Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Food Truck start-ups and how to avoid business scams by Michaela Merrick, owner of Pretty Little Tacos.

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Food Truck start-ups and how to avoid business scams by Michaela Merrick, owner of Pretty Little Tacos. · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Welcome to money making Conversations.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: It's to show that she is the secrets of success
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: experience firsthand by marketing and Brandon expert Rashan McDonald. I
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: will know he's giving me advice on many occasions. And
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: in case you didn't notice, I'm not broke. You know
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: he'll be interviewing celebrity CEOs, entrepreneurs and industry decision make
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: because it's what he likes to do. It's what he
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: likes to share. Now it's time to hear from my man,
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: Rashan McDonald. Money making Conversations. Here we come.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: I'm fired up. I'm ready to go. I'm fired up.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: I'm ready to go. Fired up. Food. Everybody knows I'm
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: a foodie. If you go to my Facebook page, you
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: will see food. You will see a lot of food
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: I get. I'll be in the airport. People to stop, Rashana.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: Can you stop posting food on your Facebook page? Can
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: you stop posting food on your Integram? They'll call me cakemn,
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: They'll call me the baker. They asked me for food
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: and be serious. I'll be sitting on the plane and
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: I said, can you bring me a pie? Can you
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: pull a pile to your overhand. Can you can you
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: do something for your short well? I got somebody that's
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: what she does for a living. I just baked for fun.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: Pretty Little Tacos is a Creole Mexican street taco concept
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: founded by Mikayla Merrick and May of twenty twenty, an
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: industry veteran mark launched in Triton Yards in May of
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty. May of twenty twenty COVID. COVID didn't stop her,
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: did not stop her. Pandemic virus was raging all around
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: and she was following to her dreams. Pretty Little Tacos offers
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: vegan alternatives as well as dessert tacos. You know, I
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: want to ask about that dessert tacos including peach cobbler
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: and strawberry short cake. She is on the show to
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: tell us her story from food trucks to the restaurant
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: and now back to the streets. Please work with the
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: money Making Conversations Master Class. Mikayla Merrick, How you doing.
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: I'm doing well? How were you good?
• 1:50
  Speaker 4: Good?
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: Good good? Pretty Little Tacos? How did you come up
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: with that name?
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: Well? Part opening up my company? I had like a
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: cooking show with one of my friends. And we were
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: called pretty little cooks pretty low the same time. Yeah,
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: so we had like a little it wasn't really a podcast.
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: We didn't get a chance to really do go like
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: maybe three or four episodes. But I really just like
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: the ring that I had to it. So eventually when
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: I started my business, I just, you know, transmit that.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: Over pretty little taco. And it's a catchy term and
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: it's an original term because your Google it pops up.
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: So the whole concept of of we got the tile
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: pretty little tacos. But why tacos?
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: Well, I love tacos. I've never really been able to
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: pass them.
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: Now, let me ask you it for a youear started.
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: Is it meal or flour? I'm a flower I'm a
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: flower person. So are you meal or flour?
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: I like flour, but I do like both. It just
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: depends on the type of tacos. You know, some tacos
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: require flower towards you and trump. I feel like taste
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: better with corns. So I am a taco freak, like
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: I love tacos. Everywhere I go. If I see a
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: taco truck, I'm gonna stop. I'm gonna try it. When
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: I go to La I hunt down the street corn vendors.
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: You know, I just love it. You know, I've always
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: loved it. So me and my family, like we always
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: we cooked. That's what we do. You know. One of
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: our favorite things to eat is tacos. So my brother
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: is a chef. We you know, we come up with
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: all types of unique tacos and we eat them at home.
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: So when the pandemics happened.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: So you say your brother's a chef, so he's he's
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: a person who went to school and became a trained chef.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: I'm assuming when you say that.
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: Correct, right?
• 3:29
  Speaker 5: Right?
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: Did you do the same? Did you do the same?
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: I didn't, Okay, but you didn't. And and you own
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: a business and food. How did you pull it? How
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: did you pull it?
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: Well? I think it was just perfect timing. Really, there
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: was like a time frame where in the beginning of
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: the pandemic where everybody was on tall and my brain
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: was moving and I was like, you know, I told
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: my mom, I said, Mama, have this idea, and she
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: was like, okay, she believed in it. And the next
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: morning she woke me up and was like, let's go
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: get a food. I was like what, and she was like,
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: let's go do it.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: And I was like, okay you no, no, no, go
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: get a job, girl. No, let's go get a food truck.
