02/05/2024
*** LONG READ ***
Hello everyone.....I hope everyone has had a great weekend and looking foward to beautiful week ahead. I first wanted to start this post out giving a huge THANKS to our loyal customers who have spent the last year and a half supporting our small business. We have met so many new faces, reconnected with old friends and seen people that we havent seen in forever. We have had the privilege of working many events in Portland and surrounding areas and have been greatful to the many opportunities given to us to do so.
It was 2 years ago this month that I set down with a notebook and the idea of a food trailer business. I started out with a concept in mind and started scratching out plans and ideas that I had come up with only to keep going back and ripping page after page out and starting from scratch. I finally came up with an idea and when I got the nerve up, I approached my wife Misty about my idea. She has supported me through many crazy ideas and ventures but I was assure that this one was gonna get a huge "no way" thrown right back at me but to my surprise after many questions and having a lengthy discussion about pros and cons she gave me her consent to move forward. So we spent the next few months discussing ideas for the business, names, floor plans to the business and many different things that it would take to get the ball rolling. For the next 8 months aside from running my sign and plastics business, I spent every other minute trying to make this dream a reality, Through this time period I was doing alot of praying because I am a firm believer that God will guide you in all ways as long as you put your trust and faith in him. Along the way, we ran into several small problems and quite alot of red tape but the most frustrating was the morning that I got the call that my trailer that had been custom built for me in Georgia had got stolen the night before it was to be delivered. I was so over it by this point and was ready to just give up on everything. This trailer had took almost 4 months to finally get it built and was finally to be delivered. As I was ready to just scrap the idea, the trailer builder called me back and told me that he would make a promise to have another custom trailer built and delivered to me in just 2 weeks. I did agree to it since I had came this far.
Finally after waiting the 2 weeks, my trailer was delivered and ready for the final phase of outfitting the remaining necessities needed to open. It was a long 9 months but we had almost made it to opening time.
I will never forget the first month of business. So much stress and so many kinks to work out of the system but day by day, things bacame smoother and smoother. We opened the window for business and have been growing and growing from day one.
We have made mistakes and errors along the way but we have truly been blessed with a patient and loyal customer base that has been so understanding on what it takes to deliver good food that is freshly prepared upon order.
Over the past year and a half, we have learned that in order to make a successful business work, that asside from putting your heart and soul into it, you also have to have time (lots of time) to put into it.
That is primarily why I am making this post. For those that dont already know, I have owned and operated a sign & graphics business for almost 20 years now and on top of a food trailer I have been trying to run this business in the background. It has proved alot more difficult that I ever thought it would have been. I have always enjoyed running my own businesses and have took great pride in doing so, but I have finally came to the realization that running these 2 businesses at the same time is wearing me down as well as Misty. I have spent many countless hours trying to figure out a way to make it all work and have not been able to do so. I love the food trailer business and am so glad that I have had the opportunity to live one of my dreams and get to say that not only did I make this dream a reality but I made it a very successful one through alot of hard work and support from a great community. It is not easy to have to make a decision to close up shop on a successful business, but when you realize that you just can't keep up with the demand and all of your other responsibilities and obligations are suffering, you have to do something. It takes such a toll on you and those around you, then you have to make a hard decision and a hard decision it is.
As of the end of this coming week, Lunch Buddy's will be closing down with friday being our last day so that we can start the process of closing out paperwork and proceeding forward with putting the trailer and all of the businesses contents on the market for sale.
I hate to make this decision but after several months of sleepless nights and praying for a solution, this is what I think is best for me and Misty. As I said at the beginning of this post, we have made many friends along the way and reunited with several old friends and we will always treasure that.
I would like to thank God most of all for the opportunity to do what we have done because if anything, we did get to witness to many customers about our Lord and savior Jesus Christ and we have been asked many times to pray for our customers and their loved ones.
That means more then any financial success of our business.
I know that this has been a long post and maybe alot of rattling on but I did want to let you all know that we sincerely thank you all from the bottom of our heart and God Bless You All....
Come by and see us this week if you get the opportunity.
