Atlanta, GA: The Food Truck Life – On the Move & the Menu

One popular place for lunch in Atlanta, Georgia, these days isn’t really a place. Sometimes it’s a parking lot. MIX’d Up food truck is a big hit with the locals. That’s a relief to owner Brett Eanes, who sometimes works seven days a week to keep his business running.  The hard work has paid off. MIX’d Up is so popular Brett decided to turn the formula on its head and open up a brick and mortar restaurant, too. We asked Brett what it takes to be your own boss.

Brett Eanes: The fun pace, the different cuisine…

BE: Oh yeah, 15 plus years… I am a fully trained chef.

 HLN: What goes into an operation such as starting a food truck business?

BE: The truck is roughly around $100,000 plus. And then you’ve got labor on the bus, depending on where you go. Then you have to have a commissary kitchen, a professional-grade kitchen, a commercial kitchen of some sort that you have to either lease [or buy to prep your food] so that’s another $100,000 right there.

BE: Oh yeah, I mean there’s a lot of surprises. It’s how to pack the truck for success and how to prep for it. And how to keep products fresh and coming in without running out or going old. So there’s a lot to learn. One, the rotation of products, the licensing and figuring out how the city works with us. And figuring out how to drive this thing.

BE: We start really early in the morning. If we’re doing a double shift, it starts around 7 a.m. and we’re done probably, I’m back at home around midnight. And that generally is six to seven days a week during our peak season.

BE: No. To be honest, no. I didn’t see my family for a year. I see my wife, yeah. Our quality time is early in the morning for about 20 minutes. Or late at night when I get home. That’s our dinner time.  We don’t watch TV, we actually spend time together.

BE: A year and a half ago.

BE: Gourmet burgers — we really made our name with our lamb burger. We call it The Rockin’ Hero Bite.

BE: Because people always ask, “Where can I get your food? Because your truck is so hard to find.” Because we’re pulled in a million directions. So, when this spot came open it was a drive-thru. So I thought this is perfect. We’ve always driven to the customers, now the customers can drive to us.

BE: Great. Every day beats the day before. It’s a lot different with a restaurant because you depend on those people to come to you, whereas [with the food truck] we go to the customer and it’s a captive audience. So it’s easier to get the flavor out, the word out, how our food is, when you go to that captive audience. When you have the restaurant, people that know about the food truck come, but the new people, once they have it, they tell others. So it’s a different kind of progression.

BE: Oh no, the food truck’s always going to stay around … I couldn’t see life without the food truck. It’s too much fun.

BE: Know what you’re doing. Got to be able to think on your feet. And you’ve got to be able to handle intense volume in a very small space. And your food has to be spot-on, because you only have one chance.