Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Marcus Heckman. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Marcus, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What do you think it takes to be successful?
For me it’s being persistent never giving up. There are going to be failures every business owner has failures but it’s how you learn and come back from those failures. That’s how you take your business to the next level and start making the progress you want.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Well first of all I have always loved food. But I got into cooking back in 2014 when I started working at Olive Garden. Then I started watching YouTube videos to learn the basics of cooking and knife work. After that I took what I learned and started making my own food. Five years later I was asked to create the menu at a local Tucson restaurant called Toast 101, which was fun but I wanted my own business. That’s when I created FryAholics where I bring fresh restaurant ingredients to loaded fries. I’m going to bring flavors to loaded fries that no one has thought of doing.
Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?
I fund my business with my paychecks. While I’m running my business I also work full time at an amazing local restaurant called Prep & Pastry. They also allow me to run my pop up’s at their restaurant so the city of Tucson can taste the flavors I’m bringing to the table. The owner Nate is amazing for allowing me to do it with no charge. I am beyond grateful.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
The social media following I have has built up over time thanks to a combination of both supportive family/friends and word of mouth. When people assume that they have experienced loaded fries already, I like to challenge their view on the comfort food. I like to reach out to new audiences and groups of people that have the same love for food as I do. Introducing my unique flavors and style seem to intrigue most. When those same people have a great experience they talk, they tell their friends about it, they come back. As long as I keep my fries exceeding others expectations, new customers and social media followers grow.
Contact Info:
Image Credits
Elly DeMontigny https://instagram.com/peccadillo.punk?igshid=YWJhMjlhZTc=