LEBANON, TN (WSMV) – A Lebanon woman has left behind the world of environmental chemistry to run a food truck.For 20 years, Gina Hayes worked as an Environmental Chemist in Nashville, making sure the water was drinkable. One year ago, Hayes dumped the lab coat for an apron.“I was a chemist at an environmental corporation,” Hayes said. “Important work, good pay, and prestige, but out here seemed better.”Her food truck Hillbilly Shack Delights is between Carthage and Lebanon. She makes cheeseburgers, bacon cheeseburgers, quesadillas, burritos, and chicken Philly cheese steaks.“It was my dream actually from the beginning,” Hayes said. “Making people happy with food.”
Gotta say, Hillbilly Shack Delights sounds like a good place to have lunch. I would really like to own and run a 24-hour diner someday, but I imagine it's pretty hard work.
Gold Peak and Lipton tea in Tennessee?! I'm surprised they're letting her get away with mildly-sweet national-brand tea suited for Yankee tastes!
ReplyDeleteThat must be a huge cut in pay.
ReplyDeleteHuge cut in pay but no managers and no dumb meetings? There is definitely a balance there...
DeleteA chemist pay in TN is probably not more than 70-80K I bet. As a sole restaurant proprietor, you can easily pull that off if you are able to do well. Beer bars and mix cocktail places with dressed up "bar food" is an even easier task to hit that pay goal as those beverage markups are insane and I've seen plenty of places charge $8+ for french fries.
DeleteI don't really know if this was a huge cut in pay. She worked for a corporate environmental laboratory. If you know anything about corporate environmental labs they don't pay worth a crap. I found Microbac labs in Nashville, and Gina probably made no more than a little over 40k/year. To be your own boss, and to make the same amount or even a little less or perhaps a little more depending on how motivated you are (since this is your own company you are probably a little more motivated), I think this is a great move for Gina. She probably should have started this company 24 years ago before she even went into chemistry.
DeleteSee also the amazing Mediterranean Delight in Oak Ridge, TN. Run by a former ORNL employee who I believe used to do nuclear physics! Best falafel for miles around :-)
ReplyDeleteI've never been a fan of food trucks. They are expensive as restaurants and the food mediocre because it mostly has to be prepped in advance in a real kitchen.
ReplyDeleteWhere are you? I've been to a lot of place where food trucks are excellent and cheap. In Portland, OR, they have what is called Pods and it's like an empty parking lot filled with different trucks that are all reasonably priced. Only in cities like Madison and LA where I have see the prices kind of creeping up to restaurant prices. IMO, tacos should never be more than $3, regardless of where you are, and especially if you are in a food truck. So I use that as a basis for cost consideration when going to a place that has tacos.
DeleteThe problem with food trucks is that they're often run by food enthusiasts who don't know jack about running a business. The right way to do it is to offer only a few menu options and keep the line moving quickly. The wrong way is to have 40 menu options, take 15 minutes to wait on each customer, and let the line get six hours long.
DeleteMy family own and operated a small town restaurant and catering business for 30 years. It is incredibly hard work but really rewarding in ways that a typical career in the chemical industry isn't. Still, I'd take any string of bad weeks in the lab over 8 hour dishwashing shifts in July and August or all of the scheduling my mom and aunt were trying to balance on a weekly basis.
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