Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kristopher Gonzalez. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Kristopher, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.
I have been a second grade teacher for almost 25 years. As many people know, working in education can be extremely stressful and most educators leave after a few years. After years of working with students with extreme behaviors that were not addressed by administrators I’d begun to start thinking about moving on from education, but I didn’t know what other careers would be a good fit that I’d enjoy. I did enjoy many aspects of being a teacher, and I was very good at it, but that’s not what my story is about.
It’s no secret that teachers are grossly overworked and underpaid (especially in AZ). The principal at my school retired and her replacement came in with his own way of doing things. He scrutinized the entire staff’s practices and seemed to really hone in on veteran teachers. His reasons for this I can only speculate. He was observing in my classroom one day in September. It was early in the year before class routines had been well established and practiced. As the class broke out into group work, the administrators walked around talking to kids while I was at my table working with a small group. Some of the 6-7 year olds were off-task or couldn’t do the task they were given. I can absolutely explain this but will save you the time.
Later I was called in for a meeting and was given the option of either working with a district coach or leaving his school (where I had taught successfully for the last 8 years) at the end of the year. I have a family to support so I was not ready at that moment to tell him to “take this job and shove it.” However I did tell him that my track record should speak for itself, and that in all my years of teaching that my student growth scores have always been among the highest of my colleagues and that data is available. He didn’t care. I was highly offended but went along with it. The last thing I will say about this is that I did learn a new strategy or two, but the district coach they sent to work with me said she didn’t understand why she was there and that I was an excellent teacher that has great relationships with his students.
I would often vent to my wife about all the extra busy work and wild student behavior stories. She is a teacher as well. My mantra started becoming “And they pay us a barely livable wage for all this! I could probably make more money selling hot dogs.” and THAT is where the story begins. We lived check to check but we took out a $4k loan and I bought a used hot dog cart and all the equipment from a fellow on facebook marketplace. I did my research and got all my legal permits and licenses and started figuring out how to book events. I had to see if I could actually make a living, and as you can imagine, everyone that I told this idea to was skeptical. My amazing wife, Whitney supported me and told me that if I was that unhappy at my job to go for it. She’s the best!
At the end of that school year I told the principal I was leaving. I wasn’t ready to give up my career just yet, but I was definitely ready to move on from that guy. They say people don’t quit jobs, they quit bosses, and this guy is the reason why. And I will toot my own horn…my student growth and achievement scores were the highest among my team again at year’s end. And their success had nothing to do with anything that man asked of me. I am still a bit bitter, LOL. The next school I went to was as good as it gets as far as the people I worked with, but the kids are still draining. I spent the next two years working my ass off. I taught full time and was slinging hot dogs on the weekends, shopping and prepping and cleaning after working all day in the classroom. I started getting into festivals and events where I would make 2 week’s salary as a teacher in 1 day! As I got more and more of those events I started to gain confidence that I could really do this.
Working two jobs (one physically exhausting and the other mentally exhausting) took it’s toll. I had to make a choice and I chose to be self employed. I am no longer “Mr. G.” I am now “The Dog Father.” My business The Dog Father Gourmet Hot Dogs and More is doing great. I’ve brought a friend in with me so we have 2 carts to cover more ground. The events are so plentiful that I have yet to just set up and sell somewhere. My stress levels have come down and my high blood pressure has stabilized. I am more present at home and so much happier. AND I am making more than I was teaching. I’m certainly not going to get rich…and I’m an injury away from not having income for awhile; but the satisfaction of owning your own business and being able to support your family is immeasurable. I’m coming up on the 3rd anniversary of my business and I’m feeling very encouraged about what the future holds and I have options. Plus I don’t think the teacher shortage in America is going to get filled any time soon, so I know I can always do that again if I need to.
