Lesson #1: Use A Lure To Get People To The Truck

So not a whole lot of movement from Wednesday. We did go to the showroom yesterday but it was wholly underwhelming for the most part. It was not the 8000 sq ft I expected of awesome, industrial kitchen equipment. Only like 2000 was used for showroom space and it was very unorganized. But the meeting was actually pretty helpful and the guy we talked with is going to send me and the designer all the cut sheets on Monday for the equipment we talked about. The meeting allowed us (the designer and I) to actually visualize the truck, see what could fit and what couldn’t, and find out how much power the equipment would need. I also found out I wouldn’t be able to fit in everything that I wanted but that’s okay, kinda expected that to happen. So today I drew the new, tentative layout for the truck with all the things I could fit. I sent it to the designer to have him make it exact so we can get started with the build. The sketch is below. 

The guy at the store was not well versed on the codes for food trucks since they mainly supply large, restaurant kitchens. So when I got home yesterday, I made my Revival Chili twitter account (@RevivalChili) and followed all the food trucks I could find in the city. This morning I looked at my feed and saw where a few would be. The designer and I then went to go find them. The first one had already left but the second one was not too far away and they were super helpful. The Founder / CEO was absolutely awesome. We showed up near the end of lunch and he answered all the questions we had and let us see the inside of his truck. It was really informative and the funny thing is, there are almost no restrictions for food trucks in the city of Pittsburgh. You pretty much only have to pass the health inspection and that’s it. We are going to make the Revival Chili truck a little better than that but it was great to know that was all we needed. 

The truck we visited also made me realize something about pricing. It cost me $11 for an 8-inch sandwich, that’s fucking ridiculous! What I’ll be offering for dinner will be waaaayyyyy more food than that and I was planning on charging only $9, I might have to up that to $10 or even higher. So that’s pretty much all I’ve been up to the last few days. Still waiting on the logo so I can actually start posting on the social medias and not just following people but hopefully, that will be soon. Also, to my own chagrin, I downloaded Pokemon Go today but I haven’t really started getting into it. I think I’m gonna go walk around for a bit and catch some Pokemon to see what it’s all about. The one thing I did realize when walking around though is I hope Pokemon Go is still a thing when I launch so I can put a lure near my truck… hope everyone has a great weekend!

It’s Hard To Understand People Sometimes

Yesterday I had my meeting with the nutritionist lady. I woke up at a reasonable time and did some research about veggie chilis and general health stuff. I then went to the meeting and thought it went really well! She is a very down to earth woman and definitely knows her shit with like 30 years of experience. She had actually forgot about our meeting because it was already a crazy week with more police brutality events over the weekend. But she was totally great and flexible so we had the meeting. She gave me a lot of insight into how to make the chili more healthy - what ingredients and cookware to use, how those ingredients help, etc. and we finished the recipe for the vegan chili. 

There was, however, one interesting thing that happened during and after the meeting. At the beginning, she said that all she asks for is a donation at the end of what I think her time is worth, which was fine by me. And as I said, the meeting was awesome and near the end I explained to her a little bit about my life. I’m a 23 year old that has only worked a job for 10 months and am now trying to start a company so I don’t have much. I then said “I can give you $40, is that enough” and she said “Yes, of course!” so I said “Are you sure?” and she reassured me that that was okay. Then we hugged and I went on my way. About an hour later I received the text below and you can see what I responded with after about 40 minutes. I never received a response. 

Now, the argument can be made either way about how minimal $20 is so I think that point is moot. But this did not make me feel very good. I thought we had a real connection and she really loved what I was doing and enjoyed helping me. I even thought she might not let me pay at all because her son is around my age and an entrepreneur so she knows the struggle. But then she asks for $20 more just because of 15 minutes?! It definitely threw me off and made me pretty sad. After not receiving a reply text, I sent her a follow-up email today. I again said I would love to give her some chili but we will see if she ever responds to that. It mostly just baffles me that she would do something like that, I really liked meeting with her and thought, still think, she’s a great person. Especially with her son, it just did not make a lot of sense, but I guess I’ll see how it plays out.

I also made some progress with the logo yesterday. My dad sent me his drawings which I thought were okay but not exceptional. I did some sketching myself and then had a 30 minute conversation with my dad and sister about my stuff and his stuff. It was a productive conversation and both my dad and I had a much better idea what I wanted after it. Talking it out with them definitely let me talk through what I was thinking which was something I hadn’t done before. I felt really good after this conversation and I replied to my logo guy with my feedback. My dad also sent me a new logo sketch today, which is below, and I actually like it a lot.  

