We were lucky to catch up with Allen Pursley-Ramirez recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Allen, thanks for joining us today. So, let’s start with a hypothetical – what would you change about the educational system?

I personally hated the experience of the public education system. I was a gay, neurodivergent kid in the 80s and 90s in Mesquite, TX. I was great at the core subjects, but a few subjects interested me more than others. Calculus? Chemistry? No, thanks. Technology & Computer Sciences? Yes, please!!

Instead of teaching life skills in school, like “How to balance a checkbook” or “what do you need to know about credit, the cost to borrow and credit scores” we were being made to learn about advanced mathematics that we may use one day if we decide to become advanced physicists.

Having a standard core set of subjects that everyone should know up thru a 5th or 6th grade level is a great start but then, as kids figure out what interests them, they should be allowed to choose a path of education that caters to their natural abilities and talent and doesn’t force subjects on people who probably wont ever use them in their adult lives.

At. minimum, for those that dont want to go to college and get a formal degree, vocational education should be available to students from the time they start. middle school.

Allen, 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?

I started my career in corporate finance and accounting after high school. Just before I turned 30, I accidentally became an indoor cycling instructor and I LOVED it. The side hussle turned into a full time job and I spent the better part of a decade (which had been some of the happiest years of my life) managing and teaching at various studios in and around Dallas, living my dream. Up until the pandemic hit, the bike was where I found my happiness but, like it did for most people, the pandemic changed everything.

Now, I find myself once again “accidentally” in a career I never would have expected or have had any experience in before: Puerto Rican Food Trucks

During the early part of the pandemic, I met my husband, Marko… who is a chef that owns El Chifrijo food truck with his business partner Jonathan. While everyone was shut down, the food truck was mostly without work but once things started to open back up, business picked up. I stepped in to help book gigs and return emails & social media messages but I refused to help on the actual truck.

As the business grew, so did my role & responsibilities. Now, we just call me “the business manager” and leave it at that. Although now, you may also find me working on the truck (no comments, please).

I pride myself on being in a position to created a brand that is service driven, that is welcoming to everyone, that is quality driven and offers something unique where our employees love to work with us and we are preceded by our reputation

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

When the pandemic hit, I had to go back to a corporate job to pay the bills. I was booking gigs for the food truck on the side but I refused to work on the truck itself. As the pandemic went on and restrictions were lifted and gigs started coming in, my career took on a new direction and it all started with a phone call from my (now) husband.

Marko & Jonathan were 15 minutes into the first “big” gig that I booked since the restrictions lifted (The Perot Museum Thursdays on Tap) when I received a frantic call from Marko, asking if I could possibly help them take orders because they were just overwhelmed and the line kept growing faster than they could manage. I knew it had to be bad ( I had been explicit up until that point that we would never work together on the truck while we were together ) for him to ask, and against my own better judgement but for the sake of saving the relationship with our new partner, I begrudgingly said I would help.

The scene I stepped into was chaotic. I learned via Baptism by Fire about how to take orders and manage a line of hungry customers while texting people that their orders were ready, with absolutely no experience, training or useful knowledge to reassure me that I was doing things right. It was fast paced, it was stressful, I made mistakes, it was triral by error. At the end of the shift, the food truck vortex had sucked me in.

Now, I manage the business in its entirety and have never felt a more rewarding and satisfying experience before. Working with my husband and doing something I enjoy has been a game changer

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @allenpursley
• Facebook: @ridewithallen
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allenpursley
• Youtube: youtube.com/wafflehousecochinas
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/el-chifrijo-puerto-rican-fusion-dallas-3
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@dallastexan