4 years In: What DID we learn? What is Next? AND THANK YOU FOR ALL SUPPORT!

Before I say anything about these past 4 years, I first need to say that we owe a debt of gratitude that cannot be repaid to anyone that is reading this right now. Yes you! If you have your eyeballs on this, whether you are a family member, one-time customer, one hundred time customer, brewery owner, market runner, volunteer helper (lol), fellow food truck friend, booked us for a party, event organizer, friend, James, Dom, or any of the infinite categories not included there, I am grateful for you. You gave us a chance! A lot of you probably gave us a chance when we didn’t have a single clue what we were doing, and that is invaluable, so thank you. 

The main questions that you’re probably asking if you’re reading this (I have to assume) are: 

Why are you stopping? 

What are you doing next? 

Will I still be able to get delicious Tuckedito grub in the future? 

I will answer those and some other ones for you (and hopefully for me too as I wander on). 

However, I will come back to these BIG questions. I am going to first answer the question about what have I learned in the full 4 years and the last 2 years since I wrote this blog (sorry i missed last year, 2023 version for reference: https://smallbusinessblog.ghost.io/two-years-in-what-else-have-we-learned/). I’m just going to highlight 3 takeaways I have so i’m not too long-winded and get to what you really want to hear. 

Relentlessly Refine Processes

The biggest business-related learning that I’ve had is that processes are of utmost importance. As a team, James, Dom and I work together very well, however it takes more than that to be successful and sustain a business. We were able to organize ourselves and our procedures in a way that made our business very efficient and (mostly) pleasant to run from all of 2024 and 2025. I’m not saying the first 2 years weren’t pleasant, but the last 2 have been night and day in comparison. The amount of regular stress we were under while working out the kinks and learning the basics is hard to fathom and my reflection on it isn’t nearly as bad as some days felt in the moment. 

The software tools, kitchen techniques, communication templates, and more are what made this improvement in daily life running this business so glaring. We created and refined them, then repeated that process throughout this journey. What I’m saying here is that we worked hard on our processes, stripped away waste, and dialed them in to a point that saved us A LOT of time and money. It made this venture a sustainable, livable wage with tons of in-built flexibility as a business owner. If you work hard and have good people around you, and finally you relentlessly refine your processes, you can own and run a profitable business. Feels good to have proven that out. 

One other side note for those that know me, this learning directly relates to what I majored in at Penn State. Industrial Engineering, that’s the imaginary engineering major that constantly gets made fun of, but efficiency and relentless process improvement make or break a business. The funnier part of this side note is that in our business, James was 5x the process engineer that I was, which tells you that majoring in something in college doesn’t really mean shit. Life and business are about action and in this category James excelled at acting, I have other strengths but have to give credit where credit is due. 

Relationships

Classic trope, and yes I’m going to beat the dead horse. If you think relationships are important in politicking your way up the corporate ladder, they are absolutely essential when running your own business. Whether it’s with suppliers, customers, accountants, employees, etc., you need to build relationships. On one side, if you are jerk to people, that will lead to you paying higher prices, seeing less customers, and experiencing more headaches with minimal growth. However, if you are kind and intentional about how you reach out and respond to people, the opposite will be true and doors will open that you didn’t know were there. We’ve had countless opportunities that come indirectly from remembering a customer’s name, or doing more than expected or paid for at a private event, or just chatting with another food truck owner, talking to staff at a brewery, etc. There’s tons of examples but you get the point.

For me it was easier to develop relationships while running our own business, as I was being myself more than trying to fit into some perceived company culture. I felt that pressure in some previous jobs and it probably affected how I acted in hindsight. Either way, I love people and meeting new people, even though I’m not always great at putting myself out there to do so. As a business owner I was forced to put myself out there regularly and this was greatly fulfilling although scary at some points. The amount of good people I met during these last 4 years is an order of magnitude greater than my prior career and I’m grateful for that. The other cool part about it was that the majority of these people are members of our local community, which I had spent approximately zero time in since college after living in 3 different states. I hope to run into you all in the future and just know that I’ve enjoyed the seemingly minor interactions we’ve had. 

