CHEF SAMBRANO Food Articles Video Recipes

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

An Aspiring Business Owner Talks

I'll call him Billy, he doesn't want to be known right now. Billy is a local guy from Maui, in his mid forties, out of work, has some money, and wants to start a food business. The business is a food truck selling local plates. Billy has worked in the construction biz, but that came to a major halt, he and his wife is struggling, and their thoughts are, "we need to be creative in these times can't depend on the government." So what's his plan? Well, he has the big picture thinking, now he's doing some strategic planning, what he needs to do, and how he's going about getting it. Well, he has some money for the truck, but now what?


"It's a hard business to get into when you don't have much cash on hand to start, I have enough for an old school bus, I can fix it up myself and get it running so we can sell food near the beaches and parks, but it won't be a lunch truck that will travel from one end of Maui to the other. It won't travel far, and I'm good with hooking up all the warmers."


Billy needs to get some money for other things, like money to survive for a few months too, "I got money right now to get the truck running but after that what do I do? The money I'm using is from savings, if I start the business, I'll be flat broke. I have to plan this out and really focus."


Like most business owners, finding the cash is hard these days, Billy has a relative, an uncle who worked for a power company on the mainland, he's retired, and Billy is contemplating asking his uncle for some financial help. "He's the only one in my ohana that can possibly loan me the money for this venture." But he is hesitant because his uncle is a hard nosed person when it comes to money. "He'll drive a beat up truck until it dies, I know he's got money, but it is his to do what he pleases, I just know I can make it, I just need some help, someone to believe in me and my wife, just one person can get me going, someone that can loan me money, because I have bad credit like millions of people in this country, but I'm not playing the victim, I want to work, for myself, for my ohana."


Billy understands too, that he'll need a professional kitchen to cook his local foods, and he'll need insurance, and licenses and all of that, he really knows his stuff. "I know what needs to be done as far as setting up the business, but man, money to start it off, if I had that, I'd be selling my product, not complaining about not having the cash.


I asked him what he'd cook to break the frustration he was sharing with me and he said he'd make fried fish, stir fried tako, salmon, shrimp plates, his mom's meatloaf, and adobo. "I'll stick to what I do best, I'm really not a trained chef, but the stuff I can do well, people eat all of it, so that's what I'll be known for hopefully, hopefully."


Let's keep people hopeful shall we? If someone is sharing their dreams with you, help them keep their dreams alive, never kill it, keep it alive!

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