Samuel & Lucas Food Trucks Company

It was a good time for food trucks—a boom time. According to industry publication Mobile Cuisine, starting in around 2008, revenue for the food truck industry grew at just over 12 percent a year until 2014. That rise was spurred in part by a downturn on the brick-and-mortar restaurant side. The global recession had curbed disposable incomes for eaters and scared investors off from buying into larger-scale restaurant ventures.

Fast-forward to 2020; the COVID-19 pandemic has opened up new opportunities. It’s an exciting time for an industry facing tech disruption and increased media attention. In an economy driven by consumer demand, food literacy, food take-outs, and delivery is leverage. The industry is in a position of economic strength and growth. Going forward, we at Samuel & Lucas Food Trucks Company are in a state of rapid innovation, evolution, and growth. We are making efforts to foster a network of food trucks, commissary/cloud kitchen for food trucks and small businesses, tenants, and other industry players, and to formalize and legitimize the industry in the eyes of investors. 

At Samuel & Lucas Food Trucks Company, we give small food businesses the space and support they need to succeed. We help talented food entrepreneurs and food trucks jumpstart their journey toward scaling their business, gaining greater financial stability, and creating jobs in their communities. Through the powerful combination of access to affordable kitchen space and technological resources, our entrepreneurs successfully grow businesses in the dynamic food industry. 

Samuel & Lucas Food Trucks Company open to all food entrepreneurs. From West African ginger juice to Indian street snacks to vegan catering, we support underrepresented individuals impacted by racial, social, and economic inequality to create a diverse, equitable, and inclusive economy where all can thrive and celebrate culinary tradition and innovation.

We help turn talents and dreams into financial security for entrepreneurs. We help people get good jobs in kitchens and food manufacturers around the country. Our incubator, like business provides emerging food entrepreneurs with wrap-around support and connections to the food community to grow their enterprises. We are well-suited to caterers, specialty food makers, meal delivery companies, and many other types of businesses.

At the center of our mission and values is our commitment to the world around us. We believe that we should give something back to our local community, not only through paying our fair share of taxes and being environmentally minded but also through sponsorships and charitable programs alongside our partners.


Vision Statement

Our vision is to transform people’s lives through entrepreneurship and create jobs. With our support, small business owners impacted by racial, social, and economic inequality access the resources and opportunities to grow and create quality jobs.

Our mission is to promote equal access to economic opportunity. 

Our goal is to be recommended by our clients for how we operate our business... and to strive to be more of a partner than just a supplier.

We have set the following objectives for the business:

·       To always generate a significant amount in revenue at the end of every year of operations

·       Produce a positive return on investment (ROI) for our business

·       Maintain proper business operations and strategies to ascertain the continuous growth of the company

·       To promote and enhance safety and quality business growth through high-value services.

·       Maintain a minimum of 96% customer satisfaction rate to establish long-term relationships with our clients and create word-of-mouth marketing.

·       To achieve a consistently increasing marginal profit

·       To always increase our profit margin through an increase in sales, frequency of sales

Supporting success by creating an environment that values:

Commercialization – support food businesses as they take their innovative ideas from concept to store shelves

Collaboration – encouraging food entrepreneurs to learn from institutions, industry insiders, and each other

Learning – providing the foundations of understanding that will help food businesses to succeed

Innovation – encouraging entrepreneurs to balance  new ideas and best practices in food manufacturing

Growth – nurturing the growth of the food economy

Company Overview

Samuel & Lucas Food Trucks Company is a small business for small businesses. As a Pop-up food truck ourselves in Scotts Valley, CA, we know how hard this business can be. We help other food trucks and small businesses grow by providing a licensed commissary/cloud kitchen.  We enable these locally owned and operated small businesses to start and grow with the support of other small business food entrepreneurs just like them.  

We believe in a food system that equitably compensates talent and sustains a diverse workforce while celebrating culinary tradition and innovation. Our work helps women, immigrants, and people of color thrive as workers and entrepreneurs within the food system and is helping to make the system itself more conscious and equitable for all. 

We have the experience and practical capabilities to quickly and effectively mobilize equipment, products, staff, and resources. At the heart of our business is a desire to help; to do better for a better world.

From the people on our team to our products and services, every aspect of our business is a testament to quality. We’re constantly assessing our food truck plans to incorporate the best and most eco-friendly advancements and features recommended by managers and chefs. 

We are constantly observing new trends, products, and developments within the foodservice and equipment industries and implementing the best ideas and items into our latest solutions. We truly care about our customers and take great pride in what we do. By helping each of our clients become successful in fulfilling their goals, we all succeed in many ways

Our mission & core values stem from our philosophy that business has a higher purpose than pure profits. We aim to foster trust and create value by creating win-win-win situations for all our stakeholders, including customers, team members, clients, suppliers, and our communities, while allowing profits to follow from those commitments. We believe that together anything is achievable.

 Owner’s Motive

Founder Zhijian Li and Roddy Diaz idea for Samuel & Lucas Food Trucks Company was inspired by her combined experiences in companies she worked for, such as HP, Compass USA, Curry Up Now, Grubhub, and Smaller restaurant. She envisioned space where food trucks and food entrepreneurs, generally with diverse histories, would come together to sharpen their skills and secure meaningful careers in the food industry in California.

We are refining our commitment to grow careers and businesses across the culinary sector. And every day, we use our connections and influence to shape a larger dialogue about a more diverse food industry.

With this philosophy in mind, we have grown steadily, and that progress shows no sign of slowing down. We are proud of all our people, and below are our company owners, leaders, and team members who make quick and efficient decisions that benefit stakeholders daily.