Commitment

You have to be driven to a level where success is the only option. For us that meant burning the boats behind us and fully quitting our jobs with no part-time income to be had. It was all or nothing. I’m glad we chose this way as I’ve realized, through observing other people and businesses, that if you play the half-in, half-out game there will likely never be a “right” time to go all in. Therefore, you will just never do it and look back wishing you did. And success for us was creating a business that provided enough income to live off of. We were committed to that version of success from day one in 2021. 

We had been tip-toeing around starting a business for over 4 years and had never even done it part-time, never made a single sale. The regret started to get heavy when I would look back at conversations we’d had 3 or 4 years prior and I felt like I was still standing in the same place. Jumping off the cliff was the way to force our commitment and the single most important step that we had yet to take. We’ve stayed committed over the 4 years and that’s why it has worked. 

This learning brings to mind a quote that I’m sure many are familiar with and I believe it’s good advice, “BUY THE TICKET, TAKE THE RIDE.”. I’m glad to have taken this ride and look forward to the next!

Processes, Relationships, and Commitment, these are 3 pillars that I will come back to in my future ventures. 

Part 2: Why, What Next and No More Taquitos?

Alright, you made it through the first 1000+ words, thanks for soldiering on (or skipping to this section). 

Why?

I like to take calculated risks and I think that doing so is key, rather than wasting away taking the easy route out of fear. It’s brought me to where I am now and this mindset will direct my journey forward.

This leads me to the first and main reason that we are ending this business. Most people believe maximizing security guarantees happiness; I believe that consistently allocating your life-energy (time + money) to asymmetric bets is what makes an authentic and fulfilling life. Asymmetric bets are things like starting a business (uncapped upside versus downside is what you put in), writing and selling a book, investing in options or startups, etc. Starting this business was an example for me. 

That being said, James and I have, together, made the calculation that scaling this business is not worth the price we’d pay in terms of finances, lifestyle, and passion. It is a business where you truly have to love the work, you are bound to be busiest on weekends, and the logical next step of a brick-and-mortar was looking more like another type jail sentence to us. I don’t necessarily love cooking or hauling heavy shit or scheduling events and the back and forth, but I do love the people. I have enjoyed the freedom and flexibility. Many days I do like the kitchen routine and bullshitting with James about whatever crazy ideas we have on our minds. However, in this business you are tying up capital in a tight-margin venture that requires high volume, which equals even more of your time whether that is in training and managing new employees or doing the physical work yourself (see reference at the end of this section). 

I believe we could be successful scaling this but the timeline, and the day-in, day-out lifestyle required to do it is not something we want to sign up for. Yes this is just talk and talk doesn’t mean anything, but if you want my honest answer I do believe we could succeed in executing the next steps. Nothing is guaranteed and that is where the calculation of what we’d be risking came into play. Yes this means we didn’t have the foresight when we started it to picture this moment, but as mentioned earlier we were at the point where we just needed to take the jump. This experience will also guide me on my next step and I will map out what the longer term future looks like for the business that I am in. 

I have experienced a much more meaningful and fulfilling life in these past 4 years as compared to the prior 4 which is my main measuring stick when reflecting on my life. Instead of faking it in a corporate office and running out the clock every day collecting the biweekly paycheck, I have been filling my time with work that is directly tied to my livelihood. Each decision and action has been mine, I don’t stop to think “what does my boss want me to do here?” or “what would look best to my coworkers?”. 