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: So you've only had a job, and I was always
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: very like hard working. I've been like number one in
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: customer service. Wherever I've been, I've been in the like well,
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: I've worked in like bar services areas. I've worked in clubs,
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: I worked in restaurants. I've worked a little bit of everywhere.
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: So you're a person, You're a people person naturally.
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: Yeah, And I know what the people want. I mean,
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: you know, I think I do well.
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: You're successful. We're going to talk about that in a minute.
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: But let me let me get back to your mom.
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: So your your dad's a chef, you said, and your
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: brother's a chef, right your mom?
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: My mom is a flight is in the Southwest.
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: Okay? Cool? And then you, like I said, was you
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: did a lot of different jobs. Did you go to college?
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: Did you I did go to college. I went to
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: I went to I went to Georgia Perimeter. And when
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: the pandemic started, I was in school my dental hygiene.
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: And the funny thing is that my dad always told me,
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: like you need to go back to school and go
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: back to school. So I went back to school, and
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: then the pandemic happened, and then I started this business.
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: And my dad was like, oh, you don't need school,
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: focus on the business. So if I stopped going to school,
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: so I could focus on pretty little talkhods so pretty.
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: So your funny is your family's funny. Go to get
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: your get you get. I'll stop taking to make them tacos, girl,
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: make them tacos girl. Mama, look at the food truck.
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: Looks at the food truck. So I love that that
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: was a whole family. Their whole family is entrepreneurial oriented,
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: and they wouldn't allow you to like sit back and go,
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: you know, like some people will if this goal is
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: not working, some people sit back and sulk. I'll feel
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: sorry for themselves or or just say this is not
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: going to happen. Oh woe is me. That doesn't seem
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: like your family, And it doesn't seem like that's you either.
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: Oh No, I'm very resilient. I don't take no for
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: an answer. I literally I've learned as I've gone. I've
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: listened to my customers. I try to apply to every
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: single customer the same way, you know, genuine to their
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: circumstances or their experience, and I learned from it and
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: that's just the best way that I can You know,
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: I could tell anybody. You have to be resilient. You
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: can't give up. You have to keep going, like at
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: the end of the day, Like as you go, you
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: start to have people that depend on you, not only
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: your employees, but your customers. Like they don't want they
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: don't want to see you not succeed. They want you
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: to be the best that you can be. So you
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: have to just keep going. You can't give up.
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: Okay, I'm talking to the owner of Pretty Little Tacos
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: is based in Atlanta, and I'm sure, how in a
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: location do you have in Atlanta right now?
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: We have technically we have three. So we have the
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: one that is in Politan Road, located in Colony Square,
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: which is like it's really I love that location because
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: it's very diverse. You never really know who's going to
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: walk in there, so I love that space. Our next
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: location that we have is a new spot that we
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: have in Union City. It's situated more like us to
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: go delivery pick up like service only the DP gas station.
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: So I have this whole idea that I want to
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: get pretty little tacos in every gas station in Atlanta.
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: So this is my starting point. And then i also
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: have a larger restaurant that I'm working on on Moreland Avenue.
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: I'm about ninety days out at that at the most,
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: I do I get my liquor license, hopefully in July.
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: So you know, I'm really excited about that.
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: It does get some tacos, that's what that's the goal.
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: Now, yeah, I'm excited about that. I think that I
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: will be able to actually give my customers, you know,
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: an experience, and that's very important to me.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: Okay, and so will you come back on this show
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: that when it opens? Can we do that? Can you?
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: Let's talk about it all how it all started, because
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: you know, I know in college, I was made. I
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: was in my dorm room. I was I was. I
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: was making pizzas, selling pizzas out my dorm room. I
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: had a little medium pizza. All they served, had my
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: little crust already pre made, turned and converted a walk
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: into a into an oven. And I would have two
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: pizzas I would serve. You know, it was pepperoni and
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: it was hamburger. And I had my ragou sauce. That
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: was so. I was an entrepreneur back then, but I
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: didn't take it to the next level. You took an
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: idea of tacos. You put a nice catchy name to it,
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: pretty little Tacos. How did you knew this was working
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: in the height of the pandemic.
