We were lucky to catch up with Brian Austin recently and have shared our conversation below.
Brian, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?
To serve happiness by creating fun memories with loved ones. We believe the most important part of life is spending time with your family and friends. Those moments when you’re experiencing something new with loved ones are the moments you keep forever. That is our favorite part of life that we want to create with you.
Brian, 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?
Chef has always loved cooking since he was a little boy. His grandma made the best food for him and all his cousins growing up! It was then when he realized that food had this power of changing your whole mood and brought so many people together. Because of his grandma he realized he loved cooking. Brian went on and graduated with a Culinary degree and worked in a couple of restaurants and hotels. He finally found a place he loved and stayed there for twenty years. Brian began dreaming of owning his own food business and decided it was time to go for it. Doolittle’s Mobile Kitchen was his new business serving gourmet hotdogs & lemonade. Doolittle’s started with only two tables and a grill and through the years grew to a hotdog cart, to two hotdog carts, and now to a food truck. Through these years they added services such as private Chef services and catering services. They also added new menu items such as Snow cones, Salads, and Shrimp Po Boys.
Our favorite part of the job is not just serving our main menu, but creating specials. We’ve done Pork Sandwiches, Brisket Tacos, and Beef Sliders. We’re always bringing a little something extra to the table. Another great part of the business is that when you hire us for an event you create the menu. We don’t just provide you with a set menu, we let you pick and choose so you get the menu your envisioning. Our goal is to create your dream menu.
Not only do you have an extremely experienced Chef cooking that serves delicious food, but we also serve happiness. Doolittle’s now has their own mascot that we bring to different events. This hotdog mascot makes kids laugh and dance and the parents can’t get enough of seeing their kids so happy. Doolittle’s serves gourmet food, but is also serving memorable moments with loved ones.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
Let’s be honest, we had to unlearn just more than one thing. Coming from the fancier side of the Culinary world I had thought it was all about the fancy dishes, the exotic fishes, the white coats. I learned fast that it was not. As we started to do simple food, but done right it opened up a whole different door in the Culinary World. Yes, a Ribeye served with a twice baked potato is always delicious and craved, but a hotdog at an event is a huge staple in the food industry. A cold lemonade on a hot summer day is wanted more than a fancy drink you get at a fine dinning restaurant. I’ve seen more smiles and laughs when our hotdog mascot comes out then a couple going to a fine dining restaurant. The other aspect of opening up your own business is thinking everyone is going to cheer you on and be there for you. That was definitely not true. We were doubted by some of closest loved ones and it still happens to this day. The people we thought that would support us and be our biggest cheerleaders vanished and the people that we never expected to support us were our number one cheerleaders from day one. Opening up the business was not as exciting as we had thought, but in fact it put you in a very vulnerable situation. In the end, as we learned to keep our heads up and push on we have had the greatest journey ever.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
Life is all about pivoting and we’ve had to pivot quite a few times in order to stay afloat. As soon as we opened up the hotdog stand full time Covid hit. Instead of booking parties and street vending we switched our business into a meal prep delivery for people that couldn’t compromise going out and risking exposure. We delivered weekly meals to elderly and sick people for about a year when Covid hit. Once Covid was over we began to take the hotdog cart out, but as we began that inflation was at its all time high. We had to switch suppliers which led us to change menu items and the cycle continued. We’ve learned how to pivot in the items we were selling. Our hotdogs that have meat such as brisket and pulled pork sell better in the winter time and our items that have cool toppings like Pico de Gallo sell better in the summer. People crave and need snow cones in the summer, so we started pushing snow cones to meet the markets needs and wants. From the way we hire people, to policies and procedures, to menu items, to places we’ve set up we’ve learned to pivot. Pivoting is all about learning and growing to keep up with demand. We’ve learned that when you open your own business you never stop pivoting and you never stop learning and growing. 
Contact Info:
- Instagram: doolittlesm.k.c
- Facebook: Doolittle’s Mobile Kitchen and Catering