Our approach turns careers in food into financial stability. We have supported events and programs and grew businesses in food delivery and event niche generating over $500,000 in economic impact. And we continue to rise.

To put it simply: We live and breathe this stuff.

We are visionaries, foodies, and entrepreneurs. We show up every day to build a more equitable food system that unites people, launches careers, and changes lives. Our best asset is our team, and our recipe is simple: hire the most collaborative, curious, and insightful people, and empower them to do their best work. We are a tribe of unique individuals who are bound by our connections, strengthened by a pursuit of mastery, and propelled into the future with agility. Our team is fueled by a diversity of strengths, talents, and ambitions. We honor the idiosyncrasies that make us unique and allow one another to bring our whole selves to work because we know that individuality is key to our collective chemistry.

Samuel & Lucas Food Trucks Company is full of smart, driven people who care a lot more about getting it done and the relationships we build than about proving how clever we are. Samuel & Lucas Food Trucks Company people truly become a valuable extension of our clients’ teams. Our team is fueled with a thirst for knowledge. One thing that differentiates us from the rest is that we have the expertise to craft solutions right from scratch. As a result, our people are the primary reason our clients recommend Samuel & Lucas Food Trucks Company to others.

And we never go it alone. We support and are supported to develop our results stories. We balance challenging and co-creating with our clientele, building the internal capabilities required for them to create repeatable results.

The entire team is dedicated to continuing education and always stays up-to-date with the latest trends and techniques. We work hard, but we don’t take ourselves too seriously. We are;

§  Zhijian Li - Advisor and CEO of the company, 

§  Roddy Diaz – operations Manager

§  Baptiste Maillet - Executive Chef 

§  Elizabeth Cadenas - Line/Prep cook 

§  Andrea Navarro Diaz - Catering Chef  

We approach our work with passion and resiliency to get things done effectively, timely, and on a budget to best serve our customers. At the heart of Samuel & Lucas Food Trucks Company is a simple, powerful concept — regardless of experience, role, or location, we operate as one team. Our team is driven by values, which underpin everything we do, describe the qualities we share, inform the way we work, and connect us across the globe. It is through our dedicated team and the values we embody that we will continue to expand the world of possibilities of our brand. 

One of the key factors that have guided and steered us to success is our extensive market knowledge and business insights. Furthermore, we ensure to always abide by the following here at Samuel & Lucas Food Trucks Company;

Business Insight: As a consumer insights firm. We use quantitative and qualitative research to create customer segmentation, drive innovation, deliver brand strategy, and compelling communications. We’ve spent years studying the science behind businesses, growth drivers, differentiation points, environmental and physical availability, locations, and product innovation to add value to our clients and our business. And every job is unique. We don’t do one size fits all. We help translate strategies into action that leads to desired results. Because a brilliant insight is only as good as its implementation. Insight generation and quantitative rigor define our approach. We are experts at designing business strategies to inform quantitative models, developing forecasts in emerging and innovative markets, and quantifying what is difficult to quantify.

Market Knowledge: We have learned from our past mistakes, perfected our strategies, know what it takes to get the job done right the first time, and we also know how to avoid the potholes the less experienced or younger agencies fall into. We offer a powerful combination of 15 years of experience up our sleeves with our great power of innovation, coupled with a strong track record, and a large portion of good craftsmanship is the essential factor of our success. Our 24/7 availability is also a plus to us.

Excelling in research and enterprise - Our research and entrepreneurial approach place us at the forefront of change that aims to make an outstanding impact on society. We aim to address crucial world issues through our interdisciplinary approach and close collaboration with industry and businesses.

Always Reliable - To keep up in this competitive market, one needs to stay updated with the latest technology changes. Our experts will guide how to keep the client’s product stable, amongst operational system changes and updates.

Dynamic Decision Making - As a small company, we focus on growth strategy. Unlike large firms that toggle between operational work and heterogeneous strategy work, we live and breathe growth strategy. As a result, we have developed deep expertise in exploring new business models, evaluating new technologies, entering new markets, and capitalizing on new policies. Our focus drives results. We believe in and rely upon a very structured and strategic approach to our business. However, we also retain the owner’s entrepreneurial spirit that founded the Company and remains a fundamental part of our philosophy, ensuring we continue to maximize our commercial opportunities. This means a dynamic decision-making process that steers the Company towards achieving its ambitions effectively and efficiently.

Partnership - Our success is built on our ability to forge strong relationships with our clients. To us, business is more than just a handshake and a signed contract. Through our full suite of services, we help businesses reach their goals and maximize return on investment while focusing on transparency and communication. We take a hands-on, collaborative approach to all our engagements and focus on developing solutions alongside our clients. It all leads to strategic client partnerships that are focused on long-term success. We take great pride in these relationships, and we will continue to work closely with our partners and forge new agreements and brand associations to deliver world-class 5-star solutions.

Learning: Staying ahead of the competition is important in any industry. That is why Samuel & Lucas Food Trucks Company makes it part of our policy and business ethics that our staff never stop learning. Courses, certificates, or research; if there is a new development in the industry, then we want to make sure that our clients and staff can depend on us to make that development available to them.

Ethics Policy: Quality, innovation, and integrity are the values we live by at Samuel & Lucas Food Trucks Company. We are committed to providing our clients with the highest quality services, constantly innovating, improving upon our repertoire of services, and maintaining the most impeccable standards of integrity and transparency. 

 
Email us at [email protected] and we will be happy to email you our pitch deck! 

Roddy Diaz