We recently connected with Kentrell & Sharon Thomas and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Kentrell & Sharon , thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?
We get our work ethic from our parents. They worked everyday to provide for our families.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
We are a close-knit family hailing from the vibrant city of New Orleans, Louisiana. Our love for cooking has always been a central part of our lives, and we have eagerly shared our culinary creations with friends and family at every opportunity.
Hello,
We are Kentrell and Sharon Thomas the owners of Smitty’s Please Family Catering and now Food Truck. We are a locally owned and operated family business here in Austin, Texas! We have 3 kids currently raising our niece. We have been married since 2008. Our journey began in 1996 when we crossed paths at the YWCA, where we both worked during the summer.
However, the devastating Hurricane Katrina forced us to uproot our lives and seek refuge in Austin. It didn’t take long for us to realize that this new city held the promise of a fresh start and a place to call home.
In 2018, we took a leap of faith and opened our very own catering business, Smitty’s Place Family Catering. Despite juggling our full-time jobs, our children recognized Kentrell’s unwavering passion for cooking and his desire to break free from the confines of employment to establish his own culinary brand.
Last Christmas, our children surprised us with a remarkable gift – an LLC and additional equipment to encourage us to take our culinary endeavors more seriously. Inspired by their unwavering support, we decided to embark on a new venture in September – a food truck named Smitty’s Place. Since then, we have poured our hearts and souls into this mobile kitchen, serving delicious meals to our beloved customers.
While we have faced the occasional slow day, our determination remains unshaken. Our children have been instrumental in assisting us, but we soon realized that Kentrell needed to be fully present to ensure the success of our food truck. After much consideration, we made the decision for him to take a leave from his job, allowing him to invest more time and effort into our thriving business.
Now, three months later, we are operating at full speed, embracing the challenges and triumphs that come with being entrepreneurs. Our passion for cooking and our commitment to providing exceptional food experiences continue to drive us forward. With each passing day, we are grateful for the opportunity to share our love for cooking with the world, one delicious meal at a time.
Our Goal is to have a storefront with a kitchen and seating area where we can feel just like home.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
1. Curiosity: Curiosity is a powerful quality that drives learning and growth. It encourages exploration, asking questions, and seeking new knowledge. To develop curiosity, embrace a mindset of continuous learning, be open to new ideas, and actively seek out information and experiences that expand your horizons.
2. Adaptability: In a rapidly changing world, adaptability is crucial. Being able to adjust to new situations, learn new skills, and embrace change is essential for success. To improve adaptability, practice flexibility, embrace challenges, and cultivate a growth mindset that sees setbacks as opportunities for growth.
3. Communication: Effective communication is a skill that can greatly impact your personal and professional relationships. It involves not only expressing yourself clearly but also actively listening and understanding others. To enhance your communication skills, practice active listening, seek feedback, and engage in activities that require clear and concise expression of ideas.
For those early in their journey, my advice would be to embrace these qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge:
– Foster curiosity by exploring diverse subjects, reading books, listening to podcasts, or engaging in conversations with people from different backgrounds. Knowing more about you and your dream are essential to your success.
– Embrace change and seek out new experiences that challenge you.
Opening the food truck took us out of our comfort zone but it has been an adventure I would never trade for anything else.
– Communication by actively listening to others, seeking feedback, and honing your ability to express ideas clearly and concisely.
Remember, personal growth is a lifelong journey, so be patient, persistent, and open to learning from every experience.
Who has been most helpful in helping you overcome challenges or build and develop the essential skills, qualities or knowledge you needed to be successful?
We work hard as a family with monthly trainings, meeting, and building menu ideas. Outside of our family we depend heavily on my sister Shannon with the business side.
Additionally, the customer who interact with us also contribute to our development. Through their questions, feedback, and interactions, We continuously learn and improve. So, in a way, it is the collective effort of the team behind us and the customers who engage with us that has been most helpful in our growth and development.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.smittysplacefamilycatering.com
- Instagram: Smittys_Place_
- Facebook: Smitty’s Place
- Other: https://smittysplacefamilycateringcom.hrpos.heartland.us/menu