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: Well, I didn't know it would work, and I think
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: that that was the reason why I was able to
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: do it. I really didn't have a choice. I didn't
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: get any assistance or any help. Women and everything, you know,
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: shut down. So for me it was like survival. So
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: when I was able to take out the fear and
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: just know that I had to do it, it made
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: it easier for me. I didn't really have a choice.
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: And you know, going into it, my expectations were very low.
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: I just expected to pay my bills and you know,
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: and very quickly, like I was, I got there. I
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: was a little afraid because I had done so much research.
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: I did so much research that it scared me and
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: it told me that I wouldn't be able to afford
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: to hire anybody. So I was like, Okay, I have
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: to do everything myself. So at the beginning, I was
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: cooking everything, I was loading it up, and I was
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: putting on the truck and I was selling everything. My
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: mom was helping me, my brother was helping me, and
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: you know, we were making things work. But what I
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: started to realize, you know, that people really liked it,
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: was when I got to Triting Yards. And once I
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: got there, I started to have like really long lines,
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: like crazy lines, and it was just very humbling, you know,
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: and it took a lot of time.
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: How many how many varieties of tacos that you have then,
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: because now you have a big menu. We're going to
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: get to the menu in the next break, But how
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: many variations of tacos that you have at the start?
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: At the beginning, I only had chicken steak and oxtails.
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: Chicken steak and ox tail lying around the box.
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: Yes, the street corn, that's it.
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: And now now street tacos are smaller, correct, if I'm
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: not mistaken, they're smaller versus other tacos. Now do you
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: do you still do just street tacos or do you
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: do the other version of tacos at your current locations?
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: I pretty much always have used the full sized taco.
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: I don't believe in sping the meat that the tacos
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: are pretty feeling like for me, I probably could eat
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: three and then I'm four, So I put a lot
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: of meat on them. You know, I make sure that
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: we're not stingy. You know that's my biggest You got
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: your you.
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: I'm a fan already because I hate people. I never understand.
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: I go into restaurants, people be you know, they be
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: counting the meat they putting on your plate. It's this
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: one restaurant I go, I'm not gonna name the name,
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: and I can they just count the amount of meat
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: they put on a plate. I'm going, like, really, come
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: about to put some meat on that? And I come back.
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: But now you're already frustrating me because I'm down two,
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: I'm counting why you're counting.
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: And you're still hungry.
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: I'm still hungry. So now there were a lot of
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: roadblocks and licensing and because with the kitchens you were using.
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: Can you run us through that before we go to
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: the break that some of the frustration because we're all
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: dreamers and when you dream, the reality is is not
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: as comfortable or as easy as the dream makes it
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: out to be. What were some of the roadblocks you
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: got before you really start seeing your life shine.
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: Well, the biggest thing was obviously I started it with
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: you know, a little to no money, so it was
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: literally like I was reinvesting every day, you know, and
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: eventually I started to get to the point to work.
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: It made sense. But the biggest thing that I had
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: a problem with was like, obviously I started during the
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: pandemic and all the government was shut down. I couldn't
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: call the Health Department and say, hey, you know, am
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: I doing this right? You know, I don't want like
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: I did call, but I couldn't get I couldn't get through.
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: So I emailed and that ended up saving me. So
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: when they did open back up, they did see that
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: I had been reaching out to them. So I wasn't
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: like in trouble or anything. But I found out that
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: there were so many things that I had been misinformed about,
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: and the number one thing was commissary kitchens. Commisary kitchens.
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: There are some good commentary kitchens, don't get me wrong,
• 12:01
  Speaker 3: but a lot of them. If you don't know what
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: you're looking for, they will scam you. You will be
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: paying for a permit that they don't have the qualifications
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: to get you. And so that happened to me twice.
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: I lost a lot of money thinking that, you know,
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: I was doing the right thing, not you know, while
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: the health department was closed, and when they opened they
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: informed me, oh, well, you know, these people don't even
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: have a permit for you to get your food truck permanent.
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: So once I found that out, it was like, okay,
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: back to square one. And then it ended up making
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: me park my truck, you know, and then ultimately because
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: it was parked, someone did fill my first food truck.
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: But I have since got a new food truck and
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: so that's why now you know, we're getting back outside.
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: But that was the biggest thing for me. It's kind
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: of not really knowing the ins and outs, and a
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: lot of people, a lot of gatekeeping people weren't really
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: helpful to people, the other people in the food truck parks.
