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

Meagan, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love for you to start by sharing your thoughts about the pros and cons of family businesses.

Owning a family business seemed like a walk in the park at the start. We were blindsided at the speed bumps and obstacles we came across as our business grew. I co-own The Rolling Fork with my husband, and our relationship was put to an ultimate test throughout the beginning stages of our business. It took a lot of heart to heart conversations to come up with a system that worked well for both of us and our employees. One being my brother in law. The amount of love we all share for one another is a major driving force in the success of The Rolling Fork. We all want to see one another succeed. Sometimes it takes a little tough love from the ones you love to get rolling!

Meagan, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My husband and I started this business on college ruled paper at our dinner table in the early months of 2020. Our son was born in February of 2020, so we had our hands full, and a dream to fulfill. People that know us and our story know that we had a very unconventional start to parenthood. A global pandemic and a brand new baby apparently seemed like the perfect time to open a food truck because, well, why not! What seemed like massive obstacles actually turned out to be the gateway to our success. We were able to operate throughout Covid due to the nature of what we do being “to-go”. What we didn’t see coming was the catering/wedding side of the business being a fundamental core to what we do now. Because of the pandemic, couples that wanted to keep their wedding dates had to change their catering game plan and found us. A fun, local, delicious food truck. After our first wedding, we knew we wanted in on that industry. Catering fresh food for couples on their special day was such a beautiful experience for us to be a part of! Since then, we have branded our business towards catering, weddings, and private chef work. We realized that just because we cook and serve out of a truck, doesn’t mean that our food has to be subpar. I am incredibly proud of our team for creating the dishes they do, and for having as much pride in the business as we do! Personally, the truck allowed me to start practicing my creativity with custom cakes and wedding cakes. It is so neat to see the reactions from couples when they hear that I do cakes and desserts on top of our entire food menu. We’ve become this one stop shop kind of caterer in our valley. My husband, Aaron, has been the backbone of the business and our team, including myself, couldn’t be more proud of the example he sets.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

When my husband and I started this business in the beginning of 2020, I was on maternity leave and his job was on pause due to Covid. When my maternity leave was up, I went back to work full time at our local hospital. Aaron and I were both working full time, trying to get our business off the ground, and learning how to parent. We knew something had to give, so Aaron quit his job and took over the business full time. It wasn’t until the summer of 2021 I decided to leave the hospital and join the business full time as well. The truck was really starting to take off, and before I left my job my brother in law was hired on as our sous chef full time. We started to see the business couldn’t run on two and half bodies alone, I needed to be all in as well. It was a scary move we made as a family. We chose to not have the security of guaranteed pay/benefits, but it was the right decision. If I had to take that leap of faith again, I absolutely would.

We’d love to hear about you met your business partner.

My husband and I are co owners here at The Rolling Fork. We have been together since the spring of 2016, and married since August 2018. How we met came a little earlier though. In 2012, I had just graduated high school and moved to Gainesville Florida to start school at UF. I ended up getting a job at a local deli, where he was a manager. Now, I am roughly 5 years younger than him, so there wasn’t really anything there. I had a boyfriend at the time, just as he had a girlfriend. We became pretty good friends throughout the few months he was there before he left for Colorado. The whole deli would get together and we had a little friendship out of that, but when and his brother moved we didn’t connect again. It wasn’t until early 2016 when a mutual friend of ours invited me to go with him to visit good old Colorado. We ended up starting with Aaron and his roommate for our trip, and there was just something different about him. To me, at least. We ended up flying back and forth from Florida (where I lived still) and Colorado. It became a little crazy how often we were traveling, so we decided I should just move to Colorado! I did, and that journey blessed me with an amazing husband, a beautiful son, and a successful business.

Contact Info:

• Website: [email protected]
• Instagram: @thedarksideofthefork
• Facebook: Rolling Fork Truck