So why hot dogs? I have a culinary degree and before I was a teacher I worked in some high end restaurants. I went with hot dogs because the start up costs were low and I could be flexible with when I worked. But I am from New York City and I LOVE an East Coast hot dog cart. It was always a treat when my dad would get my sister and I a dog from the “dirty water hot dog cart” while walking around the city or in Central Park. That red onion sauce and sauerkraut was the only way I’d eat a vegetable back then. I put my creative culinary flare into my business by adding some funky creations along with the classics. I love when customers come up and say “Wow! They all look so good I can’t decide.” We’ve got about a dozen different specialty dogs. It’s also great giving people a taste of home too. We sell a lot of Chicago dogs and NYC style and folks get so excited for them!
I took a big life risk in leaving an established career to start my own business. I have a mortgage and 3 kids as well as all the other expenses of life. But I disliked my job more and more each year which was doing a disservice to the students as well as my soul. I wasn’t the same teacher I was was in my 30’s. Teacher burnout is real. I like a particular lyric in the song “Vacation” by the Dirty Heads. “If you don’t like your life than you should go and change it.” I like my life a lot better now.
Kristopher, 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 want my customers to have a great hot dog at a fair price. Simple. I work a lot of big events that charge fees to be there, and there is a lot of price gouging just like at a movie theater or ball game. I try to keep my items reasonably priced for families. Everything is under $10 and it’s GOOD. Our jumbo hot dogs are top quality and our Polish Sausages and Bratwursts are fat and loaded with sauerkraut. All our dogs are stacked and impressive when you get them. We have classics like the Chicago Dog and Sonoran Dog as well as the New York Style with the pushcart onions and chili dogs too, plus a few exclusives like the Buffalo Dog that has a spicy link and blue cheese crumbles, or the Aloha Dog with crushed pineapple on a Polish Sausage topped with sweet Hawaiian mustard and purple cabbage. We keep Veggie Dogs on hand too so there is something for everyone!
Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?
My business partner is one of my best friends. They say not to mix friends and family with business, but we did it in an unconventional way. My buddy and I play in a band together. I am a drummer and he plays bass. I also taught both of his children over the years, so we have a long friendship and I totally trust him and that’s huge in business. He has kids that are in college and it’s expensive. As I’m telling my friends of all my hot dog adventures and how well it’s going, he asks me if I could help him start one up too, kind of like franchising. So we decided to share the name, but with our own LLC and TPT so his business and taxes are separate from mine. But with the same branding, we can cover twice the events and rarely have to turn down a job due to being booked already. It’s worked well so far.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Running a business will always have unexpected challenges and expenses that come up. Recently I was driving to an event in another city. PHX is too hot in the summer so I go to the Pines of Northern AZ which is a 4,000 foot elevation climb. As I’m rolling into town on a busy holiday weekend my radiator blows about 3 miles from town. It’s night time and cars are whizzing by. Luckily I have AAA. I get a tow truck to haul my truck and cart to a mechanic. On the way he drops me and my employee (who happens to be my mother-in-law) at a hotel along with my hot dog cart-which I lock to light pole in the parking lot.
I DO NOT CANCEL THE GIG!
It’s late but I am able to reserve a Uhaul truck online to pick up in the morning. I email the event coordinator and explain the situation and let her know I’ll be a little late. I walk 2 miles to the uhaul in the morning because the cab companies in Payson, AZ don’t open until 8am and there’s no uber drivers there. I get the uhaul. I go to the Firestone where my truck was towed and get the key, unload all my coolers and equipment into the uhaul, head back to the hotel and get the cart and my mom in law and we drive to the event-which was a Labor Day Lumberjack festival. We did about $3K in sales. Radiator repair cost about $1,000, but we picked up the my truck, put all the stuff back and returned the uhaul.
All things considered, in this bad situation, everything unfolded as well as it could have. But THEN within a few days my transmission took a dive (2005 Pathfinder is my business vehicle) and I still had jobs booked. It took a few weeks to rebuild the transmission, so I borrowed trucks from friends and ultimately ended up putting a trailer hitch on my wife’s Honda CRV in order to get to those gigs. Where there’s a will there’s a way!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://facebook.com/thedogfather_gourmet
- Instagram: @thedogfather_gourmet
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/thedogfather_gourmet
Image Credits
Photos by Kris Gonzalez and Whitney Gonzalez