We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Carmen Settles. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Carmen below.
Alright, Carmen thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?
The definition of success; the accomplishment of one’s goals. the attainment of wealth, position, honors, or the like. To me success is something that is always ongoing, you have to constantly want to reach another level up to truly be successful. Everybody has different goals that they are trying to achieve, some have monetary amounts such as a million dollars or more, it can be anything that keeps you motivated.
I think it takes a strong minded individual that is willing to go through the journey of ups and downs to get to their ultimate goal.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
Full Street is a catering company that offers a variety of services such as Private Chef, dinner parties, appetizers, brunch, cooking classes, full service, plated and buffet style meals.
What sets us apart is the fact that we customize each client’s menu for their event. We take pride in walking them through the steps of making decisions on curating their menu based off budget, theme, and guests count. A lot of times people choose the same meals for any occasion. Our job is to make it more personable with the choices. At the same time we need to make it make sense. A lot of companies just have food packages listed and the client just picked one without any or little modifications done. I like to speak with the client and find out what their wants and needs are for the event so we can provide the best product and service for them on their special day.
Even though the name of our company is Full Street Wings Cafe, we are definitely more than just wings! We provide a large variety of foods and services that our clients can enjoy of any occasion.
What sets us apart is the fact that we can handle events from intimate to large corporate or school functions. Our clients can also use us for multiple events without repeating the same food options. Knowing that you can contact someone for almost any occasion helps build loyalty and strong relationships with each other.
What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?
My passion for cooking turned into a side hustle which eventually turned into a full time position for myself. While working my corporate job, I decided to start a food truck. I was ready to work on my dream and make it a reality. I have always enjoyed cooking and of course a true foodie at heart, it was only right to combine the 2 and jump into the culinary industry!
I use to cook for family and friends all the time, we were definitely the “kickback” place to hang out, so it was always a chance to get on the grill and do what I do best. Of course, people would ask me to make them some wings for their events and say I should “sell these”. I never put much thought into it but the demand kept coming so the food kept coming out! I realized that cooking was my stress reliever from working my 9-5 so it was nothing to think about if I were to take it seriously. I started doing my research and decided to open up a food truck. If I were to put a timeline on everything, I would say it took about 2-3 years from thought to actually getting the ball rolling. Once I purchased my food truck, I was able to go full time in a year. We have now been in business for 8 years and that’s even including operating during Covid! The demand never stopped, and we kept going by switching up the services to include more intimate events and drop off services.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
I am a true believer is providing great customer service. You can have a good product but if the customer service isn’t there then you lose your current clientele, and you miss out on potential clients because they already heard about you! It doesn’t matter if I am feeding 10 people or 100+, I am going to make sure that I provide that same level of service to them. You never know who is in the crowd. A lot of my referrals come from people who were at an event, and they tell me how they enjoyed everything!
I am also 1000% a people person! I like to interact with my clients and guests, my staff and I have fun while at an event so the crowd feels it. It’s nothing for us to joke around and even get out on the dance floor (after service of course) and celebrate the special occasion with everyone else. I also deal with my client from start to finish so that they feel comfortable with questions or concerns that may arise. I also like to give my clients options for their events. I could easily put set menus out with pricing and call it a day. I don’t want the client to feel like they have to choose a particular package. We customize each menu and event to help fit within their budget. Make it make sense! These elements provide a more secure relationship with the clients and almost a guarantee that they will continue to use our services again and again!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.fullstreetwings.com
- Instagram: @fullstreetwings
- Facebook: Carmen Rice Settles
- Twitter: @fullstreetwings
- Other: email [email protected] business number 919.285.1844