We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kaitlyn Cruz a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Kaitlyn, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

I want to say the whole food truck idea started towards the end of high school. Growing up, I wanted a brick & mortar restaurant, but I came across the idea of a mobile food unit by going out and eating at food trucks. I quickly realized it was a more cost effective way getting into the food industry.

I wasn’t sure what kind of food I wanted to serve all those years. All I knew is that I wanted to call it Cookin’ & Cruzin’ being that my last name is Cruz. It was fun and catchy, and everyone I mentioned it to loved it. Fast forward to when I met my now husband, I started teaching him how to cook & eat better. Of all the meals, he had mentioned to me that I should do breakfast food for my food truck. He said it was one of his favorite meals I made for him, so I took that and ran with it.

The food truck business idea was put on hold for us to pursue real estate investing, which included buying our first home. I was thankful for it because once we slowed down in the real estate world, I was able to sit down and focus on the food truck concept.

I went to my favorite coffee shop, Press & Porter in downtown Concord, NC, to work on the business plan. Every week that I had days off, I was reading food truck books, creating menu concepts, researching food and how flavors go together. I did research on breakfast statistics , etc etc.

I felt ready as far as the mental and emotional aspect goes. I was ready to open the psychical thing, but money was an issue. I didn’t want the lack of cash stop me from opening. I felt it was a great time to open, so I set out to get a loan for the business. I got it, found a used food trailer, got it, cleaned it up, and continued from there. I started ordering new equipment, shelves, supplies, marketing. The whole nine yards. I went to the commercial kitchen that I already worked for, signed a lease, got the permits and health inspection and we opened September 9th of 2023.

An idea that started in probably 2016/2017, became a real thing in 2023. It took time, but it was worth the wait..

Kaitlyn, 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?

My name is Kaitlyn and I love the world of culinary arts. No, I don’t have a degree in culinary arts, but I am self-taught..for the most part.. I got into this business in multiple ways. Through out childhood and up, my parents taught me basic cooking needs for adult survival. I watched food network at an young age, anything from chopped to beat bobby flay. I always took mental notes on dos and don’ts. I practiced cooking for my family all the time, I cooked for friends, and it turned into cooking for my now husband. The desire to be own boss has always been there. I’m not sure where it started, but putting those together is what lead to what I have today. The support I’ve gotten from my husband, and family is what lead me to where I am today.

Breakfast has always been my favorite meal of the day. Whether its a bowl of cereal, or waking up to my mom making pancakes on a Sunday morning. I will never forget my dad teaching my how to make french toast. I was always afraid to mess it up because I thought the mixture was so delicate. French toast was one of the first “breakfast for dinner” meals I made for my husband. He fell and love and like I said, he gave me the idea of making that my food truck concept. Now, we offer breakfast goodies like cream cheese stuffed french toast, specialty breakfast sliders, etc. Our guests love it and always come back for more!

I believe we make a difference by providing a quick, fresh breakfast to multiple areas of Charlotte. What I’ve learned since opening, is most food trucks make all their food at the commercial kitchen, and go out and serve. Which there is absolutely nothing wrong with that because it’s still delicious food. However; I like to make breakfast fresh to order just like you’d get at a sit down breakfast joint. We stand apart from the others because of that.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

Yes 100%. As far as books go, I am not a huge reader, but let me say that as far as the food truck goes, I loved this book called The Food Truck Handbook by David Weber. He explained food truck background and the world around it. I believe the book was published around 2012, so it’s a little outdated, but still worth the read. As far as mind set goes for business, I loved Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. It’s a well known book as far as mind set, finance background, etc. I loved it.

Everyone knows YouTube can be a very very resourceful way of learning things. In the culinary direction, Joshua Weissman has been my favorite chef for years. I have also watched different things involving business and finance to help.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Coming out of high school I believe was my biggest pivot so far. I was in JROTC throughout high school, and graduated as a 2nd lieutenant. I was so set on going to college ROTC to become an ARMY officer. I wanted to be a travel nurse for military bases. At the time, I felt it was the right thing to do for my family and my future. I wanted to be set as far as money and a guaranteed job goes.

When I met my now husband in 2017, and we were getting to know each other, he knew how much I loved cooking and the world around it. We were both in college pursuing what we thought was going to be safe and sound. I told him I didn’t want to get into cooking under someone because the money isn’t worth the work. I was scared money was going to be tight if I went down that path. As time passed, we both knew college wasn’t making us happy and in our hearts we didn’t want to pursue those degrees.

My pivot point, OUR pivot point was dropping out and learning to become business owners. We did research all the time and sacrificed so much to save money, and become the business owners we knew we wanted to be.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cookinncruzin/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61550516335169
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/cookin-and-cruzin-charlotte

Image Credits
Kaitlyn Cruz & Chandler Smith