The only thing I don’t like is that the sun takes up the majority of it and the words are fairly small in comparison. But I definitely think it’s on the right path and am excited to see how it develops. 

Today I did some research through the catalog I was given from the equipment supplier. I picked out some exact items I like but am open to suggestions from them when I go there tomorrow. The designer and I are meeting at 10AM then heading down to the showroom to see what they got. I’m pretty excited for this, once it happens phase one of the design will be able to be completed and that’s really exciting. Hopefully the truck can start being built fairly soon!

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I had an hour long phone call with a family friend two days ago. He’s started several business so he was definitely a good guy to talk to. He looked through my business plan and some financials then we talked about Revival Chili and a few things he saw that might be helpful. I thought it was a really good conversation, gave me a lot of stuff to chew on in the next couple weeks. Also, he pointed out a huge problem I had in the math which was employee salary for a month. I fucking botched the math and it was about 15k short. That definitely is a huge thing and increases my estimate from needing to sell ~50 bowls a day to ~150. That’s definitely a large increase and not something I’m sure we will be able to achieve every single day. I was sure about the 50 but 150… Luckily, 068 will be helping out with employee payment for the first 3 months so I’ll be able to gauge it then. 

I’m still feeling really good about the business. I was definitely on a high after coming back from Providence because I was talking about it so much and getting other people excited for me. I’ve dropped a little since then but am still really excited. It’s just a little bit hard right now because I work like 4-6 hours a day and then don’t know what to do with myself the other times. It’s also a lot of waiting on other people right now which is a little hard for me and I wish there was more I could do or a sense of urgency. Like, there’s a lot of small things I could work on but none of it is really vital or super, super important. It will get better though. Once I start moving into my new place and then go on family vacation, when I get back it’ll be moving pretty fast. As I said, I’m still pumped and waaaayyyyyy happier than I was before, can’t wait to start making chili! :)

It's A Waiting Game

Not too many updates again - still waiting on people. For the hiring, we are not going to start until much later. My main contact for hiring at 068 is going abroad for the next two weeks so he wants to wait on the job posting which makes sense. I will also be gone for 2 weeks after he gets back so we can’t interview then. But he has all the paperwork ready to go for when he gets back and we can start moving!

I received the first drafts of the logos from my high school friend today. I think they are okay, I didn’t give him a whole lot of direction so it’s understandable they aren’t amazing. However, I did that on purpose because I wanted to see what he could do with it. When I got them I immediately FaceTimed my sister because I knew she was with my dad at an adult art camp, which is fucking awesome by the way. It was perfect they were together because they are both artists so I got their feedback and they are going to draw up a few sketches for me to pass along to my friend. So that’s super exciting and I know they will have great ideas for my designer and I to work with.

I also looked at one of the catalogs I received from a restaurant supplier and it is fucking dense… They just have sooooooo much shit in there and no prices so I can’t tell the difference between the different brands which is silly. So I set up a meeting with one of their reps at their showroom later this week. This will allow me to actually see what they have, how much space it takes up and to get someone’s advice so hopefully, I can have a much better idea about the equipment. I’m hoping to just knock that out in a half day and then have the exact equipment I want so we can get started with the design and building of the trailer!

That pretty much covers it for today, I might do a little more research but there’s pretty much nothing that is urgent right now. I have my meeting with the nutritionist lady tomorrow and am going to wake up early to prep for that, might just play a little Fallout 4 right now… Peace.

Follow-Up From 7/7

Not much is happening today, I actually never got on the call with 068 because they kept pushing it back and then I had my appointment to finish my tattoo :) so wasn’t able to make it work. I wish I could be mad about them keep pushing back meetings but I ABSOLUTELY could not be doing this without them so I’m too grateful to be mad. They are making my dream a reality and for that, I will be forever thankful. Also, we still have some time right now until things will be getting crazy so I'm not too worried.

So far today, the main thing I’ve done is figure out what needs to happen for phase 1 of the design to be completed and set the date for next Friday of when it’ll be done. To do that, I sent a few emails out to the people/companies that will be involved. Mainly talked with kitchen equipment supply companies to get their catalogs. I need the catalogs to pick out exactly what equipment I want in the trailer to let my design guy know the specs. I also organized my to-do list a little better so I have a good idea about what needs to happen. There's a few more things I could do but I think I’m going to take a mostly chill day and do some work tomorrow morning. Jordan out.

