We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Joe Rodger a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Joe thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with 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.
I think one of the biggest, most prominent risks I’ve taken is opening the business I’m currently operating.
I’ve been in restaurants, primarily kitchens most of my life. I’ve helped open numerous establishments in that time. I used to work for a chef who said “You’ll never fully understand until it’s your own.” There couldn’t be truer words to opening a restaurant.
Eight years ago I had the chance to open a spot with my now ex business partner. Looking back now, it’s safe to say that I was in over my head. Over confident and under prepared. I failed myself and the business and had to take. step back and re access not only my career but my life as a whole. In this instance, failure proved to be my greatest learning tool and gave me the foundation to move forward. I’m extremely grateful for the experiences I’ve been through, both good and bad as they’ve helped grow.
I recently opened my own sandwich shop now and it has been daunting doing everything on my own, but with that comes the fulfillment of the success when all of the wheels are turning and everything is running smoothly.
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 simply, Joejoebobs is a local sandwich & small plates restaurant in Flagstaff, AZ.
I started working in kitchens at the age of twelve and kept doing it til my early twenties when something finally clicked and I started taking it seriously and treating it as a career/life. Since then I’ve traveled and studied and honed the craft to the best of my ability.
I’ve always come back to Flagstaff, as its home. When the opportunity came up at a vacant Subway I decided to pull the trigger for what is now Joejoebobs. A local, easy-going chef driven sandwich shop. I wanted to take food a little less serious and have fun with it as oppose to the grind of late nights and high stress, meticulous kitchens. Some days I feel like a sell out but my quality of life is much better and I’m much less anxious than I used to be. There will always be anxieties, they’re just different now.
At Joejoebobs we try to utilize as much of the ingredient as possible, sourcing as locally as possible and make everything from scratch when we can. I have a background in charcuterie so we try to take lesser used cuts of meat and make traditional sandwiches with them. For instance, corned pork cheek reuben or beef tongue Philly cheesesteaks.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
Longevity. Working in Flagstaff for twenty plus years now has been a huge benefit for opening Joejoebobs. Having created a reputation for myself has helped to create a clientele for the business from the get go.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
As a chef i was taught to create a product and stick to it. “No substitutions” or “comes as is” was the mentality. Opening a sandwich shop has taught me to take any and all constructive criticisms.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://joejoebobs.com
- Instagram: @joejoebobs
- Facebook: Joejoebobs
- Yelp: Joejoebob”s
