The Tech Caterer to the Stars and A Silicon Valley Vet Try to Launch the Hardest Bootstrapped Startup in the Bay Area: A New Food Truck!
So, here we are, 3 weeks ago, as we are both between jobs, someone must have “incepted” my lovely wife with the idea that this is the best time to launch a food truck. (and to complicate matters, is not Tacos!) And now, we are knee-deep in printed Zoning maps of the Bay Area, health departments’ registration forms, confusing requirements for 3 counties and 6 cities, a dozen bookmarked food trucks, a ton of videos watched, and our same tiny budget re-done a 1,000 times in excel like some sort of AI trying all the combinations. How did we get here?
The Cast of Characters for this adventure:
My Wife, The Tech Caterer to the Stars: First of Her Name, the Unburnt Cook, Queen of the Pizzas made by the First Robots, Khaleesi of Filipino Food, and Mother of one Dragon. Armed with a Culinary degree, and a business degree, she rose from Corporate Kitchens in Silicon Valley to lead food operations at that Pizza-Robot place loved by Softbank, filling 10+ food trucks of pies everyday. Then after that, moved up as manager catering private flights for the NFL, NBA and private flights at Gate Gourmet at SFO. She met Vinod Khosla before I ever did, and I had lived here almost ten years at that point.
The Silicon Valley Techie: Someone has to play the role of organizing paperwork, permits, insurance, calculate take rates of many POS systems, figure out the legalese in English terms. I also get to use those risk charts I learned at my MBA. Years of writing marketing legalese have trained me for this moment, I guess. I’ve done paperwork for my own startup’s incorporation and stock issuance, and I swear this is way harder. No joke. At some point I’ll likely have to drive the truck too! If this was Charlie’s Angels, I would be the smart one. I wont be making the food, so you can rest easy.
The Talent behind the Scenes: Our third partner, who is a master cook of Filipino food and can really nail that ‘from home’ flavor lost in many Franchise foods. Also worked at Gate Gourmet, making sure 100’s of flights have their meals. He kicks ass and works fast. We all have our secret sauce. He is our secret sauce.
The USS Bourdain: The name of our future food truck. Rough, but strong, and ready to make food at any point. I’ll get to say: ‘Number one, engage!’
So, come, and follow our adventures. Are we crazy? Can we validate the market? Can we minimize risk, launch with an acceptable COA, and get the ROI? What are the market signals, in favor or against our plan? Let’s hope we can make it. Or learn something.
