Vegan Food Truck Business Podcast

From Serving Their Local Community to New Edition On Tour: Sometimeatarian Creating Delicious & Healthy Food (Ep. 12)

• Heather Zeitzwolfe • Season 1 • Episode 12

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What happens when two plant-based visionaries go from serving their local Atlanta community to cooking backstage for New Edition on tour? 🎤🍽️ In this inspiring episode, Heather Zeitzwolfe sits down with Danielle from Sometimeatarian, a powerhouse vegan food trailer that’s flipping the script on what plant-based food can be. 🌱💥

✨ From humble beginnings rooted in family health struggles to scaling their business through catering, creativity, and community, Danielle Booker shares what it really takes to succeed in the food trailer world and what they've learned with their partner in life and business, Chef Chanee Key.

We talk about:

🚛 Their decision to purchase a trailer instead of a traditional food truck

👉 The Super Bowl moment that sparked their hustle

🍲 How they’re making plant-based food accessible in food deserts

📝 Lessons learned from bad contracts and event disasters

⚡The brutal truth about permits, commissaries, and zoning in Atlanta

🎉 Serving celebs (like Bobby Brown & New Edition!) and still staying community-focused

💡 The creation of their Vendor Toolkit to help other food entrepreneurs streamline & scale

🏗️ Their next big dream: a takeout-focused brick-and-mortar location (and the GoFundMe behind it)

Push play and listen if you’re passionate about plant-based food, food justice, or building a mission-driven business. ✨


🔗 Grab the Vendor Toolkit: https://www.sometimeatarianatl.com/resources-and-pre-orders

📱 Follow them: @sometimeatarian

🎙️ Subscribe for more vegan business insights!

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Heather:

Hey, this is Heather Zeitzwolfe, welcome to the Vegan Food Truck Business podcast. Today's episode is packed with lessons We're talking about turning a side hustle into a full-time gig, building a food brand from scratch, and the real challenges of running a mobile food business My guest is Danielle from Sometimeatarian an Atlanta-based food truck that's flipping the script on plant-based eating. Their motto, plant-based food is so good. Even meat eaters want in. They fed everyone from Everyday Folks to Bobby Brown and New Edition on tour. You're going to hear all the ins and outs, so let's get into it. Here's Danielle sharing how it all started with a family health crisis which made their family rethink what was on their plates.

Danielle:

Chanee is the brainiac behind Sometimetarian initially. We got into the vegan lifestyle because we had a lot of family members who were sick. the only thing we could correlate that everyone had in common was what we were all eating in the kitchen. We were all essentially having the same diet and we were living at different places, food was the one thing that linked everybody else, you know? We collectively went plant-based Chanee struggled with missing flavors that. Reminded her of home there was no beyond meats If you wanted something, you had to make it from scratch. Chanee she has several years of culinary experience before she branched off and started her own thing. fortunately with that culinary background, she was like a mad scientist I was painting full time as an artist we Blended the two. Anytime I had an event, she would cater that turned into meal prep. it just kind of grew from there people were like, wow, you should really do this.

Heather:

Next. Danielle talks about a Super Bowl opportunity. And the food truck hustle

Danielle:

when the Super Bowl came to Atlanta, we were trying to think of what is the best way that we can monetize all of these people coming to the city. There's so much money that's out there to be made. we were already doing meal prep in some capacity, so collectively the two of us and two others at the time, we all went in and got the proper licensing so we could vend during the Super Bowl and that weekend. Was very eyeopening of how much of a need and void there was for plant-based food in the city. it just went crazy from there and we haven't looked back.

Heather:

the Super Bowl opportunity in your own life. Keep in mind things that stick out that are different, perhaps you can tap into for a business just like Danielle did. Next. Danielle talks about the lessons learned from a bad contract and how they now set a minimum guarantee you've taken a unique approach to your food truck, not to just go out on the streets but you decided to do it as catering to order was the decisions behind that?

Danielle:

kind of The need. when we started our business we got the truck in 2020 when large events were no longer a thing. Catering and outdoor small gatherings were all you could really do. So we found a niche that worked for us. since then we've grown We do festivals and things, but we're very selective because we are able to stay so busy with catering and small events the biggest thing that had us lead in that direction was necessity. That was all that we had an option if we wanted to stay afloat. We had to figure out how to feed the people and pay the bills at the same time. catering was exactly that.