VFA Reunion Weekend

I know it’s been like two weeks since I last wrote and that’s kinda a problem. If I want to only write 5 minutes a day then I have to write every day because now I’m going to sit here for like 30 minutes giving updates instead of a day-by-day. But alas, this one won’t actually be too long because there hasn’t been a whole lot of movement, just a lot of getting things set. 

After I last wrote, I didn’t do much else for the rest of that week. I sent a few emails, one was trying to set up a showing with one of the food trailers I’m friends with in Pittsburgh. Turned out he was at a festival that was kinda far away for the week. Also, I was gone for most of the next week so we will probably meet the week after this one. 

I left Pittsburgh on Wednesday, June 29th so in the first couple days of that week I did some research about specific cooking items I’ll need in the trailer. I also researched other ways to brown meat and veggies because I really don’t want to have a stove in my trailer. I could just get like 4-6 crock pots and brown the meat in them which would take up WAY less space. I also was able to set up a meeting with the nutritionist lady I mentioned last time. We are meeting next Tuesday and can hopefully nail down some recipe stuff.

I left for New York on Wednesday, June 29th and stayed there one night with a friend from UVA. And then I moved on to Providence, RI to start my five day bender… I was in Providence for the Venture For America reunion weekend and I FUCKING LOVE hanging out with VFA kids. I was also able to do a shit load of marketing about the truck and get them all excited for me and the launch party on October 1st (WAIT, isn't October 1st real soon?!?!). I told everyone October 1st but it might be a little bit later in October depending on the construction of the trailer. Another Fellow is also starting a food business so I was able to talk to him for about an hour about what he’s been through and what I should do. He was really validating of the idea and told me I’m doing all the right things which was awesome. It made me feel really good about what I have been doing and the steps I have been taking to get Revival Chili started. I also told some VFA Team Members and they were all super pumped for me too.

There was definitely a little bit of drama in the weekend but I won’t go into detail about that. However, what can you expect when you drink all day for 5 days straight with around 200 like-minded people that just wanna fucking dance?! It was still an amazing time and I had the chance to hang out with, and get to know, the kids I will be living with for the next year which was great. I’m so excited to live with them and they are so excited for me and Revival Chili so I’m sure it’ll be an amazing experience.

I spent the 4th of July there and then drove the 10 hours back on the 5th. On the 6th I got caught up on all the shit I should’ve been doing. I choose to go with my friend from high school for the logo design so I followed up with him and he’s getting back to me early next week with a few different samples and then we will choose what to move forward with. I also wrote the job description for the two types of positions I will be hiring for - Trailer Manager and Chili Expert. I sent those over to 068 and they will let me know the next steps for that. Did some other email catch up - followed up with the food trailer viewing to set that up, followed up with Cropolis (the startup that’s my connection to local farms). So that’s pretty much what I’ve been up to. I have a call with 068 in about an hour and that should be able to move me forward on some other things. We ended up not having the legal meeting when it was originally scheduled so hopefully we can get that set up again. And when I get the logo set I can start doing the website, social medias, t-shirts, etc. So that’s about it for now, I’ll have a few more updates tomorrow :)

My First Day of Work

So the 2016 Fellow left on Sunday, June 12th and during the next week there were a few developments. 068 let me know that the next meeting would be Wednesday, June 22nd where they wanted to discuss the proposal they would offer me for what they can bring to the business. I made a large batch of chili and did exact measurements of all the ingredients to get the exact cost of a bowl. I also tried to start an amazon store where I would order things wholesale, ship them to amazon and let amazon sell them. I wanted to do this as an extra stream of income but the more I kept trying to do it the more I didn’t want to. I can still follow through but I don’t think I’m going to, haha. I also had a meeting with my previous employer about some part-time work and that went well too. I’m trying to brand myself as an app developer now so I can do some app development on the side and make a little extra money. 

Other than that, the week was fairly uneventful but good for me because I started to realize I didn’t need to push extremely hard to make money right now. I had enough to get me through a few months and I have a great support system that I can always fall back on. During that week, I finally, officially, decided I was going to do the food truck - I just knew that I couldn’t pass up the opportunity when everything was falling into place so well. That weekend I played a lot of ultimate frisbee and my neighbor lent me his PS4 with Fallout 4 so I played a shit ton of that. 

Luckily, he didn’t ask for it back on Sunday, when he originally said he would, and now it’s Friday, June 24th and I still have it so been playing that a lot this week. I also think that it’s good for me to have right now because it’s not taking over my life, I’ve still made progress on the business this week, but it can take up all the other free time I have. 

