We recently connected with Suzy Phillips and have shared our conversation below.
Suzy, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How do you think about vacations as a business owner? Do you take them and if so, how? If you don’t, why not?
I used to work without days off for years, afraid to take a day off, let alone a vacation, until I burnt out. I had to trust in my managers and staff, and cut the umbilical cord. I found out that I can’t take a day or few days off, unless I leave town, otherwise, I will get calls, texts and find myself at the restaurant for an hour or 6 on my day off.
Suzy, 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 am an immigrant, fled the Lebanese civil war with my mother in 1988, came to the United States were my brother lived already, After we lost literally everything we owned, we had no choice but to escape with a few articles of clothing, our papers and a couple of thousand dollars. Food kept us together, reminded us of home, it was the bandaid that eased our homesickness and yearning to go back, so we cooked a lot, I learned more and more each day from my mama.
I have a great relationship with food, especially my mothers’ cooking, I admired and watched her, wanted to be just like her, and wanted to have the same effect on people that were lucky to have had her food from her hands.
I don’t have a college education, we were lucky enough to have survived, we had no money, lived paycheck to paycheck working multiple jobs at a time, my comfort zone were restaurants and I found myself working in them as a server for decades.
I really wanted to share my culture through food, I wanted to wipe the stereotypical image of Middle Easterners, we don’t all live in a desert, ride camels, live in tents and are terrorists. I had a dream of having a cooking/traveling show, showing a different image of what the media portrayed of the Middle East, but that dream was hard to bring to fruition from a tiny town in Western North Carolina, so instead, I shifted my dream from cooking /traveling show to a food truck, as they were getting popular on the west coast, and they are a stepping stone to a brick and mortar, doable for people with little income.
After 5 years running the truck, and after my beautiful mama passed away, I was able to focus more on a restaurant, I started seeing myself in a space, I would like to think I manifested it, and was able to get a small loan to open up Gypsy Queen Cuisine Deli, market and food truck, serving Lebanese food, just like mama used to make. hat was 8 years ago. Now, I have Gypsy Queen, and Simple cafe & Juice bar.
My work ethics are tenacious, so is my personality. I love feeding people, and will go above and beyond to please, not out of desperation, but out of genuine care, I feel customer service is a thing of the past that a lot of businesses have lost. I take pride in that, I take pride in being here, where I am, 2 businesses that are striving, and a part of a great community.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
After raising money through crowdfunding, and working 3 jobs, I bought a food truck to start my business. I did your basics, file the business name, get an LLC, get an EIN, sales and use tax number, etc.
When I went to get my permit to vend in Asheville’s central business district zone, I discovered a big obstacle.
City of Asheville had a 25 year old ordinance that did not allow food trucks to vend in the CBD.
What a heartbreak! Just as I was getting so close, I get a door slammed in my face, but that only fueled me to go forward and fight the city to change an old, dated law that others before me faced, but did nothing about.
I called the local papers, and TV stations and told them what I was about to do, they followed my story for almost 2 years, some restaurants tried to prevent me from making a dream come true, but my tenacity, and resilence kept me going, I did not give up, instead, I apved a way to many more like me to follow their dream.
How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?
I could not get a loan to save my life! Being poor financially, family, nor I having capitol, collateral, savings, or owned anything, I turned to crowdfunding, a new concept at the time, it was Kickstarter.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.gypsyqueencuisine.com
- Instagram: gypsyqueencuisine
- Facebook: GQC Deli, Market, food truck
- Youtube: Gypsy Queen Cuisine
- Yelp: Gypsy Queen Cuisine
Image Credits
All photos by me.