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

Victor, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Are you happier as a business owner? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job?

It’s not that I wonder what it would be like to have a regular job. I was that for many years and don’t regret a minute of it, waiting until the right time to become a business owner. On paper, it may look like I waited a decade to late to jump start my dream, but I say, it’s never too late. When my wife and I went on our second date, owning a food truck was brought up in conversation, and we instantly realized it was something we both wanted in life. She and I found our paths to each other in very different ways, but the dream is part of that fire that kept us moving forward. Fast-forward four years, we are now married, own a home, and are expecting our first baby. To say a lot has changed in such a short amount of time would be an understatement. But I was hungry. I was hunting for the perfect food truck. We didn’t have the means to build one from the ground up, but the passion and the knowledge to make an existing one better – bring it back to life one could say. And so we did! 16 short weeks from my wife’s due date, and the most important date in my life thus far, we bought a food truck. And not a pretty one. Rather, barely mobile, leaky, smelly, seen better days kind of food truck. There were two options for us- have the glitz and glamour of a perfect food truck (and be in lots of debt from the get go on something we didn’t even know if it was going to succeed) or take a gamble on something imperfect we could put blood, sweat and tears into to make beautiful again (which we did!). Three years later and we own our company free and clear, which for us is worth its weight in gold. Thankfully we are thriving, and people seem to like us (and the food), and we are so grateful to be part of such a cool restaurant scene. The regular job is what taught me to be the business owner I am today. I don’t necessarily miss it, but I am forever grateful to it.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I have been in the food and beverage industry my whole career, from the time I was fourteen, working my way up in the kitchen. Meanwhile, my wife, unbeknownst to me of course, was flourishing in her marketing career. And those two combined are crucial to understanding how to own and run a business. We really compliment each other well professionally. Our food truck has been a long idea in the making which came to fruition through COVID. I was furloughed along with everyone else and since the food truck was already sitting in our backyard just waiting to be made pretty again, we decided it was time. A leap of faith is probably the scariest and best thing you can do for yourself. My wife likes to say if you aren’t afraid, you aren’t moving forward. Victor’s Lab itself is embodied in its slogan- Explore. Experiment. Eat. We like to say we serve fusion food- a little Hispanic this, a little Asian that, and a smattering of American. Smashley’s Burger, aptly named after my wife, is probably the biggest hit on the truck, and it is one of a handful of items (Street Corn Fritters and PBR & Dr Pepper Braised Empanadas to name a few more) that I am pretty sure if we take off the menu, we may end up with a target on our back. Yes, I must cook good food, but if it weren’t for the patrons of our food truck who come back and share their experience, we wouldn’t be who we are today. It’s all about the people holding the forks!

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

We were very grassroots. We didn’t have any capital- we had just moved into our home, had a baby on the way, and unknown to us, about to go through COVID with everyone else. Something told us from the beginning to take it slow. Don’t put a ton of money into it out the gate, but rather buy what you need when you must, and what you want when you can. It served us well. We can now honestly say because of that one choice, we own our business free and clear only four years later.

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

With the food truck in the beginning, missing what we call “gigs” was not an option. If we didn’t make money, we didn’t pay bills or ourselves. So when the food truck broke down many, many times, I just packed up a tent, my supplies and went to where I needed to go. I may have had to cook on a limited menu, but I didn’t cancel, and that I think is what made our clients so happy. They were willing to work with us when we made sure to still show up, even when it was really hard.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.victorslab.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/victors_lab/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/victorslab843/
• Other: https://streetfoodfinder.com/VictorsLab

Image Credits
Jonathon Stout