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

Hi Steven, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

Back in 2013 while planning our wedding, Tara had an epiphany. “A mini taco station would be amazing,” she told her fiancé, Steven. “Who wouldn’t love mini tacos? We have to serve them at our wedding reception!”

As a graduate of the prestigious Culinary Institute of America (CIA) and a distributor of specialty foods, Steven figured this would be an easy endeavor. If his bride-to-be wanted mini tacos at their wedding reception, he would make it happen. But little did Steven know that finding freshly made mini taco shells would not be simple. He called around to his industry contacts desperately searching for the shells, with little luck. The tiny shells just didn’t exist. Steven refused to disappoint Tara on their special day, so he took matters –literally–into his own hands. In the weeks leading up to his 2013 wedding, Steven hand-crafted 1,200 shells so Tara could have the mini taco station she wanted.

Turns out, Tara was right (as brides often are), and everyone at the wedding loved the mini tacos. Mini tacos were a massive hit, and Steven knew he couldn’t keep this awesome appetizer all to himself. He had to find a way to share these shells with the masses to enjoy at banquets, buffets, pool bars, stadiums and country clubs all across the U.S.

Combining his experience as a chef with his knowledge of specialty food distribution, Steven developed a system to create, package and ship freshly made mini taco shells in a variety of flavors and colors along with beautiful passing trays for the perfect culinary experience.

Steven, 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?

I have been in the food industry since the age of 14 when I got my first job as a dishwasher at a local fish market. It was there where I learned to love the business and decided to further my knowledge by attending the Culinary Institute of America. Once I graduated, I worked up and down the east coast at various high-end hotels and restaurants until I decided to settle down in NJ as an Executive Chef at a prestigious wedding and event caterer. When it was my turn to get married is when my mini taco shell company was born. I took all of the experience of dealing with customers and their needs and wants and applied it to my business. Understanding my customers was easy because I was one of them at many points in my career. Perfection is expected with every order or confidence in my product will be lost and so will that customer. 10 years ago I was making every taco shell, packing the boxes, and delivering them to local customers. Today I have thousands of customers across the US happy to call my taco shells their own. I am nothing without my customers and remain humble, grateful and proud to be their supplier of fresh made mini taco shells.

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

We love to see how our customers use our products ! We do various contests where customers can win swag, free product and even gift cards. Currently we are doing the “Show Us Your Taco” contest. This is where customers submit pictures of their finest taco creation for us to judge. If we choose their photo it will be used to promote our brand and their company on our website along with social media.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

Treat others as you would like to be treated. Go above and beyond for them. Remember you are nothing without them. Simple things like giving them a raise without them asking, providing lunch, or just remembering their birthday will go a long way!

Contact Info:

• Website: http://minitacoshells.com
• Instagram: http://instagram.com/minitacoshells
• Facebook: http://facebook.com/minitacoshells
• Linkedin: http://linkedin.com/in/minitacoshells