During the week, I had my meeting with 068 on Wednesday morning and we figured out the best next steps. When I arrived to the meeting at 7:30am, the first thing the CEO of 068 said to me was “welcome to your first day of work.” It was amazing that someone believed in my 23-year-old self so much to just say that after I sat down with him one time. We talked a lot about the partnership and what would happen going forward. Immediately after the meeting I bought the domain name revivalchili.com which really solidified that I’m doing this. Also after the meeting, I contacted a few friends about logo design and branding. One kid from high school is responding quickly so think I’ll probably move forward with him. He also did one of my best friends album design, which I really liked. I also emailed a nutritionist I met a while back about sitting down with me to make the recipe more healthy - she hasn't gotten back to me but I’ll just go into her office on Monday. 

Then on Thursday, I met with one of 068’s design guys. They have an architecture firm they work closely with with for tiny home design and other construction projects. I met with one of the architects to start laying out how the tiny home will look, what equipment is needed and how the interior layout should be organized. 068 is scheduling a meeting with their legal guys so we can get the paperwork done about the partnership and start to register my company with the state and federal governments. 

Currently, I’m feeling really fucking good about this. I am definitely way happier with my current state of life than I was a month ago. I really like that I’ve had a little down time and I’ll still have some down time as this starts ramping up in the next couple months but it is also nice to have had something to do. I think this is really good for me and I’m really excited about it. 

One of the things I said a lot in the first week and a half after getting fired was that if I was to explain my current life situation in a couple sentences some people would think I was completely falling apart. I mean come on, my girlfriend that I thought I was gonna marry broke up with me, I got fired from my job, I started putting my hair up in a man bun and I spent a lot of money on tattoo. But in all realities it was the exact opposite. It put me on an amazing path and in the perfect situation to start this company. I have no other commitments, I don’t have a lot to worry about from a money stand point, I’m young and hungry to make a change in the world. 

When Life Gives You Lemons

I was fired on Friday, June 3rd. When that happened, I really did not know what to do with myself at first. I went home and tried to start looking into ways to make money almost immediately. But I actually ended up going to lunch with the intern, taking saki bombs then continuing to drink the rest of the day, haha. Then I stupidly decided to go to hot yoga with a friend, literally one of the worst ideas I ever had… The next week I looked into different ways to make money, reached out to a previous employer about part-time work and started doing more chili research. As I said in the preface, I had already started conversations about the truck which was great. 

All the next week, I kept saying that being fired was actually good, I was happy about it and it was really a blessing in disguise. I would say “I’m happy about it I’m just really sad/mad in the way that it was done.” But let me be honest, getting fired fucking sucks. It made me feel like shit, that I didn’t mean anything to them, hadn’t done anything useful and was just not a useful/meaningful person. And I think that’s why I tried hard that week to find something to do so I could feel like I was needed. The only successful thing I did that week was have another meeting with my, then potential, partners. It went really well and they seemed really excited about the chili idea. Even though the meeting went well, by the end of the week I had convinced myself that my number one option was to travel the world for a year and a half AND THEN do something real with my life. 

That weekend was definitely a blessing, by the end of it I felt like someone cared about me again. A 2016 VFA Fellow was in Pittsburgh because the company she was going to work for wanted to have a few meetings. It was a generally funny situation because the company she was going to work for was my previous one. She received an offer right before I was fired so some might say she was my “replacement.” But I had no hard feeling towards her and we had gotten to know each other pretty well when she was in town for her onsite interview so she stayed in my roommate and I’s spare bedroom.

Anyways, we hung out for 3.5 days straight and it was never a dull moment, we always had something to laugh, joke, argue, or just talk about. We were kinda just in our own bubble for the weekend and it was just what I needed. She is definitely part of the reason that I decided to go with the food truck and not travel the world sooner than I did. She really beat it into me that opportunities like this don’t come around all that often. And for some reason I trusted her opinion, maybe because she had tried to start a couple companies previously and none worked out so she knew the struggle. But I’m literally in the perfect situation to start Revival Chili so why not do it, there is plenty of time in life to travel. 

