Meet Emily Johnson: Food truck owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Emily Johnson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Emily, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
As crazy as it may sound, our business started with a silly Facebook “ask your partner these questions without prompting quiz”. The question that really hit was “If you could see me being happy doing anything, what would it be?” Larry responded with “Honestly, you love to cook and make people happy with food”. Sooo, the next day we started talking about it on a serious level. We both had “safe” corporate jobs, but weren’t truly happy. I have a family history in the food service industry and Larry is a great with marketing a research, social media (and also really loves food), so we ran some numbers and decided to hold hands and jump off a cliff into the food truck world. It has been a wild ride, but we don’t regret it at all. You just really need to be willing to learn as you go and be open minded as to what the market wants. You have to figure out your target audience.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
There is a saying in my family “Things in life that are difficult are never easy”. This may sound silly, but it just means that things aren’t going to be handed to you. Success takes work, so if you want it, go after it. In our business, our food truck, we are always looking at ways to improve processes while ensuring that the customer has the best experience ever. Food service is not just about providing a meal, but a good experience from ordering, payment, receiving your food and making sure you have everything you need. We love what we do and want want our customers to have a memorable experience. One fun thing that we do that differentiates us from some is that we all wear ears. Yes, ears. Raccoon, panda, fox, puppy dog. Everyone on the truck has a spirit animal and ears to match. It is a fun way for people to remember us and kids really seem to like it as well.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
(COVID aside) -Georgia aquarium -Braves game -Piedmont Park -Clairmont lounge (depending on the age group) -The plaza theatre (Cineprov and/or rocky horror picture show) -Krispy Kreme, when the HOT sign is on -The belt line -EAV for a fun funky night out and good bar food -Johnny’s Hideaway (Husband and I actually met there, and is great people watching) -SOOOO many awesome breweries

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Without a doubt, Dominic’s Pizza and Lo-Co Motion. Two food trucks that were more than willing to provide us answers to any questions we had along the way. Great people, great food, great business owners and so many other things, and most all, now great friends. They welcomed us into the food truck community with open arms. Also, gotta give a shout out to my parents, the OG’s “Hopkins Nut House”. They rock, and give us nothing but support and advice along the way. We are truly lucky.

Website: www.lilbitesfoodtruck.com

Instagram: @lilbitestruck

Twitter: @lilbitestruck

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