Heather:

it's more of a predictable model you know exactly how much food you need to order. Exactly. You're not driving around trying to find a parking spot and then getting kicked out. It's like you have more control over your business

Danielle:

we've gotten burned a couple of times lesson learned and you're like, okay, we need another contract. We work really closely with a contract attorney that makes sure that we have all of Our paperwork in line to where when we're sending different bids in we're covered, we're protected. But again, it took a lot of lessons

Heather:

I'm glad to hear that you are working with an attorney it's so important as business owners, we have to know what's expected from us, so that the client is happy. But we also have to preserve our own business to make sure that we are doing things in a safe manner if you don't mind sharing, what was the lesson you learned that put you in that situation?

Danielle:

it was a contract gone wrong Sometimes you get on site and They say the event is over at this time. they're expecting you to go over at events it's not what they promised They're saying there's 20,000 people are gonna come and maybe there's a hundred. from that lesson, we learned that we needed to have a guaranteed minimum if we don't make a certain amount, the event host or coordinator is responsible for paying the difference. in the food industry, there's so much overhead Whether or not you have a good day or a bad day, there's still room for loss. And if we're doing certain type of events, we just wanna make sure that we're protected from having to be the ones responsible for that.

Heather:

Get it in writing. Danielle and Chef Shana, learn the hard way that not having a solid contract can cost you big time. If you're catering an event, you have to set a minimum guarantee. otherwise you might show up, do all the work, and not make enough to cover your costs. Ugh, Protect your time, protect your resources, protect your profit. and remember to have a contract. Alright, next is one of the biggest headaches in the food truck world Permits. Hmm. Danielle and Chef Shanae they learned this the hard way. You know, there's a lot of red tape permits, commissary requirements, zoning rules, it can feel like a full-time job just keeping up with all of these things. What has been one of the biggest surprises around running a business like this? I

Danielle:

think the biggest surprise was how many regulations there are about where you can actually park your truck. Atlanta and Georgia there's a lot of rules and regulations that limit where you can actually vend. all of the prerequisites to even be able to be legal to vend in the first place. when we bought our truck, I honestly can't ever remember. how long it took us to actually get a commissary, in the Metro Atlanta area there's only one company that is deemed legal and they only have so many locations. essentially somebody's has to close their business and leave for there to be an opening. the waiting list is. Absurd If you go to food truck owners in the state of Georgia, that'll probably be the biggest thing that they say. Held them up, was trying to find the commissary space. once you get that, trying to find a place where you can park is harder. Which may also be why we cater more because we used to have a food truck park like most metropolitan cities, it's now a high rise. There's no longer a food truck park there. And that took away an opportunity for. Vendors the woman who owned that space was very conscious and she converted it over. She had it for 10 plus years in I think like the last five or six years of her operating was a hundred percent vegan. So she turned it into a vegan food truck park and it was awesome. But when that property sold, all of these businesses were scrambling to figure out what to do and to this day are still trying to figure it out. that was some years ago there's not a. Location anymore that you can just readily go without it being sometimes predatory because the location just knows that you need a place they're like$300 a day and you're like, what are you doing for me? Absolutely nothing. that probably was the biggest surprise when we first started how many hoops you really have to jump to even become legal. And then once you are legal, you really can't start until you figure out where you can position. Your actual food truck

Heather:

being that you are more on the catering side, what about having like inspections, food inspections and fire inspections, are you still under the same type of rules in Atlanta?

