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

Kat, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How did you come up with the idea for your business?

In 2009 during the housing crisis I was an Interior Designer and my husband, Brad, was in the Banking Industry. Needless to say these industries were hit hard. I ask my husband “If we were to take some money out of savings what would you want to do next?” He instantly responded with “open a restaurant”. We didn’t have that much in the bank and with no prior restaurant experience we knew this wasn’t feasible. Brad did come back with “How about a food truck?”. My instant response was “absolutely not”. Now remember this was late 2009. There were no gourmet food truck in Phoenix. The food truck idea was just beginning to percolate in places like LA and New York. My experience of food truck was strictly limited to job sites I frequently worked at and the lunch trucks that occasionally stoped by. He pressed this issue though, and after a few weeks I happened to see an episode of CBS Sunday Morning News and they were doing a little segment on the LA Food Trucks that were just starting, their innovative branding, and use of social media for marketing. I was instantly excited about this possibility. 6 months later we had purchased a vehicle, created the Short Leash Hotdogs concept and were open for business. Since we both had full time jobs we initially thought this would be a side hustle that we could do together a couple days a week. Our first day of business was at the local farmers market. On our first day being open, one of our first customers was Stacy Sullivan, the food and lifestyle editor of the Arizona Republic. He sent a reporter out to do a feature on us the next Saturday, our second day of business. 6 weeks later Brad and I both left our jobs to pursue Short Leash full time.

Kat, 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?

When we started our business we were so focused on all the little things; the presentation, the packaging, the end product, and all the little things that can help set you apart from other operators. What we didn’t anticipate was the connection we would make with customers and the relationships we have been able to develop over the past 11 years. Because the food truck is mobile it gave us the opportunity to be a part of our customer’s lives and milestones in a way that a typical restaurant or caterer couldn’t. We have been a part of so many weddings, bar mitzvahs, birthday parties, and once even a funeral. While planning our business and talking about the menu and logo and staffing and taxes and all the things you think you can plan for, I never would have been able to plan for the human connection part. When thinking back about the past 11 years it has been exhausting and stressful and by far the most difficult thing we have ever done. But conversely, we are so incredibly grateful because we have had so much fun, met so many amazing people on this journey, and we are still excited about our business and what it could still become.

Has your business ever had a near-death moment? Would you mind sharing the story?

The restaurant business can be a tricky one. When our business was growing, we had a lot of interest from building owners, real estate brokers, and even bar owners that wanted us to be in their spaces. These conversations are flattering and often times the opportunities seem exciting. The most difficult thing to do sometimes is to say “No” to opportunities like these, and for the most part we did. The one time we did. say “Yes” it almost broke our business and at the end of the day cost us nearly $80,000. We accepted the opportunity to do food for a new bar concept that was going in downtown. The operators of this bar were seasoned operators and the bar has since become quite successful. After about 6 months of trying to make it work we realized that food was completely secondary to this bars operations. The bar was so busy in fact that the servers didn’t want to push food because it caused their jobs to be more difficult. However we were on the hook for our portion of rent, we were on the hook for the kitchen payroll which weekly sales weren’t covering. We were basically supplementing the losses of this bar’s kitchen with revenues earned from our first location and our food truck operations. Ultimately we had to walk away. We were stuck with the debt we had accrued to offset the losses and they got to keep the improvements made to the building, This was our first defeat. It’s a loss we still feel to this day. It’s also a reminder that no endeavor can be successful if all business partners or employees or landlords motivations aren’t aligned.

Have you ever had to pivot?

COVID!!! The restaurant industry was hit hard the last 2 years. We have weather the storm by downsizing as much as possible. We had opted not to renew our Biltmore lease right before Covid struck, which was fortunate timing. We went from 34 employees to 6. We went to one location being open only 3 day a week, which we know is strange for a restaurant to do, but we have never been happier. Our philosophy has been to create demand during those 3 days and be as busy as possible and then enjoy life. As much as we love our business and we do, over the past 10 years we have not always taken the best care of ourselves. Since downsizing we have had time to camp and explore. We have had more time for family and friends. Our goal is to never go back to 7 days a week, or have multiple location, but rather to maintain a work life balance and find the joy in our business and community.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.shortleashhotdogs.com
• Instagram: @shortleashhotdogs
• Facebook: @shortleashhotdogs
• Twitter: @shortleashdogs