We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Heather Rogers. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Heather below.

Heather, appreciate you joining us today. Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.

Starting a food truck business, essentially any business, is a risk. There’s an idea, an execution, and a prayer that it will succeed. the most challenging part of being self employed, is being totally reliant on yourself to be motivated every single day to get up and get the job done.

Heather, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I started this venture to have a fun experience in, and with, my community. And also, to make a little extra money on the side. I was a single mom, working full time, and wanted to find a purpose and internal success that was all my own. The easiest part of this entire journey, was the idea. I loved the creative development and putting it all together. However, it quickly developed into a full time job! The challenges continued to roll in, and over me. Quitting was a daily thought. My hardest obstacle was definitely my own mind, my exhaustion, and my struggles. Learning to overcome that fear and doubt was the height of this businesses success. I surrounded myself with those that believed in me, supported me, and mostly those that helped me, and I continued forward. I built a small team and we maintained consistency and dependability in our scheduling and product. We build community relationships that are important and crucial in the business world. Connecting with other owners has proven beneficial in so many ways, from sharing operating information to them hiring us to serve at their events. Becoming an independent business is a success, but it cannot be done independently.

Have you ever had to pivot?

When Covid hit all of our communities, we braced for the worst case scenario. We were into our 5th year of owning the food truck, and only 10 months into our new restaurant opening. Indoor dining was closed, everything was closing, and we had no idea how we were going to earn any income at all at this point! So, pivot we did. Social media became our friend and we began to broadcast that our mobile food truck can come to them. We schedule that truck all over our city, going to 1 neighborhood after another. Our restaurant was still hanging in the dark, until one day someone wanted to take over the space and we sadly let it go. It was the best decision we ever made. The extra money allowed us to reinvest into a 2nd truck and continue with the mobile business. Today we own and operate 2 food trucks, 1 franchise truck, and a repair and build business to help other food truck owners and start up businesses.

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

When I decided to go ahead with my plan to be self employed, I wanted this to be a success, but I also wanted it to be a fun decision. My main goal was to enjoy my life and my new career. A food truck is a business where personality can be expressed, so we all got together for days kicking around phrases and ideas and settled on a fun catchy name for the truck. I do believe that the name of the business is what demanded the attention. Next, now that I had your attention, I backed it up with the product. We offered a unique, one of a kind flavor that cannot be found anywhere else. Being individual was key. Third, consistent and dependable. Offering the same experience and not disappointing the customer was a priority. In regards to our events, always showing up and being on time helped us establish a reputation for being easy to work with and providing a quality service. Word of mouth spreads quickly and so many of our events are established through referrals.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.wickedhangry.com
• Instagram: @wickedhangry
• Facebook: @wickedhangry