people, I don'tread novels.
I'd read cookbooks.
I always like to cook.
and, Fortunately, in my area allthe other food truckers are so
nice and helpful.
They would help me in any waybecause, I was absolutely
clueless.
The first time the fire marshalcame on my truck to check out
(02:34):
the system.
I had no idea And he's like, youhave to be certified.
I played pretty dumb my firstyear.
Heather (02:39):
there's so much, regulation around having a food
truck.
You mentioned the fire marshal,there's food inspectors.
everywhere you go.
It's different.
licensing you might need orparking permits when you were
starting out, you bought a foodtruck and it happened to be
already a vegan food truck.
How did that come about?
Anette Swindin (02:55):
prior to getting the food truck.
I had Hodgkin's, the Hodgkin'sgot cured, but I was having
issues with my heart because mytumor, was wrapped around the
main arteries of my heart.
I had to have a triple that'swhen I became vegan.
a physician, asked if I had readDr Esselstyn.
a proponent of plant basedfoods.
I read his book and it kind ofchanged my mind.
(03:17):
from that I had to go to cardiacrehab.
I became friends with one of thenurses that's when I Really went
into vegan plant based cooking.
I did demonstrations for her itwas going well.
Then I started doing pop ups inmy home cooking classes in my
home and people were asking me.
Why don't you open a restaurant?
And I'm like, hmmmmm...I didn'twant that 24 7 commitment, so I
kind of thought, Oh, I shouldjust do a food truck.
(03:39):
the next day, a friend of minecalled me.
She found this food truck.
Some guy in Cleveland wants tosell it was like.
The planets aligned.
He was selling tacos.
It was not plant based.
Oh, when I walked into thetruck, you could feel the
grease.
It was terrible.
Long story short, he told me,oh, I bought the truck from St.
Louis and it was actually avegan food truck.
the people in St.
(03:59):
Louis, ended up getting a brickand mortar.
So they sold a food truck.
Heather (04:02):
the universe really wanted that food truck to be
vegan.
it had a short stint of, greasytacos that were not vegan.
then went vegan.
when you first started yourtruck being that you've never
been in the restaurant business,how did you come up with your
first menu and pick that out?
Anette Swindin (04:17):
I had been cooking, all along for, pop ups,
so I had a feel.
And my whole concept was to makeregular Meat eater foods and
turn it vegan because there'snot a lot of vegans in this area
or plant based up in Cleveland.
I never ventured my food truckup an hour away.
I was a little nervous going onthe highway with it.
Although she probably would havedone fine.
(04:37):
so I just kind of.
Like research, a lot of researchand decided, you know, burgers
loaded, nachos, vegan hot dogs.
then, had kind of a core menu.
And would do specials, likeoyster mushroom po boys.
I would, introduce people tojackfruit, buffalo, cauliflower
wraps, that kind of thing I,would.
Experiment and see what worked.
Heather (04:57):
did you try to keep your menu limited or were you
exploring different things?
did you structure it?
Anette Swindin (05:03):
I had sections.
I had, my burger section.
So it would be likeacheeseburger I would have like
three different burgers.
And then I would do, differenthot dog toppings, like a Chicago
dog, a chili dog.
then I would do loaded nachos.
They were really popular.
I had chili and cheese saucethatI made.
Everything was made from scratchwith the exceptions of the
(05:23):
burgers and the hot dogs.
I would buy those.
It would be cohesive like Iwould have.
Mac and cheese because I had thecheese sauce.
one thing led to the other Iusually had two specials, if I
got a deal on, cauliflowers Iwould do the Buffalo cauliflower
wrap.
They were really popular.
I have a local gal that does,mushrooms.
so I would do different thingswith oyster mushrooms and at the
farmer's market where theuniversity was, Kent State, I
(05:45):
would have a little bit of abreakfast menu because that was
early in the morning from nineto one,
Heather (05:50):
when you first started out, how did you know which
locations to go to?
How did you scout those out?
Anette Swindin (05:55):
my first year I did anybody that would take me,
which was mistake because I'dwalk away making 50.
then, I started getting smarterlast year.
I only picked events.
I knew I would do well at, inour town in Canton.
We have what's called 1stFriday.
It's kind of like a partydowntown.
the 1st years I did that, therewas only like 4 or 5 food trucks
(06:16):
and it was a big thing if yougot picked to do it.
this past couple years, the lasttime I did it, I was not happy.
There were 20 food trucks, waytoo many there's different
events around town.
I did well at farmers marketsbecause that's where more people
are healthy a lot of graduationparties.
I did, A couple of weddings, anddifferent parties.
when people say, oh, we havesome vegans, but will you make
(06:37):
regular food And I said, no, mytruck is a vegan food truck.
