Camden, NJ – Over the course of 8 weeks, 20 students gathered online and offline to participate in LAEDA’s second ever Food Trucking 101 course. This dedicated program is aimed at budding foodpreneurs who are thinking of or who are already operating a food truck. The course covered general topics such as business plan writing, marketing, and bookkeeping alongside specific technical topics such as setting a menu, food production, food trucking laws and regulations. The curriculum provided a roadmap on how to navigate the start-up phase including costs, legal requirements, and best practices for aspiring operators.
Week in and week out, students tuned in to the online courses, not only to learn from our professional instructors in their respective fields, but also to share experiences and anecdotes, facilitating a lively and welcoming online classroom environment. Our instructors, both internal and external, were blown away by the enthusiasm, passion, and professionalism shown by this particular cohort of students.
Rather than saying that every week’s class was a highlight (which they all WERE), we could pinpoint one week as being the absolute highlight of the entire 8 weeks. On April 16th, the only day of the program that was in-person, LAEDA alumni Davit Martinez, of Gita’s Mobile Coffee (https://www.gitasmobilecafe.com), graciously brought his food truck to the LAEDA offices for all the participants to walk through and ask questions (pictured below). Not only that, Davit and his son treated all the students to their specialty chicken & rice and empanadas.
Aside from this one in-person session, every virtual session was also full of joy, engagement, and learning. LAEDA programs like this one not only provide technical knowledge and content, but also serve as a space to build personal relationships. On the journey of entrepreneurship, many challenges will arise, and during those hardships, having a support system is critical. At times of difficulty, they are able to lean on each other. During times of complacency, they can motivate each other. During times of exhaustion, they can encourage each other. This food trucking cohort took this point to heart and formed very close relationships that will last for years to come, whether they choose to continue on the path of food trucking or diverge into some other industry.
If you are looking to join a cohort of like minded entrepreneurs, visit LAEDA’s training page to learn more and get a detailed description of programs and services that can help you move closer to your business development goals.