We were lucky to catch up with Amanda Groce recently and have shared our conversation below.

Amanda, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

January 2022 I was working as a school teacher in Stokes County. We were informed that there would no longer be pay during the summer months. I was concerned with not being able to pay my bills and survive though the summer months. I began trying to come up with ideas on how to make some extra cash during the summer. I thought about opening a business so I began looking for properties to rent but the upfit and rent alone was astronomical. My husband through up the idea of running a food truck. I thought that sounded like a fun idea. As a child I always talked about how one day I would own my own restaurant. I enjoyed cooking. So I searched for a food truck. Luckily I found one that I could rent for the summer. I started the process of coming up with a business plan as well as a catchy name. By June everything was in place and I was ready to start. June 20th was my grand opening. I set up in Rural Hall, NC and the amount of support that day exceeded my expectations. By the end of July the food truck took off and was booked out for the rest of the year. I contacted my administrator at the school and informed him that I was going to leave the school system to pursue my food truck business. At this time a long time friend of mine Elizabeth Howard expressed her dissatisfaction with her career as a teacher in Surry County and she came aboard with me and we became partners in the food truck. We then set a goal that in 2 years we would one day open a restaurant. To our surprise an opportunity came about for us to purchase a restaurant that had closed down in Pinnacle, NC. On October 15th 2022 we opened our dine in restaurant in Pinnacle, NC.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Amanda Groce. I am a mother of 3 amazing children (Ashlynn, Joslynn and Richie) and married to my life long sweetheart Adam Groce who has been so supportive of me. I worked in Stokes County schools as a teacher for 7 years. I enjoyed working with students and the amazing staff within Stokes County Schools. I never thought I would leave the school system but in the summer of 2022 after opening a food truck that I thought was just going to be a fun summer gig, it took off and grew into something much larger than I ever expected. I was fortunate to go into a partnership with a long time friend Elizabeth Howard. Elizabeth Howard is married to Erik Howard and they have 2 wonderful children (Emma and EJ). Elizabeth and her parents have run Bradys Country Christmas Lights off Bradley Rd since 1989. We both have a long time love for Stokes County and are so thankful for the opportunity to open a restaurant in the County that we love so much.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Making a decision to leave a job where we had worked at for so long was a very tough decision. We had retirement and health care and were leaving that for a job with no benefits. You hear about new businesses that fail and we were determined to not be one of those businesses.

Let’s talk M&A – we’d love to hear your about your experience with buying businesses

After running the food truck successfully for months we had the opportunity to purchase a business that was closing down. This was our first business that we were owners on. All of our previous jobs was a salary job or had a set pay. This was a scary career move on our part but we were hopeful that it was the right move. We felt that we would never get an opportunity as good as this so we decided to move forward with the purchase. The purchase was simple but the biggest obstacle was getting the restaurant licensed and permitted. We purchased the restaurant mid September and had a goal to have a ribbon cutting on Oct 14th and open October 15th, as this was Elizabeth’s birthday and my birthdays. After meeting with health inspectors we were told that was an unlikely goal. But they didn’t know how determined we were. They gave us a long list of things we had to complete prior to opening. We spent the next couple weeks working on that list and with the help of our family we completed all of those items and received our permit to open on October 13th.

Contact Info:

• Facebook: Southern Charm Grill

Image Credits
King Chamber