I'm not going to compromisethat.
And I could have made moremoney,
Heather (06:43):
Well, good for you.
we have to stand by our ethicsso much of being a vegan is
sending a message food can stillbe delicious.
Meat eaters can eat vegan foodand they'll probably enjoy
Anette Swindin (06:53):
a matter of fact.
A friend of mine, and herhusband neither one of them are
plant based, and her husband waslike, yeah, your food is so
good, you would never know thatit's vegan.
I know a lot of times when I wasat events, they didn't know one
time I had a guy come up to me,he ordered, pretzels with my
cheese sauce and he goes,there's something off with this
cheese I said, well, it's vegan.
(07:14):
And he goes, Oh, I have veganall over my menu all over my
truck.
I'm like, I'm so sorry.
You don't know how to read yeah,it's just different but one
person they ordered my chili macwhich was my chili with Mac and
cheese, and I layer it with morecheese sauce, and they were not
vegan.
They came back and told me itwas the best thing they ever
had, then I did another event,and they came.
(07:35):
We knew you were going to behere, so we had to come and get
that chili mac you made.
some people get it, which isnice.
Heather (07:41):
what is a big lesson that you have learned that other
food truck owners, should know?
Anette Swindin (07:46):
the most important thing for me was to
not take every event like myfirst year I did.
this past year, I was veryselective.
in past I might have done.
60 events for this season.
some people.
Do way more than that this pastyear.
I did maybe 30 I made just asmuch money.
the 1st year.
You probably should go out thereand do everything to get your
(08:08):
name known....
and then you can start.
Being a little more selective ifyou've gone to an event, there's
a lot of people there, you know.
Oh, I want to get my truck here.
that's very important.
a lot of times if you getcontacted and say, Hey, can you
do our event?
I always ask.
how many people do you expect?
how many food trucks are theregoing to be?
even though I'm a vegan foodtruck and it's very selective.
(08:31):
I found like at the Canton firstFriday.
when there were only five foodtrucks, I did well because
people would go, well, let's trythis, right?
There's 20 food trucks.
They have so much to choosefrom.
They're not going to pick avegan food truck if they're not
vegan.
be selective.
Heather (08:46):
What about the cost to be at these events?
Are some More expensive thanothers, and how do you justify
the cost?
Does it depend on how manytrucks are going to be there and
the promised amount of people atthe event?
Anette Swindin (08:58):
That's a big thing.
that's why I like doing farmersmarkets.
it wasn't very much, but some ofthese bigger events, they can be
275 the 1 event that I did.
Do that cost me 275.
I do well, and I've done itevery year it's worth it.
I make up my money.
Heather (09:14):
you've tapped into catering and other type of
events.
You mentioned corporate events.
How are you getting thoseclients?
Are they word of mouth?
networking?
How do you get those?
Anette Swindin (09:24):
Yes, mostly word of mouth That's one thing about
doing those events.
I would go on Facebook, in myarea, there's page called,
Northeast Ohio food truckspeople post.
looking for a food truck.
We have this event coming up onsuch and such date at this
place.
if you're interested, contact usthat's a good way to find
events.
once you're out there for ayear, they contact you.
(09:46):
Oh, can you do our event again?
I've already been contacted forseveral events for this season
So that's another thing there'sa lot on Facebook, I learned a
lot from different people askingquestions.
You have to watch out forscammers I got asked to do an
event at a country club.
I'm like, why would they want afood truck at a country club?
it was for this particularorganization and they were
(10:08):
having a meeting.
I said, I'm going to show up at.
That meaning and just find outmore about it because I didn't
get a good feeling Sure enough.
The woman said oh, that's ascam.
you just have to be careful ifanybody asks for money up front,
you just have to be reallycareful.
That's why I always went withplaces I knew events I knew
Heather (10:24):
that's very important because there's so many scammers
out there.
I put on a vegan event.
This past winter and there was aperson scamming on Facebook,
trying to sell tables at myevent.
I could not believe it
Anette Swindin (10:37):
It's frightening.
especially with food trucks,people get burned, if you do a
catered event, just say it's Xamount my minimum is this and
whatever it might be and be realup front And then at like
corporate events, I say, myminimum to be there is a 1000
dollars.
if I make 1000 dollars.
you don't owe me anything.
if I only make 800, You owe me200 you can play hardball with
(10:59):
them if you're traveling far,they're telling you, oh, we have
300 employees and then you getthere and you're making all this
food and.
then no one buys it.
You want to make sure you'repaying for your food that you
made.
Heather (11:11):
that's a great idea to have a minimum as a base so that
you'll at least make that if notmore.
Anette Swindin (11:16):
I had to learn the hard way if they don't want
to pay it's not worth beingthere because you can't make all
your food and come home andyou've made negative 500.
