The daily Grind pays off for Liz and Jesse Huot
LEO's Eats with Robin Garr
Jesse and Liz Huot and their Grind logo
The simple black logo that adorns Louisville's popular Grind Burger truck and its new sibling, Grind Burger Kitchen, speaks volumes about owners Liz and Jesse Huot's brisk journey from corporate life to the uncertain joys of running a popular food truck.
Well ... actually, Grind is not exactly a food truck. It's a concession trailer towed by a pickup truck. And that, like the black, gear-like logo, is part of their story.
Still, if it looks like a food truck, and acts like a food truck, people are going to call it a food truck. And Grind surely qualifies, having placed twice among LEO Readers' Choice winners for "Best Food Truck."
This may seem an unlikely path for Jesse, who was The Courier-Journal's circulation manager for 15 years, or for Liz, whose skills have whisked her through careers ranging from graphic arts to marketing to lingerie department manager at Cincinnati's Saks Fifth Avenue.
But even as Jesse worked hard at the C-J, he never really felt fulfilled in the corporate life. And, he says, that unease grew as he and Liz watched employee buyouts shrink the newspaper's staff. Would he be next? They decided to fashion an escape plan.
Jesse, too, boasts a toolbox of creative skills, but one skill stood out: He has always loved to cook, and had often dreamed of starting a restaurant. Why not? He enrolled in night classes at Jefferson Community and Technical College's culinary arts program.
Soon they felt it was time, but they didn't move quickly. They spent many nights with papers spread across the kitchen table, reading, thinking, running Google searches. A restaurant would be great, they decided, but a food truck, frankly, was more practical.
But even a food truck can be risky, Jesse mused. "A used step van? Maybe it runs now, but you don't know how long it will run. But we knew we could get a pickup truck to run." So they bought a used concession trailer, complete with a big side window, and refurbished it on weekends.
Read the full review on LouisvilleHotBytes,
http://www.louisvillehotbytes.com/the-d ... jesse-huot
And in LEO Weekly's Dining Guide 2014:
http://leoweekly.com/dining/daily-grind ... jesse-huot
Grind Burger Kitchen
3311 Preston Highway
851-7333
http://louisvillegrind.blogspot.com
https://facebook.com/louisvillegrind
Robin Garr's rating: 85 points