Danielle:

Absolutely. So it's still Department of Health. we actually have more inspections because we have the truck and the commissary. you get a license for both of those spaces. You get double dipped, you have to have double of everything. Two sandy buckets, one for inside, one for outside. it's even more work and more money because you're paying for more,

Heather:

We just heard about Danielle's struggles with permits, finding a commissary kitchen, losing a food truck park for vegans, and the challenges of finding legal vending spots. Next, we're gonna talk about the mission. it's not just about selling food, but they're creating access to healthy plant-based food. So communitarian is stepping into fill that gap, and they're doing it in a way that honors the culture, the flavors and their community. if you've ever lived in a food desert, you know how tough it is to find anything fresh, let alone plant-based options Can you describe to me what you think of when you think of a food desert and how you would like to impact that in your community

Danielle:

both myself and Shanae grew up in areas where we were seeing the lack of grocery stores, restaurants, and if those were available that they weren't having. Fresh produce? We're not gonna find a vegan or plant-based friendly restaurant. it's really important for us that with the truck, when we do pop up, that we're in areas that are underserved that doesn't have access to being able to find something, plant-based friendly atlanta doesn't have the best transit. So we always try to make sure that we're in areas that are easy to get to, whether or not you're Ubering or using Marta, that you can walk closely to the train station for us it's really important to make sure that we're in areas where people wouldn't Even get the opportunity to be exposed to this type of food. because we are connected to those types of communities, we know once they taste our food, that it'll be relatable to that palate. it's really important to be able to show our community how you can implement healthy eating and not lose sight to your culture, your flavors. Memories,'cause that's definitely part of the journey that's really important for both of us.

Heather:

I was in Dallas a few years ago and I was staying in downtown surprisingly, that was a food desert I was like, there's apartments here. Where are people shopping? There was just like A-C-C-V-S with some junk food terrible. you just heard about food deserts, social justice and their mission to help underserved areas Think about how you could do this in your own community. Where can you fill that gap? Next we're gonna hear from Danielle, about working smarter, not harder. I heard that you have a toolkit. what is this vendor toolkit

Danielle:

My background is all over the place, but I work in implementation, so onboarding people to new systems is what I do, a lot of what we were doing for some time was asking the same questions, sending the same documents, and I was like, there has to be a faster way. We've gotta automate this. I need templates. I can't keep typing all of this stuff initially it started out of a need for us because I can't always answer it. And then once our team grew, they needed to know what to actually send. it started out of necessity for our business. I wanted to streamline some of our processes so we could shorten our response times. people in the food truck community, would ask how do you do this? Or, what do you do for that? And I'm like, oh, I have a template. And I was just giving them away. Because I already made it. I'm not always dollar focused. then back to the attorney, they're like, What do you mean? You're just giving all of these things away? Like you could actually package this, create a bundle and, present that when somebody asks you, if you wanna have a coupon code can get it for a discount or for free. you should offer this to the public because everyone needs to automate their business. it was created out of necessity, and then it grew from there. I started offering consulting services where I could help people. now you have the tools and some people are like how do I create it to be a template to where I can have it just automatically shoot out? we now offer that as a service to where if other food truckers wanna. Streamline their business, we can help them with that too.

Heather:

Danielle created a toolkit because she saw a need and instead of giving away her knowledge for free, she turned it into a revenue stream. that's how you build a sustainable business. You look for other streams of revenue, and if you're curious, the toolkit includes client questionnaires, event vetting, checklists, email templates, invoices and more. you've designed all these things for your business and now a PDF that people can download? what does it go into exactly?

Danielle:

So it's more or less like how. To respond to customers how to get more leads. So in the packet you get things about, here's your questionnaire for whenever you get a catering lead, somebody sends you a request. These are the things you need for your first conversation. You need to answer these questions. I have another one that's specifically for vendors, so you can ask, how many other food trucks are gonna be there? Do you offer power? Do you know things that can help you decide? Whether or not this is a good fit for your business? I like to vet every event that comes through us to make sure it's going to be beneficial to us. response templates. Invoice templates Anything they needed to know the beginning, if you just wanna cook. These are the things that you can send because you wouldn't think to put them together in the first place.'cause you primarily are in the kitchen.

Heather:

and this could be for a vegan food truck or a non-vegan food truck. Oh yeah, absolutely. This is gold for anyone trying to streamline a service business Whether you're running a food truck. or consulting food truck owners with their business. Just look in the show notes for the links. you can get this toolkit from Danielle. So what's next for Danielle and Chef Shanae? Like a lot of food entrepreneurs, they're dreaming bigger beyond the truck, beyond the trailer. They're looking to open up a go-to style, brick and mortar location, not a full restaurant, just a space where they can prep, cook, and serve people more efficiently, they're running a GoFundMe to make it happen. you been into a brick and mortar, and you have a GoFundMe. What is that about?