That's just not worth it.
Heather (11:25):
Right.
driving there with gas prices,and you buy ahead and you think
that you're going to sell acertain amount of food and now
you have all this inventory andyou can't get rid of it.
Unfortunately, food does notkeep for very long.
Anette Swindin (11:38):
yeah, so that's that's real important to learn
You have to learned the hardway.
when you're beginning, you doeverything because you want your
name out there.
Heather (11:46):
Yeah.
And you get excited Oh, someonewants me.
They said, yes, and then we putdown our guard and we forget
like, Oh, there's scammers outthere or, Oh, maybe they're
inflating the numbers of peoplethat are going to buy or be at
the event.
Anette Swindin (11:57):
And they definitely do that.
And then, there's times At thisbig event my girl that helps me,
we set everything up I get inthe truck It wouldn't start.
sometimes that happens I missedout on that event because my
truck wouldn't go.
you can make money, depending onwhat area you're in.
my area.
I tried to keep with mainstreamstuff because if I did anything
(12:18):
too outrageous, it would be toodifferent I tried to make
everything as healthy aspossible..
but, depending on where you'reat, you can do wonderful things,
you know, I sold a lot ofburgers.
and they were burgers that Ipurchased from a company called
motif.
you can't buy them in the store.
I went to a vegan, convention inNew York a couple of years ago,
and I found them there they werejust so delicious and lower in
(12:40):
fat even though I've been vegan,since 2009, so quite a long
time, I still loved burgers,cheeseburgers.
to me, they came close to what Iremembered, a real cheeseburger,
and people loved them.
Heather (12:51):
when you first started, what is one thing that you
learned
Anette Swindin (12:54):
if you own a food truck and you're new, make
sure you have a lot.
Extra cash because you neverknow what could happen to the
truck my generator was acting upI had to get that fixed it's
always a little bit ofsomething.
Heather (13:05):
There's so many moving parts that can go wrong.
when you first started out, didyou have savings put aside?
Did you take out loans?
Anette Swindin (13:13):
I was fortunate.
I had a savings.
so I was able to buy my truckand, go from there.
lot of credit card.
I kind of maxed out you know, gobuy food and stuff But then, you
make money and you, pay themoff, you definitely have to have
some reserve of money or areable to get money I don't know
if I mentioned, I am selling mytruck.
anybody needs a food truck.
I got a really nice food truck Iloved doing it but when you do
(13:37):
everything by yourself, it'shard.
that's why I think I'm going tobreak off and do take and bake
stuff.
I'll be very sad when my truckgoes,
Heather (13:44):
food trucks are a great way of getting your name out
there being seen in thecommunity as stepping stone for
something else.
it could mean a brick and mortarthat you're doing more catering,
individual pop ups, parties, andthen like you're doing getting
into a whole new stream ofincome Right.
I'm assuming you're going toeither cook from home or have a
commissary kitchen.
(14:04):
how did you get into the localgrocery store?
Anette Swindin (14:06):
when I don't have the truck anymore.
I have a commissary kitchen andthis particular store contacted
me.
they knew of my truck heard Iwas thinking of selling it they
were asking me, what are yougoing to do?
they have a commissary too.
they contacted me.
And then they go, oh, we wouldlove you to.
Sell your food in ourcommissary.
I haven't done it yet because Ifound out I have to have another
(14:27):
certification It's like amanagement certification.
And I'm like, oh, my God, I'vebeen running a food truck for 6
years.
So.
she goes, well, yeah, I know.
So
Heather (14:36):
Do you have to have labels with the contents?
Anette Swindin (14:38):
yeah, the label has to have what's in it.
fortunately, when you do plantbase, you won't have any
unrecognizable names.
It'll be like.
Nutritional yeast, you know,onion powder, onions, so that's
good.
you do have to have it labeled.
a couple of years ago, I was thevegan chef at a that was a
really nice event because it wasduring winter months, it took me
(15:00):
an hour to get there and I hadto get up at 430 in the morning,
but it was worth it.
anyway.
a lot of opportunity out therewith a food truck.
That's for sure.
go to a college because theyalways have some sort of events
going on all the time
Heather (15:12):
who would they contact at a college?
Is there a particular department
Anette Swindin (15:15):
call the college and say, I'm looking for the
events planner they might say,we don't have that.
then say, I have a food truck.
I'm looking at the person thatmight want to.
Book us or whatever.
they'll tell you who to go to.
Fortunately, all the collegeshad contacted me because there's
not very many vegan food trucksin my area.
So, if they wanted plant base,they always would say, we heard
(15:36):
about you and positive reviews.
I was very lucky I'm sad, tosell the truck, but just on to
the next venture.