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: So I had to figure it out on my own.
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: Okay, I wanted to slow it down a little bit
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: because some things you said, I don't know, and I
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: think that a lot of people they hear you said
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: permit like permit licensee A commisary kitchen. What are commissary kitchens?
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: What is that?
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: Well, you need a commissary kitchen because you can't cook
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: your you can't cook your food out of your house.
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: You need to be able to have a space where
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: you have the designated area to where you can cook,
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: store and prepare your food, and then also be able
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: to pull your food truck in, clean your food truck
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: out properly according to the health you know, department standards,
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: and you have to have a base it's like your
• 13:27
  Speaker 3: base of operations. Like you can't just have your food
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: truck part in front of your house, like, you have
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: to have a base of operations. And so that's what
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: that is supposed to serve as. But a lot of
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: people get it confused if there's another there's like a
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: a permit that's for caterers, right, So a lot of
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: these these commisary kitchens they go through the Department of Agriculture,
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: you know, as opposed to the Department of Health. So
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: they're not even the right type of you know, permit.
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: So once you get in there, they don't tell you that.
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: They just take your money, you know, and then once
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: you go down to the health for me, they're like,
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: we don't you know, you can't use that. So that's
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: the you know, that's what I mean when I say
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: that cool.
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: I'm talking to the owner of Pretty Little Tacos. This
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: is a Creole Mexican street taco concept founded by the
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: person I'm talking to, michaeleab Merrick in May of twenty twenty.
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: The COVID didn't mean nothing to Hu. She jumped out
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: there and did her thing, and she is telling her
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: story on Money Making Conversations Master collect If you want
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: to talk to her, please call at four zero four
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: eight eight zero nine two five five four zero four
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: eight eight zero nine two five five. We were right
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: back to continuous conversation because we want to say the
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: next step. And she's in her third year. She's doing
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: the thing. But more important, I want you guys to
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: hear that you can make it happen too, but you
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: gotta do it the right way. You gotta follow the rules,
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: and you got to listen to her story. We were
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: right back with more Pretty Little Tacos.
• 14:51
  Speaker 6: We'll be right back with more Money Making Conversations Masterclass
• 14:55
  Speaker 6: with Rushawn McDonald. You are now tuned into the Money
• 15:00
  Speaker 6: Making Conversations Minute of Inspiration with Rashawn McDonald.
• 15:04
  Speaker 7: Michelle Williams is a Grammy Award winning recording artists and actress.
• 15:07
  Speaker 7: She rose to start him as a member of the
• 15:09
  Speaker 7: Omega group Destiny's Child in her new book Checking In
• 15:13
  Speaker 7: How Getting Real about Depression save my life and can
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  Speaker 7: save yours. This book will help you see the science
• 15:19
  Speaker 7: to overcome depression, to.
• 15:20
  Speaker 6: Go into counseling.
• 15:21
  Speaker 4: I really want to help people in entertainment and sports
• 15:25
  Speaker 4: because I don't feel like we have to live these
• 15:29
  Speaker 4: lives with dysfunction or not identifying hurts that trigger certain
• 15:36
  Speaker 4: behaviors and responses. Because just because I was hurt in
• 15:39
  Speaker 4: my childhood does not give me the right to go
• 15:42
  Speaker 4: hurting people as an adult. And then I really feel
• 15:45
  Speaker 4: like we can go on to be more whole and
• 15:49
  Speaker 4: have great quality relationships.
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: Michelle Williams full interview.
• 15:53
  Speaker 7: It's available at Moneymaking Conversation dot com. Keep winning.
• 15:57
  Speaker 6: Now, let's return to money Making coveras Masterclass with Rashawn McDonald.
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to Money Making Conversations Master Class. I'm talking
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: to the owner, creator, CEO, president, do it all a
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: pretty Little Tacos. We have a caller on the call, Sarah.
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: How are you doing? Sarah, Welcome to the show. You're
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: speaking to Rashon McDonald and michaelam Merrick what is your question.
• 16:20
  Speaker 8: Well, it's more of a comment. I just want to say, like,
• 16:23
  Speaker 8: you're honestly a huge, huge inspiration to somebody like me.
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: I'm not in the food.
