We recently connected with Jay Holman and have shared our conversation below.
Jay, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?
615 Soul Food Inc. is a food truck and catering business located in Downtown Nashville. When we started 615 Soul Food Inc. I didn’t know anything about running a food business. My background is in accounting. I started this business with my imagination and the support of friends and family. I was new to the food service industry from the standpoint of actually cooking. My professional career as an accountant was on a different side of the food service industry. I knew how to manage the financial side of things, but I didn’t have a clue about cooking for people outside of my family. I know how to cook but it took hours of watching food shows studying and good old fashion trial and error. I took food certification courses and proper food control classes to learn how to commercially prepare food. I learned how to actually cook from my aunts and many women that I studied under. It took me 2 years to actually complete the training work. I made it my business to learn all the ins and outs of managing a food truck from what foods work well what appliances I needed to use. I needed to understand how the equipment functioned, what would work and what didn’t work. I opened in the fall of 2022. I had to wait for the learning experiences that I have had. Some were hard lessons to learn like don’t move the truck without tying everything down because you could lose a flat grill that bounced off the shelf once in motion. That in order to have maximum power or no power outages 3 appliances can’t work on the same power source. You need to make sure the gas is on before you try to light the pilot. You can’t be taught everything is different no kitchen is the same. I just knew I was always told by friends and family that I could cook really well. I took my passion for food and made it into a business. I truly enjoy being outside interacting with the public and having them eat my food. It’s a great feeling to experience.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My background is in finance and accounting. I have 15 years of professional experience in both the corporate and private sectors of accounting. I got into the food business because my partner Mr. Moore was the catalyst for the idea. I just was the brains to actually get it completed. I knew that I wanted to potentially own a restaurant one day but never really gave it much thought. I just kept on working in my field but when covid 19 came I had to completely rethink how I operated my business it made me take a hard look at what was a good investment of my time and energy with everything being shut down on my accounting side. I had no choice but to find something else that I could make potential income in. 615 Soul food is a mix of Creole-American if that is a category well it is now. We offer a special creole spin on all our menu items. We serve whiting fish, real beef hamburgers not just frozen patties, Cajun chicken wings and the best seafood gumbo in Nashville, Tennessee. When in season we also offer creole seasoned boiled crawfish. The menu is Nashville themed. The names like our Firebird Wings are for the high school that our children went to Pearl Cohn High School. The Titan Up burger is colossal all beef hamburger with double meat, double cheese, double bacon on a bun pays homage to our NFL Team the Tennessee Titans, and our West Side Whiting is for the Big Fish from the West Side if you know you know. The Music City Seafood gumbo is pure divinity. It is authentically made I coined the phrase “liquid gold” so good they ask for it in the summer, but that dish is only served in the fall sorry guys. When we can operate our official retail location, we will offer it year-round. The biggest obstacle to operating a food truck is that you are subject to the weather but what sets us apart is that the truck has side panels that allow for operation even when its light raining. We also use our truck at odd times which makes our customers keep up with us on our social media page and website. We like making it interesting at the Mustard which is what we affectionately call the yellow food truck. There is a park and vibe meet and greet we do each Friday that we have real bartenders from Tasty Treats come and serve drinks to our customers, with music and delish food you can’t go wrong definitely something to enjoy if you’re in Nashville. 615 also celebrated Mardi Gras, and St. Patrick day this year and each event had something special for the day. We find that it is easier to grab the attention of our customers by offering unique experiences for special occasions. We have catered Christmas parties, poker nights, birthdays, showers etc. You name it, we can get it done. 615 Soul food will do what it takes to serve the best food in the city. When you come to Nashville, Tennessee you want to find the gems; off the beaten path kind of places that just make you feel good that’s the Mustard. People come to our food truck when they can go to so many here now because we offer what others don’t. We care about the food we cook. We want you to taste the love in every bite. When you leave here all you say is “that was so good when are you open” music to my ears.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
Society has a way of supporting what is mainstream only if it’s not on TV or Radio then they don’t know about it. I would like to see more food truck gatherings actually bringing more trucks together offering more events to allow Nashville to see what is out there for them. People usually eat with their eyes but most really eat out of convenience or comfort. Meaning they don’t venture out to try something new. That is what the ecosystem needs is more outlets that we can share our food and our platforms with each other. I like finding the local food places when I travel the mom-and-pop places that only the locals go to these places have always helped me find really good food. More collaborative events, more likes shares and just getting out and going to a new food place.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
I had to learn to ask questions? I am used to having it all figured out, but this experience has taught me I didn’t know much at all when it came to actually working in a food business. The only food service experience I had was in high school, never management or actually cooking. I was fine with being a bean counter behind the scenes just counting the money after it is made. There is so much work that goes into creating a bottom line or even getting a profit in operating a food business. But when I didn’t ask questions it took me longer, took me away from what I wanted to do which was open and cost me more money and time. Now I ask questions first then do what is necessary. The questions came more in the beginning but after opening and actually getting to operate most of it makes since now. I don’t know it all, but I have a pretty good idea of what not to do for right now that is. I learn something new every day, and I appreciate both the good and bad lessons the challenges have given me.
Contact Info:
- Website: 615soulfood.square.site
- Instagram: 615soulfood
- Other: 415 31st Ave N, Nashville, TN 37209
Image Credits
AUTUMNSKYE PRODUCTIONS