Heather (15:42):
when you first bought the truck, being that it was
already a vegan truck, then itwas a taco truck, Did you have
to do much as far as repairs orupgrades to it, or was it pretty
much ready to go?
Anette Swindin (15:51):
it was pretty much ready to go.
there was just a flat top inhere.
There wasn't an oven.
the 1st year I did use that.
the fryer was in here.
I never use the fryer.
the 2nd year I.
Got the fire out and then I hada stove put in like a regular
stove.
that was probably the only thingI changed in the truck.
(16:11):
when I purchased it, it wasready to go.
I had my refrigerators and mysteaming, table ready to go.
Heather (16:18):
if someone wants to buy your truck, then it's pretty
much good to go.
Anette Swindin (16:21):
nice about my truck is my generator's built
in.
if you go events you'll noticepeople, have their generators
away from the truck Mine's builtin.
So, all I have to do is hit theswitch and it goes on.
My propane tank is also built inunderneath the truck.
when I bought the truck, I hadno idea about any of this.
I didn't realize how lucky I was
Heather (16:41):
You hear so many horror stories about all the things
people have to do
Anette Swindin (16:44):
Someone was watching over me for sure.
Heather (16:46):
when you first were taking payment, you're new to
all of this, did you have A POS.
were you taking cash creditcards?
How did that work for you?
Anette Swindin (16:53):
I take any form of credit cards and use, square.
I highly recommended you do haveto pay for that.
It's a percentage of your totalsales.
It didn't amount to that muchbecause then at the end of the
event.
I would put the menu on theSquare app I could see how many
burgers I sold, how many nachosI sold.
it was really nice.
then I knew year to year, Oh, Iwent to this event last year and
(17:17):
sold a lot of mac and cheese, soI better make a lot of mac and
cheese.
it was really helpful.
highly recommend Square.
Heather (17:24):
I love that you looked back at the data and you made
conscious decisions around like,this is what sold before.
I'm going to double down on thisagain the next year.
How did you determine yourpricing?
Did you just look at whateverybody else was doing?
you measuring each thing tofigure out how much you're going
to charge?
How did that work for you?
Anette Swindin (17:40):
I would get yelled at by my sister.
You don't know exactly how muchyou make.
And I kind of did because like,let's say a burger.
I knew how much I paid perburger per piece of cheese.
hamburger bun.
I figured, okay, it cost me X tomake this.
I can charge X, X, X, to makeprofit.
my prices were well withineverybody else's food trucks.
Heather (17:59):
what about all of the extra things like utensils I
don't know in Ohio if you haveany kind of regulations but some
places they have to becompostable Did you have any
restrictions to abide by thatwas more expensive
Anette Swindin (18:11):
since I'm a vegan food truck, I try to be,
proactive.
recyclable.
products that's what I use inyour pricing, you figured how
much is that going to cost you?
Heather (18:20):
any last thoughts you want to tell people if they're
wanting to take the same kind ofadventure you have?
Anette Swindin (18:26):
I would say go for it.
I did this adventure at 60.
I'm turning 67 in April.
that's why I decided it's timeto semi retire the food truck.
I figured I was in my lastchapter of my life.
I should just go for it.
So I would say go for it.
I knew absolutely nothing.
if I can do it, anybody can doit.
(18:46):
I did a lot of reading andresearch.
you have to have some extramoney available.
to pay for gas and propane andall of that, but it is
definitely worth it.
it depends on your area too.
Heather (18:56):
you've got such a great personality.
I think that probably lentitself for you.
Getting so many gigs, throughyour truck you have this aura
about you it's very comforting.
Anette Swindin (19:06):
Oh, yeah.
on big events, I had somebodyhelp me taking orders that
person is very important mybacks.
To whoever's buying my foodbecause I'm busy prepping it.
So whoever is your person takingthe money make sure they have a
great personality because youcould lose sales fortunately,
I've had great people helping methat were just as vivacious and
(19:26):
Fun, a lot of people would makecomments.
Oh, those 2 girls were so muchfun she was phenomenal.
I've had great people to helpalso you have to be fast.
That's really important.
There's only ever been 2 peopleon my truck, me and another
person.
And I'm the only 1 that'sbasically doing the food.
1 time I went to a food truckand there were 3 people helping
and the food took forever.
(19:46):
I have everything prepped andready to go because people hate
to wait.
Heather (19:50):
especially at an event where there's things going on.
Maybe there's music and peoplewant to get to a concert.
They're just going to getannoyed.
you don't want that to be whatthey remember you by
Anette Swindin (19:59):
exactly.
Heather (20:00):
Annette, thank you so much for being on the podcast
today.
Anette Swindin (20:03):
Oh, thanks for having me.
It was so fun.
if you know anyone that wants afood truck, contact me.
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