• 16:29
  Speaker 8: Industry, but I am a new business owner and just
• 16:33
  Speaker 8: to hear your story, how like you didn't give up
• 16:35
  Speaker 8: and you had all these obstacles and still have a
• 16:39
  Speaker 8: successful business. I definitely went there the one downtown Colony
• 16:44
  Speaker 8: Square and it was an amazing experience. So I just
• 16:47
  Speaker 8: wanted to say, like, you're a huge, huge inspiration and
• 16:50
  Speaker 8: I'm so proud of you, and just keep going. I
• 16:54
  Speaker 8: guess firing up there so much.
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: Sarah.
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: Well, Sarah, thank you for ma in their phone call.
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: And I want to turn my question back to you.
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: This is not this is normal for you. You are an inspiration.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: Your story. I wanted to tell you a story because
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: you know, you know, I tried to do my homework
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: and I knew first of all the fact that you
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: opened your business in the middle of COVID. That was like,
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: because I know you was a you know, a separation.
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: You could get close to each other, you had business,
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: had the hours they had to operate, and there's so
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: many rules that were in place and then you I
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: didn't know the fact that you really couldn't get your
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: your licenses because basically nobody was in offices and when
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: they when they got back, they had to do catch up.
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: And then you was out there trying to go to
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: these little commissary kitchens and they were just abusing the
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: relationship because they know you didn't know. But all that
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: was it your parents, which is your brother, who kept
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: you focused, who kept saying, don't give up, don't give up,
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: you can do it. This is your dream. Keep your
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: prayers strong. What was it?
• 17:53
  Speaker 3: My daughter's channing. She's seven now, but you know when
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: I started the business, she was four. She always been
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: very proud of me. You know, every school she goes to,
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: she brags about me so much, like I'm always doing
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: events at her schools or you know, catering her friend's
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: birthday parties because she's my biggest fan. So that is
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: that's my biggest insoration. That's what keeps me going. I
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: just want her to have a head start. I want
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: her to understand that, you know, she can she can
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: do anything she wants to like, and I'm going to
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: show her how. So that's you know, I do that
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: and then also for my family, like I like, my
• 18:30
  Speaker 3: dad had a restaurant in the past, but you know
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: he didn't really, it didn't last. So for him and
• 18:35
  Speaker 3: for everybody in my family, like, they're really proud of me.
• 18:38
  Speaker 3: So that pushes me and keeps me.
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: Going, Wow, you know, now what are what are there?
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: What are their specialties? Okay? Because you say, your father's
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: a chef and your brother's a chef, and then you've
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: opened this very popular creole mexicanan street taco concept. Whereould
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: where were these skills trained in?
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: Well? My dad like, well, we're creole. So my dad,
• 18:58
  Speaker 3: he's he's a creole. He's that's Creole cuisine. His favorite
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: dish line is a seafood pot pie. It's really good,
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: crop fish, crab, shrimp, really good. So I really like that.
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: My brother, he's a little bit he can do it all.
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: He's very well rounded. He can do anything when it
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: comes to food. He's like one of my biggest inspirations.
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: He's very smart. He knows his stuff. You know a
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: lot of the things that I've learned along the way
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: are just from listening to him or being around him.
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: You know, I've learned a lot of things and he
• 19:34
  Speaker 3: doesn't even realize it. So you know, I listen to
• 19:36
  Speaker 3: absorb and I pay attention to him. He's very well
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: around it. He does caterings. He was probably one of
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: the first Instagram celebrity chefs. He's cooked for everybody. He's
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: done a lot of things. He fas a lot to
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: be proud of.
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: And hey, who's your brother? Now you tell me some information.
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: I need to know your brother. Who is your brother?
• 19:53
  Speaker 3: My brother's name is chef Mike Ballely, My little brother.
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: Out there on Instagram, out there just blowing up doing
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: his own thing too. So you know, so you got
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: like a social media celebrity chef brother, and then you
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: got a creole Mexican street taco concept that is blowing
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: up all over the city. And then you want to
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: put it in every every gas station around the country. Really,
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: that's what you want to do. You know, now, what
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: what what starts to elevating that dream? Like you said,
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: because it's all about food quality. You know what they
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: get over here, they get over there. How do you
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: maintain that.
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: I have all my prep in one space, I have
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: everything cooked in one kitchen by the same prep team,
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: and I just divvy it out. That's the easiest way
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: for me to do it. I am going to for
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: some copacking option soon, which will be like, you know,
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: I send my recipe to a company and they make it,
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: you know, in mass production, they send it back to me.
