Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Andrew Wegman. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Andrew with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?
As a kid my parents worked 2 and 3 jobs to give me and my sister a good life. They taught me if I want something I have to work for it because we are not the type of people blessed with good luck and fortune. I started working at 12 years old mowing lawns, dog walking, babysitting, house sitting, etc for neighbors. By 14 years old I got my first corporate job at the local Burger King franchise. From there I kept going.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
Well over the years I have worked in many leadership roles in multiple corporate restaurants and franchises, when I left my most recent job in 2019, I sought guidance from some employment specialists. They suggested I stop looking for work and start my own restaurant or food truck.
I went to friends and colleagues to see which direction I should take. Based on the advice I was given I decided a food truck would be the best way to start my path to having a restaurant. So began my journey. Started out rocky as me and me best friend who became my business partner got scammed right away by someone selling us a food truck only to find out it was all a scam and part of a nationwide manhunt.
We finally ended up getting an old 1973 Chevy food truck that was well used for decades on the Las Vegas strip. We rebuilt it and found it a spot in Newberg Oregon at the Bite of Newberg food cart pod. Within less than a year we were opening a second location with a lease to own option at the Aloha Mall. We spent the next two years battling the stresses and impacts of COVID. Spring of 2022 we were asked to open a kitchen attached to a Techno Dance club in downtown Portland. That summer we opened up serving the nightclub guests and doing delivery platform orders. At this time I found myself working 7 days a week with about 5 shifts at each spot. The beginning of 2023 it was time to renew our lease at Aloha and the deal was going sour. We decided to walk away and move our catering business at Aloha to our new Portland location. So by mid February Aloha was closed and we were now catering out of Portland, a month later the landlord at the Portland location informed us and the owner of the nightclub that they were not renewing our leases in May as they wanted to move offices back into the building as Covid restrictions were lifted.
So here we were trying to find a new spot again. We lucked out and quickly found our beautiful spot on the SW Portland Park Blocks. We signed in May. As we were in the process of moving into the new spot, a tragedy occurred and a random fire started somehow in the trash can near the alley at our #1 spot in Newberg. Sadly no one called 911 for hours as the trash can burned and the fire spread to the propane lines burning the entire food truck. Our original spot, that 1973 Chevy Food truck that we had named Murphy, life ended in flames. We worked sad and tirelessly cleaning up after the fire and at the same time building out our Portland Restaurant.
Now almost two years later we are plugging away growing our fan base at our Portland Restaurant. We recently repainted the dining room and got new table tops, and refreshed the menu to prepare for a busy spring and summer season. We have high hopes we can grow our business quickly and expand into the unit next door to add bar seating area, more dining space, and a large walk in cooler and freezer to help with space.
Our journey continues.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Well I have crazy work ethic. This allowed me to put in the 80-120 hour work weeks over the past 6 years.
I am a bit of a handyman. Which came in handy as I was dealing with daily ongoing maintenance on the food trucks. Plus it saved me a fortune in the build outs and set ups of each location. I even built the small bar counter at our Portland Restaurant.
I say my third skill is a special one. I consider myself a true American entrepreneur. I take others ideas and solutions and see how I can adapt them to my business, make them even better, and put my own unique spin on them to make myself successful. I say “I’m as American as Apple pie. Because Apple pie wasn’t American, they just added more sugar and made it famous.”
Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?
We would love to collaborate with another restaurant to create a unique and special dish or two to help promote each others businesses while expanding our flavor styles. It’s a great way to learn and grow as well as a great way to grow your business by introducing your customers to another restaurant and visa versa.
We also want to collaborate with more food bloggers to help grow their content and our followers and customers. We had an amazing experience working with Jacob from PDX Food Finds. We hope to do more like this.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://hunnybeezpdx.com/
- Instagram: @Hunnybeezpdx
- Facebook: https://Facebook.com/hunnybeezpdx
Image Credits
NA
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
