10个问题对当地食品企业家:阿里方
This interview was originally published onExaminer.com。
In April, founder ofChicken ‘n Rice Guysand Babson alum Ian So (B’08) asked me to moderate afood truck panelat CIC’sVenture Café.On the panel with Ian and the founder ofMei Mei Street Kitchen阿里方,著名的波士顿食品t背后的女人ruck我苯教.Here, Ali shares a bit of her mindset for launching and growing波士顿’s Best Food Truck.
1.What was the seed for what is now Bon Me?
It started with just one silly idea: we saw [the inaugural波士顿 Food Truck Challengein 2010] and liked the sound of it, so we entered.I’d visited food trucks on the west coast, and the notion of getting food on the street for very little money was appealing.
2.What was the biggest hurdle you had to overcome?
That’s a very good question.There are a lot of hurdles… The constant ever-changing nature of owning a business has been quite challenging, having to morph into new roles all the time.I’d worked in a restaurant before, but never a food truck, and there were all these new things we had to learn– how to maintain the truck, navigating kitchen equipment– all the time.
3.How do you define success?
You asked me that at thefood truck paneland I’ve been thinking about it… Success, I think, is about doing the right thing for the right reasons, creating stable jobs for us, and feeling like a family.Since we moved into our new commissary in September, it’s changed the dynamic of our business.Expanding is great, but being happy with what our business has become – that’s how I see success.And of course when our customers are happy and come back to our trucks and restaurants.That’s great too.
4.How do you manage failure?
I think every failure is an opportunity to improve.We’ve had lots of failures.Picking the wrong spot, having your engine die, various struggles that I’m sure all food trucks face… But in every case, we’ve always seemed to find the work-around.So maybe it’s not even a failure—if we can turn it around right away into something else.
5.How do you cope with pressure?(Any secret recipes for taking care of yourself?)
That’s something I’m still struggling with.I don’t have any wise advice.Other people have given me really wise advice – like making time for myself no matter how busy it seems.[I know that] not being able to step back is probably not good for me or the business.
6.什么是你下一步准备怎么办？
This summer we’re focused on trying to create a company that we feel really proud of and really happy with in terms of how it’s run.And we’re expanding, as you know, to堡点在秋季.Honestly, we don’t know where we’re going to be next year.That’s what’s so exciting about the food truck business.Last year, certain cities didn’t have food trucks and now they do.
7。什么是你在过去的一年里已经收到建议最好的一块？
Someone told me to “Trust my instinct.” Time and again I go back to that, and find it very important.
8。请留下您的意见为有志创业的食物...在6个字以内.
Work for another food business first.
9。你赢了奥斯卡相当于为您的行业（詹姆斯·比尔德，世界粮食不安全状况等）。当你搭舞台，谁你会感谢并为了什么？
That’s a really funny question!I would thank: my family for being pretty damn supportive of this crazy business;my husband for diving in where he had zero experience;my fantastic employees for doing amazing work every single day;and my great customers who come back for more and keep us going.
10。什么苯教最让我进你的灵魂？
Getting to create something out of scratch, having a vision for how you want something to be and then taking the steps to make it happen.It feels really good.