We were lucky to catch up with Justin Tulus recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Justin thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?

well, the name of “StopBye” were begin with the idea of about myself and my business partner we both love to travel around the world. Every time we travel, we will stop at 2-3 different countries. from 1 country we say good bye and we stop to the next one. People were said, our business name did not relevant to what we doing.

Justin , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Justin Tulus. I am the owner of StopBye Food Truck – The Original and the only Indonesian Fusion on wheels operating in LA/OC since 2016. I am an immigrant from Indonesia. I came to USA in 2009 and became US Citizen in 2019.
My cooking journey began in my hometown Indonesia. I was born in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. At a very young age, my family moved to West Kalimantan ( West Borneo ) to the small city called Pemangkat. My parents operated small family restaurant out of our home. This is very typical in my country of origin.
I began to learn how to cook in my family home restaurant from my mother. She taught me basic cooking skills, from creating indonesian and family recipes, to preparation and cooking techniques.
In 2005 after I graduated from high school and with the encouragement of my family, I traveled to Taiwan to continue my formal education. I began working at a Sichuan Restaurant in Taipei as a dishwasher as well as studying Mandarin. My job was very easy and the Chef was impressed with my dedication, the quick pace of my work mode (fast), as well as my cleanliness and organizational skills, Chef asked me to help him with some preparation in the kitchen. He taught me how to make Sichuan style cuisine. Due to my student visa expiring in 2008 I moved to Sydney, Australia to study Hospitality Management. After a year of study and various jobs in Sydney I moved to the USA. My first job in US was a sushi chef helper / kitchen helper at a small sushi restaurant in San Gabriel Valley area. The Sushi job was not challenging enough so one day I went on Craigslist and searched for jobs. I found Lukshon by famous Chef Sang Yoon founder of Father’s Office and now also owner of Helms Bakery in Culver City. I was hired at Lukshon and this was my first fine dining restaurant experience. I was hired in their first group for their Grand Opening in 2011. At Lukshon, I learned a lot of French Techniques and culinary gastronomy. I realized cooking is not just cooking, you can do more beyond “just cooking”. In 2012, I decide to go to culinary School to get my certificate. During my school, my instructor introduced me to Spago Beverly Hills by Chef Wolfgang Puck, one of the best Restaurants in Los Angeles. After Spago I joined the team at Tres and The Bazaar by Chef Jose Andres at SLS Hotels Beverly Hills. After completing my culinary school while working 2 full time jobs and saving money I decided to open my own restaurant in 2016, StopBye was established with my business partner Tom. Now we operating 2 food trucks.

I am a person who believes that working hard will always pay off. Never stop dreaming! The sky’s the limit.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

We began StopBye by opening a small restaurant in Lawndale, CA in the South Bay area. We signed a one year lease which turned out to be a mistake because in order to renew our lease the landlord increased our rent by over 200%. It took us 6 months to get our restaurant business going. We had a strong loyal customer base, provided free delivery, and had 5 Star reviews on Yelp. We were also written up a number of times by a local South Bay magazines and newspapers. We had to give up our brick and mortar at the end of one year, which set us back. But we pivoted to a Food Truck as soon as our lease was up. We have now been on the food Truck (s) over 6 years! We focused our Food Truck business in the South Bay since we had a loyal following.

Then the world seemed like it ended when COVID hit!

When the covid hit in 2019, we had to close our business for 2 weeks. All of our lunch stops dried up due to Offices being closed. We tried everything to make sure our business stayed open. From parking our food truck from street to street, form apartments to apartments. Again a major pivot in our business model. But, with hard work, less salary and forsure financial hardship we survived and continue rolling down the road in one of 2 of our StopBye Trucks.

How’d you meet your business partner?

We are long time friends, now over 11 years. At the time we met, Tom was working in College Administration and Justin was working the restaurant circuit. One day Tom was giving a talk though a local organization about he importance of meals and food in American Culture. Juntin (me) attend the presentation. After the presentation I approached Tom. We greeted each other and after sharing a bit of our stories we decided to meet a week later to continue our conversation…..and the T & J American Journey DBA as StopBye continues. 11 years later we are friends and business partners.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.stopbyecafe.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stopbyecafe/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StopByeCafe
• Twitter: https://www.x.com/StopByeCafe
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/stopbye-caf%C3%A9-los-angeles-3

Image Credits

all by stopbye