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: But for right now, I like to keep the fresh
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: and authentic. I like to keep you know, keep it
• 20:59
  Speaker 3: where it feels like someone put a lot of love
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: into it. So I haven't really you know, wanted to
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: pass it over just shit. But for now that's what
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: I do. I have the same prep ladies that I've
• 21:07
  Speaker 3: always started with, and yeah, they know the recipes and
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: they do they do pretty good.
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: Okay, cool, so do that you know like they like, now,
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: are your recipes like secret recipes? You know? With they
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: you know, they have to sign n DA's and all
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: this stuff.
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: Yes, yes, yes, yes, everyone has to sign NDAs. I
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: just actually updated everybody's NDA last week.
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: So yes, they go in their kitchen, they can't go
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: around there trying to make their own little street tacos.
• 21:35
  Speaker 3: Even the cashiers. Everybody has to sign an NDA.
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: There you go. Everybody listen to this now because.
• 21:40
  Speaker 3: I keep it equal opportunity, you know, And don't get
• 21:44
  Speaker 3: me wrong. I do have a lot of people that
• 21:46
  Speaker 3: work with me that want to have their own companies,
• 21:49
  Speaker 3: and like, you know, that's why I'm here, you know,
• 21:52
  Speaker 3: on this journey together. I mean, I feel like they're
• 21:54
  Speaker 3: learning if they're paying attention to me and they're learning so.
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: Well, you know that's important because I want to I
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: want people to hear this, like Shareer heard you, Sharah
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: is seeing you. Because there's business and there is relationships
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: in business superseded relationship. Business superseded love. Business supersedes family
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: because it's business. And I've been there. No, I've hired
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: my family and kept it emotional. And guess what I
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: lost because I forgot the power and the rules of business.
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: And it's important. So if you got to get people
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: this side of the NBA, sign it otherwise you will
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: pay a price for that later on. Am I right?
• 22:36
  Speaker 3: You have to make sure you protect yourself always. It
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: also keeps it honest and you know, keeps the integrity. Hi,
• 22:42
  Speaker 3: No one is, you know, trying to steal anything from you.
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: So it works out.
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: Now, what makes food truck business so competitive and so cutthroat?
• 22:53
  Speaker 3: There's so many new food truck owners like your.
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: Voice, your voice dropping so many there.
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: Theory, if you do research right, like you'll see like
• 23:05
  Speaker 3: there's I don't know the exact numbers, but I'm pretty
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: sure there's like been an influx of like food trucks
• 23:10
  Speaker 3: that came in after the pandemic during the pandemic, So
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: it's very competitive. When I was at Triton Yards, I
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: had a standing spot, so it was like no other
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: taco people really wanted to come into the parking lot
• 23:22
  Speaker 3: when we were there, you know, And I didn't have
• 23:24
  Speaker 3: a problem with them coming, you know, welcome. I like
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: to I'll go try and I like tacos, but it
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: was just kind of like they really didn't want to
• 23:30
  Speaker 3: be there. But it's very competitive. I but I thrive
• 23:34
  Speaker 3: off of that. You know. I like to study and
• 23:37
  Speaker 3: see the best of the best, and you know, I
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: just level up every time. So you know, it doesn't
• 23:43
  Speaker 3: it doesn't intimidate me.
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: You know, I feel like I'm talking to the Tupac
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: of tacos here. Keep your head up, keep your head up.
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: You're coming over here. Messing with my tacos. Gonna be
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: a problem. I love talking to you. I loved I
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: loved I love them, your family, your moms or flight attendant.
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: She's out there told let's go get a food truck.
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: She's inspiration. Your daughter is so proud of you. She
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: talks about you that gives you inspiration, that let you
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: know that you're making the difference. You're inspiring future entrepreneur
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: and your daughter. She's seeing that you don't have to
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: do an eight to five, that you can believe in
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: your own dreams. She's also saying that you don't have
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: to go to college to be successful, which is what
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: this new generation is telling us. And we're starting to
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: see there are different rules. Allow those different rules to happen.
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: But Pretty Little Tacos is your brand, is your baby. Again,
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: before we wrap up, tell everybody in Atlanta, Georgia and
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: around the country, because everybody listening to that they gonna
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: nobody Pretty Little Tacos now how they can find your
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: locations in the city of Atlanta.
