We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Rob Miskell a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Rob, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
Sauce Boy was born during Covid. It began as a passion project during the extra time spent at home. Initially, I only offered two sauces and one fresh hand rolled pasta every week. People would order online and I would prepare their orders and deliver to their homes. It was enormously time consuming but was growing a bit more with each order. I was working 7 days a week at the time with my day job and this now very time consuming side project. The business did not feel sustainable at its current iteration and I wanted to pivot to more of a pop up. The first couple of events were few and far between. The concept was simple, it was a pasta pop up. I typically offered two pastas as well as some other smaller tasty options that fulfilled some other dietary restrictive needs.
People were responding well to the pop up so I eventually decided to expand and grow. The intent was to maximize exposure to a customer base and use every cent to fold back into building the business. I worked prep shifts in other restaurants 4 days a week and then did 3 pop ups during my days off. It was a lot, tiring, but people were really responding to it. The business was growing very quickly which kept me excited and engaged. I think it did so well because my setup had me visible to the customers preparing their food to order and able to interact with them. A lot of other pop ups were more prepped ahead and held hot so there was some theater involved in the Sauce Boy style pop up.
Rob, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My name is Rob Miskell, the Chef/Owner of Sauce Boy Philly. I operate as a pop up and catering company in Philly.
Before becoming a chef, I was a school teacher. But I decided to change careers and pursue my passion for cooking. I dove in headfirst and quickly fell in love with the kitchen as a profession. Over time, I built my own business as Sauce Boy. As the business grew, new opportunities came my way, including catering for the Philadelphia 76ers—an opportunity I am excited to be continuing this year.
Catering pasta can be tricky, but my goal is always to give clients the best possible experience. To achieve this, we offer the option to finish cooking the pasta on-site to ensure the highest quality for customers.
Can you talk to us about how you funded your business?
This question means a lot to me because I was truly learning on the fly during the early stages of building this business. I didn’t have investors, and I didn’t have much money to invest myself. My initial investment was just $300 for induction burners, a table, and a few pans for pop-ups. Slow growth is still growth, and there’s no shame in building your business step by step until you have the resources to take it to the next level. I focused on delivering a high-quality experience for my customers, which kept sales steady and steadily increasing. Every cent I made went right back into buying the supplies I needed. This meant I had to keep working a full-time job while running the business, so I literally had no days off. But within about six months of hosting pop-ups three times a week, the business had grown significantly, and I had all the tools I needed to keep pushing forward.
If you have an investor to help you get started, that’s amazing! But you can absolutely do it on your own. It’s hard, you’ll be tired, but it’s possible. If your concept is working, if customers are showing up, and if you still have the desire and energy to keep pushing, go for it!
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
Social media works—use it as much as you can! My biggest boost came from posting cooking videos 2-3 times a week, showcasing my current menu items. These videos were carefully planned, shot scene by scene, and edited into short clips. I enjoy making them for fun, but I’ve noticed that the formula for success is evolving. Now, I’ve found that simply creating and posting consistently, whether it’s heavily edited or not, helps drive people to your page. The key is to just keep posting!
Contact Info:
Image Credits
David Gangolfo (all others)
Gab Bonghi (meatballs pic)
Neal Santos (pesto pasta, bright sideways profile pic)