Already when telling some friends or acquaintances about this decision they’ve responded with sympathy, but I don’t need an ounce of pity. This is a decision I made of my own volition and I wouldn’t have made it if I didn’t think the future would be better for me than if I continued operating the business. I was at one point thinking of continuing it without James as he initially was the one who wanted to put an end date on it. After further consideration I decided that it still wouldn’t be worth it. So really, I am selfishly doing what I calculate as the best move for me. Yes, I am a sentimental person and I’m sure during these last weeks/months of running the truck I will get sad going to breweries for the last time, or talking with friends that come get a meal. I’ll damn sure be counting the "lasts" in my head as we go and I know 10 years down the line that I’ll even wish I could go back to that final post-service dish cleaning. Hope to have some good final service days with all of you. I wouldn’t change a thing though!

our main reasons for moving on we identified early as I stated back in the year 1&2 learnings blog: “Margins - Honestly had never really thought about what margins meant or even dwelled on the word at all before going into business. Sounds dumb, but it's true. I had no reason to think about them. You need to be extremely conscious about margins to run a profitable business. In the food service business specifically, since it is such a wide-ranging and gigantic market, the margins are much tighter than other most other types of businesses. This means that you need to do more volume in sales to make a livable wage, which in turn equals more physical work.”

From year 2 learnings another main reason:“Expansion is tough and it becomes a chicken or the egg problem. You need more employees to book more business, but you also need confirmed consistent business to hire more employees. This is something we are currently learning but have not found a clear solution or path forward just yet.”

No More Taquitos?

As of this writing the answer to this question is no (sad face). We do have the business on the market and if anyone reading this has any (or knows anyone that may have) interest in continuing the brand or anything along those lines, we’d definitely be open to talk. Again feel free to reach out at the contact info at the bottom of the “What Next?” section! If nothing comes from that route unfortunately the only way to get some delicious tuckedito food will be to go to James’s house and force him to whip you up something in the backyard on the flattop! 

What Next?

The answer to this question is a bit more open-ended for me than James (you'll probably hear from him in blog form as well). “I have some ideas” is what I’ve said to many people who have asked me recently, and that is true. Vague, but true. In the immediate future, I am taking this window of opportunity to travel for a bit over a month to Europe. Trip is mostly planned out, but if anyone has any must-see or do recommendations on the continent of Europe, send em my way. I haven’t done much international travel up to this point in my life at 31 (besides the sweet family trip we just took to Paris, Amsterdam, and Brussels/Bruges), and to me it’s another asymmetric action you can take. Yes it’s not necessarily “productive” like starting a business and giving it all of your time, or making an investment with a large portion of your capital. However, it has the possibility to shift your perspective on life completely and in turn your direction, and at the least you are experiencing completely foreign cultures and learning a little while having fun. 

When I get back from this trip I plan on hitting the ground running with attempting a solo freelance/startup business. I won’t get into deep detail on my “ideas” here, as I’d like to have them more fleshed out before presenting them in a way that presumes I have something up and running. I have 2 or 3 different Software as a Service (SAAS) based business ideas that I’m currently doing market research on and some of the early steps of building. I’m far from an expert in the software field but I have taught myself enough coding to be dangerous with the help of AI tools in the past few years.

This type of business fits the goal of divorcing my income from my physical presence if successful, which was the bottleneck in the food truck game (my back and knees feel it). The main downside of this type of venture is it’s more anti-social than I would like. I am a people person and dislike staring at my computer for 10 hours with no social interaction. If you’re similar-minded or interested in hearing more about what I’m going to be doing I’m going to leave contact info below.

Also as I said I’m still very open-minded about the future so if anyone needs help with a project, a small business, or any outlandish opportunity/idea you think I could be useful for, feel free to hit me up. My number is the one on google and the side of our truck (this leads to some hilarious calls, 215-518-6296), you can dm tuckedito, or email me @ tuckedito@gmail.com for now. 

HOPE TO SEE YA AT THE WINDOW DURING THE STRETCH RUN LET’S MAKE THIS SUMMER A GREAT ONE!

I’LL LEAVE YOU WITH A LINE THAT HOLDS TRUE FROM THE YEAR 1 BLOG

“loyal customers are the best, especially on a slow day!”