Danielle:

ideally, we'd like to operate a to go location. Not a full dine-in restaurant, People can come and pick up directly from us. The commissary space, they're very small. we've completely outgrown that space. We need something larger but are not necessarily wanting a full on restaurant. Unless somebody is down to invest, until then. we're operating at max capacity right now we're looking to get a space that's larger to where we can feed more people more regularly and operate more efficient.'cause we've completely outgrown the space that we're in now.

Heather:

how big are some of these events that you're catering?

Danielle:

Oh, we have an event on Saturday for 500. It really just depends. We really don't have a max number So whatever comes our way, we figure it out. But we would love to be in a space where we could have a larger team and do multiple events on the same day

Heather:

what about for your marketing? are you relying mostly on word of mouth? Are you doing social media how do you get the word out about your business?

Danielle:

Word of mouth has been our best friend because we are terrible at marketing. probably because we are a hundred percent self-funded. So when it comes to trying to decide where we need Divvy up all of the funds. Being in a food business, it's very difficult to allocate large lump sums to be able to run big campaigns like larger brands can. fortunately here in Atlanta, there's not a large vegan community. It's definitely growing, but when it comes to food trucks and things like that, we are far few between. if you're vegan, nine times out of 10, you've heard about one. And then. You hear about the others. we've done really well with word of mouth for now and could definitely improve in the world of marketing.

Heather:

We just heard Danielle talk about the brick and mortar plan, her GoFundMe, catering, event size and marketing, in Atlanta Next. Danielle talks about final lessons for a food truck owner. is there anything else that you wanna share from your journey that people can learn from?

Danielle:

I definitely say if you're looking to get into the food truck business. That hands down, just do your research about what your county requirements are. Each county has different rules, each city has different rules. It's really easy to go out and ask on public forums, like, how do I do this? the biggest thing I learned is once you meet a health inspector. Get their name, try to ask for their personal contact, if they'll give it to you and hang onto'em, become a leach a lot of these government agencies all wanna help you, but they're also equally as uninformed as the next guy. sometimes you'll get conflicting information. if you stick with the same person, whoever told you could do it this way, if you continue to talk to them, they'll never tell you you can't, unless the rule changes But there were plenty of times where we would talk to somebody and they'd say, You need to get this license. So you say, okay, you go pay for it. And then when it's time to get the big license, they're like, oh, you didn't need those. And you're like can I get my money back? And they're like, no. So you'll constantly spend more money than you have to if you don't just go directly to the source. Like anytime you have an issue, always try to find the expert. talk to your peers and find out what they're doing. But a lot of the times what you'll find out is people are not doing things the right way. when I find out that there's a right way to do something, I have a very difficult time doing it the wrong way. Sometimes when you talk to other people they'll be quick to help you find loopholes, to get your business off of the ground my biggest advice would be to research before spending any money. Don't buy the truck without the commissary. Get on the waiting list first, then buy it. Be picky about who you buy your truck from. I hear tons of horror stories where people buy trucks and everything's falling apart. The walls, it's leaking. This is broken. We've been really blessed in that area we got a wonderful vehicle. We actually have a trailer. We don't have a full truck with a motor. that was part of a discussion that we had too. We didn't necessarily wanna get something that had a motor, so if, the actual driving part of the vehicle was down the business. Would be down too. Which is very unfortunate when our peers have that issue where It can be something as simple as their brakes and they can't come to an event. Whereas with a trailer, if something is wrong with the towing vehicle, then you can rent a U-Haul truck and still come and go and do what you need to do. fortunately we haven't had any mobility problems So my top two things decision on what type of vehicle in research.

Heather:

great advice. Final takeaways. Research your local rules. A good rule of thumb is stop. Don't buy the truck yet until you have secured a commissary. Stick with the same inspector and think bigger than just food, think services, community, and your overall impact. This has been Heather Zeitzwolfe, the savvy, frugal vegan.