Many people have a TV show that they have watched so many times that they can quote it line by line. One of my shows is Everybody Loves Raymond. In one episode, Raymond's wife accuses him of being a pessimist when he gets nominated for a Sportswriter of the Year award. He swears he has no chance, and she tries to convince him otherwise. At one point he says in an accusatory tone, "You did it...you made me WANT IT!"
Yesterday we went to meet with Tom Wilbers and Jennifer Kline from Hot Mess Food Trucks to ask more questions and to have his eyes on the numbers portion of our business plan one more time before we committed to signing a loan for the truck. Tom and Jen wear many hats. Not only do they run three successful food trucks themselves (Up in Smoke, Pounders Burgers, and the newest addition to their fleet, Mystery Melt Machine), they run a food truck storage facility, secure and build out trucks for up and coming food truckers like ourselves, and are in the process of securing and building out a top of the line commissary kitchen. They have by far been the most helpful people we have encountered in this whole process, which says quite a bit because we have had the good fortune of meeting many, many people who are willing to go all in to help us get this dream up and running.
After we got all of our questions answered, Tom told us he had already secured a truck for us and he took us to take a look at the truck. If you remember from a previous post, I talked about how I try to keep my expectations low so that I am not disappointed when they don't come to fruition, and am doubly excited if they do. Call it what you would like, a pessimist or a realist, when we saw the truck and climbed inside, I felt a little bit like Raymond. "You did it...you made me WANT IT!" I would say the closest I have had to this feeling was the first time I ever walked into the Art Institute, and saw my dream of going to culinary school that had been buried so deep inside of me for so long materialize in front of me. At that moment, I wanted it so badly it terrified me. That is the same feeling I got standing in front of that huge, beautiful (albeit empty) truck.
Thomas is going today to respond to the bank that offered us a business loan. I think I'm as antsy as he is at this point. Keep your fingers crossed for us, and keep your eye on the sky for A Flying Sausage will be soaring there before long!!