• 24:42
  Speaker 3: You can follow us on Instagram at pretty Little Tacos
• 24:46
  Speaker 3: atl You can also go to our website at www
• 24:49
  Speaker 3: dot Prettylttle Tacos dot com and that will have all
• 24:52
  Speaker 3: of our social media handles on there. You can send
• 24:54
  Speaker 3: us an email, do a catering inquiry, whatever you would
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: like to do. Our location is in Quality Square and
• 25:01
  Speaker 3: Politan Road Food Hall, and then we also have one
• 25:03
  Speaker 3: on forty three fifty Jones Borrow Road in Union City.
• 25:06
  Speaker 3: It's located inside of the gas station Morelands. I will
• 25:10
  Speaker 3: announce that opening day very soon.
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: Ninety days, right, and you're coming back, right, Mikayl.
• 25:15
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I'll be back, and then it's available to be
• 25:19
  Speaker 3: booked if you have an event that you want us
• 25:22
  Speaker 3: to pull up to. Any festivals. We are looking for
• 25:24
  Speaker 3: you guys. We really want to get our trucks back
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: outside and we're ready to go, you know, fully staffed,
• 25:30
  Speaker 3: fully loaded, and ready to go.
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: Well, I want to thank you for taking the time
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: pretty little Tacos, and I am a text ma nex nut.
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: I'm telling you so so the fact that you have
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: a business out there that's thriving. I can't you know,
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: I'm on NPR, so I just can't say I'm gonna
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: come by, but let me know that thank you for
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: giving me the location. I guess I could say that again.
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: Thank you for coming on Money Making Conversation master Class.
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: You are an inspiration. You are very unique in what
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: you're doing. I say that because of the fact that
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: you're following your dreams and a lot of people don't
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: and don't think they're passing our dreams every day and
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: you're doing it. Thank you for coming on Money Making
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: Conversations Master Class.
• 26:05
  Speaker 3: Thank you so much for having me. I have a
• 26:06
  Speaker 3: good day.
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: Bye bye. Well she's so busy, so professional. Thank you, y,
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: thank you for coming on my show. I want to
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: thank you guys for listening to my show again. I'd
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: be back next week as I am every week with
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: a new set of people who are going to make
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: a difference in your life. Talk to you soon. Money
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: Making Conversation Master Class Roushawn McDonald, I'm out.
• 26:33
  Speaker 6: Thank you for joining us for this edition of Money
• 26:35
  Speaker 6: Making Conversations Masterclass. Money Making Conversations Masterclass with through Shan
• 26:41
  Speaker 6: McDonald is produced by thirty eight fifteen Media Inc. More
• 26:45
  Speaker 6: information about thirty eight fifteen Media Inc. Is available at
• 26:48
  Speaker 6: thirty eight fifteen media dot com. And always remember to
• 26:53
  Speaker 6: lead with your guests.
• 27:04
  Speaker 5: HBCUs represent Black excellence. If you attend or are an
• 27:07
  Speaker 5: alumnus of an HBCU, we want to hear about your story.
• 27:12
  Speaker 5: The MYHBCU Story Digital Library will allow current HBCU students
• 27:16
  Speaker 5: and alumni to share their stories. Registration is open to everyone.
• 27:21
  Speaker 5: More information is available at HBCU college day dot com.
• 27:25
  Speaker 5: Click my HBCU story. Next, you can upload a photo.
• 27:29
  Speaker 5: The photo can be recent or from when you attended
• 27:31
  Speaker 5: your HBCU. Then share your academic or social experience at
• 27:36
  Speaker 5: your HBCU, which can be your favorite class, hangout, joint,
• 27:40
  Speaker 5: homecoming game, student center, honor, off campus party, greek show,
• 27:44
  Speaker 5: and how attending an HBCU changed your life. We also
• 27:48
  Speaker 5: want to hear stories if you pleasure a fraternity or sorority.
• 27:51
  Speaker 5: The goal is to use your my HBCU story to
• 27:55
  Speaker 5: promote and uplift the HBCU brand. Your HBCU prepared you
• 28:00
  Speaker 5: success and now we want everyone to read about your
• 28:03
  Speaker 5: black excellence. More information is available at HBCU college day
• 28:08
  Speaker 5: dot com. You can click my HBCU story to share
• 28:11
  Speaker 5: your story.