Well, now's as good a time as any
For years I’ve talked about starting a blog on here to relay info, tell you our funny mishaps, and share our experiences. So, now that you have plenty of time to read it, I figure I should get on it!
What a crazy time, huh? Truly unprecedented times for the vast majority of people on the earth. Certainly for Americans. Nearly every industry is getting hit pretty hard, but small businesses and retail are taking an enormous hit at this time. I am looking forward to chronicling our experience through all of this.
Our main goal, obviously, is to still be here on the other end of all of this. This has meant a complete 180 in how we do business and how we have built our business over the last 4 years. This time of year especially, we rely heavily on breweries, private catering, and private events to make our sales. On March 11th the cancellations started coming in. I think I really realized that we were in big trouble when the NBA shut down on Wednesday night. I spent the better part of Thursday and Friday sobbing knowing that a) we could lose our business through all of this and b) I was most likely going to have to let my whole staff go. It was the second one that really killed me. We think of our staff as family and knowing that I was now going to make them as nervous about when the next paycheck would come as I was, well, it just broke my heart.
By March 13th all of our private catering and private events were cancelled through March. On March 16th, all the breweries in Colorado were shut down by order of the Governor. Now we had no where to go.
Fortunately, during this time we saw the writing on the wall. We knew we were going to have to change some things up. We knew that we needed to do things to help people “self-distance” themselves by offering online ordering and pick-up and delivery options. We also started reaching out to places we had been before and offering to park our truck at their locations for pick-up orders. In addition, we were lucky enough to be connected with some other trucks and we have all been working to arrange to have the truck at neighborhoods and apartment buildings so people can still get take-out food and we can still try to keep some money flowing through our businesses. Jason and I are working EVERYDAY trying to keep afloat. Some days we work as many as 10-15 hours. Then I come home to schedule social posts, send email marketing, respond to emails, make phone calls and send emails to find new spots, and more. No one said running your own business was easy, right? I’m not complaining, believe me. But after 4 years of working tirelessly to grow our business, it is soul crushing to be desperately trying to save it at this point.
Will it be enough? As of right now, probably not. We have a little in savings, but *NEWS FLASH* no one is getting rich running a food truck. When business is good, it is enough to support our family, but our margins are VERY LOW. At this point, we are just trying to produce as much revenue as possible so we don’t burn through our safety net as quickly. If this only lasts a month or two, we’ll be fine. If this goes on for many more months, I don’t know what the future holds. Today we we notified that City Park Jazz, one of our greatest summer revenue sources, has been canceled for the WHOLE SEASON. We are hoping other festivals and events hold off a little longer before making such rash decisions.
There are many things you can be doing to help small businesses during this time. If you are still getting a paycheck, please continue to support food outlets that are offering take-out and delivery by ordering ahead (your exposure risk is far less there than the grocery store), buy gift cards to enjoy once we are on the other end of this madness, and leave bigger tips than you normally would. If you don’t have money to spare at this point, you can still help small businesses by sharing their posts on FB/Insta and encouraging your friends to like their page. Consistently commenting on their posts and “liking” their posts with the LOVE and WOW choices will also help their posts to be viewed by a larger audience.
HOW YOU CAN SUPPORT US:
We are now offering family style meals that serve 4-6 people for only $35. Each meal includes a large salad, entree of your choice, and 6 freshly baked cookies. We’ll even deliver it to the Denver metro area for only $5 more. Entrees are sure to be family pleasers with options like Taco night, burger night, BBQ Pork mac and cheese, chicken Parmesan subs AND MORE! And with a constant rotation of menu items, you can keep ordering each week. Meals are also designed to be reheated and the delivery fee is per ORDER so you can stock up and save. Don’t think we’ll deliver to you? I bet we will! Think you can get 5 or more orders from your neighborhood on the same day? We’ll waive EVERYONE’S delivery fee, contact us to set it up for your neighborhood today!
Additionally, our truck is out and about A LOT right now, so we might just be near you soon. Keep an eye on our schedule to see if we are near you so you can order online and come grab pick-up meals from our regular truck menu.
Both options are available from the front page of our website www.jstreetfoodtruck.com
I know many of you are going through the same things and I feel for you as well. We are all in this together. Hang in there. Check on your friends and neighbors. Keep your elderly family and friends on lock down. This too shall pass.