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

Alright, Thomas thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. One of the toughest things about entrepreneurship is that there is almost always unexpected problems that come up – problems that you often can’t read about in advance, can’t prepare for, etc. Have you had such and experience and if so, can you tell us the story of one of those unexpected problems you’ve encountered?

Food Truck Life. Three words that mean so much. In the world of mobile business’ anything can go wrong at any moment. Unexpected issues with appliances and your vehicle. Experience is truly the best teacher I can measure how much propane I have or how much gas I have in my generator, this helps me forecast resources on top of needed food inventory. When you run out of propane and you have customers lined up outside your day is a very defeating feeling. Generator problems have occurred and I have to turn into a mechanic. The story that I will always remember is First Friday outside Made Mobb my generator went out and I couldn’t fix it and had no access to electricity. I had to close and it was a very unfortunate feeling, I purchased a generator the next day and extended my warranty. I was impressed on how well I was able to get a new generator and be prepared for my event the next day. Two appliances have failed me, exhaust fan and my main oven. The fan broke and I had to close because you can’t work without a fan and this happened being fully prepped and prepared for an event, had to close before I even made a dollar. I’m a baked potato food truck concept so I need my oven. I have two on board just in case one goes out but the secondary bakes slower. In this instance I had to use my gas oven. When your expected to produce at the same rate with half the amount of resources it’s always a challenge. Problems arise in my business’ all the time but I have been able to build relationships with local businesses, gain experience and learn from my mistakes.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

We are a Gourmet Loaded Baked Potato Food Truck (New Southern Cuisine)

I got into my industry from being homesick a southern kid away from home. Always cooked food for comfort and did things like hop on the grill for the Bama game.

The problem I solve in Kansas City is the lack of baked potato concepts and the lack of seafood options.

I’m most proud of creating my community and having an impact on the community around me.

The brand starting while cooking out of my apartment so to see it scale to a food truck is an accomplishment for sure.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

I funding my business by selling potatoes out of my house for about two years. Customers would have to put in an order 2 hours prior to pick up. The pick up location was similar to curbside pick up. Through this time I was able to learn, save and build my brand.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I built my audience on social media using Instagram DM’s as the way to put in food orders. I also posted pictures of my potatoes on Instagram adding items such as lobster tails to add more allure. The advice I would have would be to interact with your followers and of course stay consistent.       

Contact Info:

• Website: tcsfullyloaded.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/tcsfullyloaded
• Facebook: facebook.com/tcsfullyloaded
• Twitter: twitter.com/tcsfullyloaded