I keep talking about the business but I still haven’t really said what it is so here it goes. In one sentence it is a chili food truck that only hires ex-cons, sources produce from local farms and mainly runs off solar panels. Here is the mission statement I included in the first iteration of my business plan:

The primary goal of Revival Chili is to positively impact every single persons life that the business touches. We are able to do this by providing jobs for ex-convicts, sourcing (almost) all produce from local farms and running the food truck off of solar panels and cooking oil. Our aim is to create a culture of sustainability in the food industry. Not only by using sustainable energy but also promoting safe, sustainable growing practices and a sustainable business with employees creating their own trucks. 

Now the reason I am in the perfect position for this is through the relationships I developed while working for the incubator. The main partner I keep mentioning is called Zero-Six-Eight (from now on referred to as 068). They are a company that incubates ex-cons with ideas and people that want to hire ex-cons. They also build tiny homes so the chili truck will actually be a chili tiny kitchen. They also have access to capital which is where I will be getting a lot of the funding. Another relationship is one of the companies that applied to the incubator I was working for - Cropolis. They connect local farms with restaurants to make it easier to source produce from the farms. The last main relationship is the green energy company we used for Thrival 2015. They have outfitted several food trucks with solar panels before and I spoke to them about outfitting mine. Now you can understand why I need to start Revival Chili - like right meow. And I am so grateful to be put in the situation where I can make this opportunity a reality. So many people don’t have this chance and I am so lucky to be able to follow my dream so soon. And it’s pretty obvious now but I decided I would do it.

I signed a lease in Pittsburgh for the next year, started doing more research on the different things I would need for the truck and got shit started. It really was a blessing I was fired because I was not happy at all working for the incubator. I wanted to be happy so badly because I loved talking about Thrival, what we were doing and saying I worked for a music festival. I still kind of wish that I still worked there just so I could see Thrival 2016 through but that’s not how it’s gonna be. When life gives you lemons, you gotta use them to trade for bigger and better things to make yourself successful. 

Preface

All of the blog posts and stories are generally the short versions so it’s not too much to read, please contact me if you want the whole story, I’m always happy to talk.

For those that don’t know me and have stumbled across this site or eaten at Revival Chili, this is the beginning of the story. My name is Jordan Robarge, I grew up in Falls Church, Virginia for my entire life then went to the University of Virginia. I studied Systems Engineering and over my four years, found I definitely wanted to do startups. I was lucky enough to find a program called Venture For America (VFA) during my fourth year. I am so grateful I was able to get into VFA and that led me down the path I am on now. I also started to play ultimate frisbee in college after 14 years of soccer and fell in love. I currently play very competitively so if I reference frisbee in the blogs that’s probably what I’m doing. 

Venture for America places recent grads at startups in developing communities to help with revitalization of those communities. I was placed at an incubator in Pittsburgh that incubates very early-stage companies. We also run an up-and-coming innovation and music festival, Thrival, as the revenue driver. I arrived in August five weeks before Thrival 2015 was happening and was immediately put on the Thrival team to help get shit done. I stayed on the Thrival team for my entire duration with the company. Thrival 2015 was a huge success and set us up very well for 2016. We got a stellar lineup, a great new venue and things were really coming together.

I worked independently and created projects for myself in order to make Thrival better. I taught myself swift in Xcode and java in Android Studio then made an iOS and Android app for Thrival. I also started a brand ambassador program to raise awareness at colleges in the area. I hired an intern to help with this and with him, got about 20 ambassadors at 8 different colleges. I was also in charge of running all small events we put on to promote Thrival: small block parties, promoting us at other festivals, cook-outs, small panel events, etc. Those were the three biggest things I did but I also filled in a lot of smaller gaps: all social media for Thrill Mill, restocking our kitchen, deciding/ordering Thrival swag, running the Thrill Mill and Thrival websites, etc. I am so grateful for my time with Thrival because I would not be where I am not if it wasn’t for that. I made all the relationships I have used to start Revival Chili and gained many valuable skills that I will continue to use.

I had started working on the idea for Revival Chili as far back as the summer of 2015. I catered a few events with the chili and continued making chili throughout the year. It was in the spring of 2016 that I started realizing I wasn't very happy at my job and started working a little more on the chili business. I had a few meetings in May about it and applied to an incubator in Silicon Valley with the idea. I got into the incubator but did not accept because of money and moving and also, through the meetings, I knew I should stay in Pittsburgh if I was going to do it.

For all of the things I did, I was suddenly let go on June 3rd, 2016 with no explanation. When I asked why, the answer was “I don’t think this is the right time to discuss that, we just don’t think you’re a good fit.” It all made me feel pretty shitty but I’ll go into that in the next post. And that’s pretty much the reason why I’m diving into the chili bowl, Revival Chili!