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

Hi Christopher , thanks for joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

Coming up with the idea was one of the most fun experiences I’ve had in awhile. A couple friends and Myself spent many nights sitting out on the front porch trying to come up with names for the bus. We had pages and pages of ideas, Some terrible, Some hilarious, Some that would have probably gotten us kicked out of events, but Ultimately I decided HauteWheels was the winner. I had been tinkering with menus for a food truck for years, but once this was all coming together and I had found the bus, I really started to hone in on something I hadn’t made a ton of professionally- sandwiches. I had been making wood fired pizza and vegetables for over four years at my previous job, So I was ready for a change. I wanted to keep it casual and be something you could eat while walking around a farmers market or at a concert. I started reading many books and going to all kinds of different sandwich shops and delis for inspiration. Our first menu was far from modest. I pulled out all the stops and cost was the least of my worries, I wanted to cook as I had in the fancy restaurants I had become accustomed to working in. It was a blast and I wouldn’t trade it for anything, but looking back at some of my recipes as a now more experienced business owner I was literally giving my food away! We have since dialed it back a bit, but never sacrificed quality of our ingredients/ preparation. Our Cuban remains our best selling and most revered Sandwich, and our Smoked Chicken & Beer Cheese Fries have went from a special to a menu staple.

As far as knowing if it was a worthwhile endeavor- It was mainly based on hope. After seeing what most food trucks were offering in my area I felt Gourmet Sandwiches and Loaded Fries would be a good niche, There weren’t many trucks offering anything similar and if they did, they had a very small menu. Also most food trucks are your standard step van, square truck with a vibrant wrap. The bus is very raw. Originally a church bus in Virginia, it has lived many different lives. With its weathered two tone paint job plus all of the metal work and fabrication we have done it sticks out and is very easily recognizable, Without having to wrap it in signage and take away from its uniqueness, I’m striving to basically be the “Dive Bar” of food trucks, and people seem to really enjoy that and are very supportive of something that is obviously a home build that we’ve put our own blood, sweat and tears into.

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?

to put it plainly, I love to cook, There are many things in life that are completely unpredictable and out of our control. Cooking is not one of those things. Well, to me at a least. I know many people find no solace or comfort in cooking, but for me the kitchen is my comfort zone, Whether prepping for the week or being in service on the bus, It’s always enjoyable to be working on something food related. I have cooked professionally since I was 16, with no breaks or other lines of work in between. I started my company HauteWheels roughly two years ago, and plan on. expanding with a second bus and hopefully a pick up only style brick and mortar location in the near future. Aside from working events, we also offer catering and private chef services, and frequently host fun pop ups primarily in/around our hometown of Dickson TN. We are most proud of our Cuban Sandwich & Smoked Chicken and Beer Cheese Fries.

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

The first thing that comes to mind when asked this question is the time our generator died last year. We had a huge week ahead of us, and the first shift we had scheduled was breakfast. We don’t usually serve breakfast, so this was a pop up of sorts. We got about twenty minutes into the shift and our generator completely stopped working and refused to start back up. Being as it was the beginning of the week, I had spent the majority of the money in the bank account on food for the week and simply could not afford to buy a new one at that time. I quickly started trying to figure out what I would do, being as we had many more shifts to prepare for aside from the one we just failed to serve at, and now we had a ton of irregular breakfast food to also try and get rid of in a timely matter. My roommate at the time was related to the owner of a tool rental store in the area, So he was able to secure us a free generator to get us through the weekend- Amazing news! We promptly went to pick it up. We started the generator upon arrival and everything seemed to be in working order. Fast Forward to our next shift- The generator would not put out any power! the engine ran fine, but produced no electricity. So now we were two shifts in to the week and have failed to serve at both of them due to generator issues. I found another hardware store with a generator powerful enough to power the bus, but it was well over an hour away, I called to reserve it and headed there as soon as I could,

Once I arrive at the store, I quickly realized the generator was incredibly large. It would not be able to fit on the rack of the bus, but it would provide the power we so desperately needed at this point, I wound up having to drive the pick up truck with the generator in the bed of the truck to our gigs, then have an employee come pick me up so I could then return to the gig with the bus, We did this for 5 days straight, having to make Four trips back and fourth to every shift, But we made it happen!

Can you talk to us about how you funded your business?

Funding was definitely a struggle, as I’m sure it is for most entrepreneurs. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity of buying a fixer upper a few years ago, and I’ve since worked on it diligently. I refinanced two years ago, and that’s how I was able to secure the funds for starting the business.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @HauteWheelsCo
• Facebook: HauteWheels Rolling Sandwich Co.
• Twitter: HauteWheelsCo

Image Credits
Carly Clark Cody Aulidge