Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Barry Nutall. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Barry, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

This is a question that I answer quite often here in Pennsylvania because my business was named after a place well known around here. And I’m always happy to share the story, even if it has a bit of a sad twist.
My business, Kill Devil Meals, is named after a town in the Outer Banks of N. Carolina, Kill Devil Hills. It is a popular vacation spot around here and where, in 2014, I was married to the love of my life, my wife Lori. We were married on a beautiful evening in June surrounded by our closest friends and our children. Such a beautiful wedding was a perfect start to a beautiful marriage and life together.
Unfortunately, it was shortlived because in on the very last day of July in 2020, my beautiful wife passed away from kidney cancer. We had always talked about venturing off and starting our own business. On our 5th anniversary, I can remember asking her, “So what do you want to do in the next 5 years?” She put down the menu she was holding and quickly responded, “Stop working for the man.” Needless to say, that hit home with me!
So after she passed, I needed to find something positive to do with my life and after much deliberation on how to extract myself from the work of “the man” (FedEx at the time), I began to piece together what is now lovingly known around here as KDM.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My business is a catering/pop-up food business. I do a lot more of the pop-up events right now especially since it’s currently summertime. I bring my Southern Coastal rice bowls to many locations around my area. I find myself setting up at breweries, wineries, distilleries, festivals, fundraisers, and even the occasional wedding!
I haven’t had any real formal training. I worked for many years as a prep cook in a local restaurant with one of my closest friends who is an excellent chef. So I paid attention and worked my butt off and learned the work it takes to be able to put out really good and consistent food.
I’ve been able to really find my own lane in this area. My whole idea for doing Southern Coastal food was the notion that if people go south to have that kind of fresh, delicious, comforting food, what if it was available right down the street? Western PA is a very meat and potatoes, burgers and pizzas kind of area. So doing something where I serve up whole meal rice bowls with fresh ingredients and no French fries has taken some real work and convincing on my part. So it’s very nice to see when people give it a try and not only enjoy it but they also understand what I’m trying to do. All of my food is scratch-made and all of my sides are vegan. I even sell a gluten-free fried catfish. It’s so important to me that everyone can enjoy my food.
I’m very proud of how far I have come in just 3 years of serving the community. I now travel all over SW Pennsylvania and serve what I believe to be some of not only the best mobile food but some of the best food around!
This year will also mark my 3rd year of being a food vendor for the #1 beer festival in America 2 years running, Barrel and Flow Fest. It’s become my biggest and most important event each year because it features black owned businesses and breweries. And getting this kind of healthy and tasty food into my community means so much to me.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Social media and the Internet are great… Don’t get me wrong. What really built me up though was just the people and businesses willing to give me a chance to get my product out into the world. My very first jobs were just some of my close neighbors and friends allowing me to do some catering for their homes and parties. Then I gained a weekly brewery event from a brewer friend that I’ve known for 20+ years. That enabled more people to try my food and begin to spread the word.
Within about 6 months of my weekly gig and doing a few others, I was able to really start leaning into my social media presence a bit more. Then businesses from a much further distance away began to contact me. And I went to each and every one of those spots and brought really good, really consistent food with me. Like I said, social media is great but word of mouth and solid product are everlasting.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

Something that has really helped bring in more customers for me has been creating a culture of collaboration. There are many hardworking small business owners that are ready and willing to try new ways to promote and sell their products. And one of the best ways to do that is to find ways we can intersect and collaborate. Not only does it produce some new, hybrid type products but it allows both businesses to share their clientele and add to their social and promotional portfolios.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @killdevilmealsllc
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KillDevilMealsLLC?mibextid=ZbWKwL

Image Credits

Alex Newill