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Ancho Chile Pumpkin Pie Belgium Waffles … YUM!
Rob Baron’s goal is to deliver “Food For The Soul” to the masses. As a self-described life-long restaurant industry wonk, foodie, and culinary school of hard knocks graduate, Rob is in the process of starting his own food truck business called Doc Baron’s and doing everything right along the way BEFORE investing in a vehicle. Instead of dropping ten’s of thousands of dollars on a truck, Rob started doing catering events serving up the same theme of comfort food with a twist that he plans to offer out of a serving window in the not too distant future. As a result, Rob has been able to start testing recipes and building a brand locally for around $5,000.
Rob’s journey is similar to a lot like other people hoping to forge out on their own and start a food business. Rob has worked as a chef for many years and also within the POS industry, which has allowed him to get a different perspective on the food concepts that are winners and losers. Part of this previous experience has helped him determine that a comfort food business is one that would be successful long term.
In addition to learning about Rob’s catering business, you will also hear his perspective on being in FoodTruckEmpire.com’s Food Truck Academy. This includes positive feedback about the program and his advice on what would make the course better moving forward. All this and more is in episode 83 of the program.
Quotes from the Show
What’s growing right now will continue to grow. You can’t swing a dead cat in Denver without hitting a microbrewery. – Rob Barron on food industry trends he expects will continue.
Forty to fifty is probably the max without any prep help. I’ve got to figure out what I’m going to do about that. – Rob Barron on growing his catering business to larger events.
What You’ll Learn
- How to bootstrap a food business for about $5,000.
- How Rob came up with menu ideas for his catering business and why he’s sticking to comfort food.
- Tips for having consultative discussions with catering customers before the event
- How to come up with creative menu items like pepperoni the pizza grilled cheese sammy
- Ways to test permanent menu items through catering events
- Why 40 – 50 people is about the max you can serve as an individual caterer.
- How old fashioned word-of-mouth advertising has helped keep Rob busy with events.
- Why Rob started by building getting a business license, website, and researched the laws and regulations for his area before getting started.
- A prediction that the all-natural, farm-to-table concept is here to say.
- Breweries and food trucks symbiotic relationship in Denver.
- Why Rob has chosen to start a food truck as the next stage in his business empire.
- Advice on how you can grow your own food business organically.
Mentioned in the Podcast
Doc Baron’s Food for the Soul – The Facebook page for Rob’s catering business: Doc Baron’s Food For The Soul. Check out photos of past catering events and contact Rob for your next event in the Denver area.
