Meet Jared Short | Food Truck Owner

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

Hi Jared, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I have spent over 20 years in the restaurant industry; serving, bartending, and managing; and decided it was time to venture out on my own and be my own boss for once. My career has been mostly opening restaurants or coming into one already operational with the goal of improving business. With the state of the world post-Covid less people have been dining out, but more have been taking advantage of to-go, delivery, or doordash/uber eats for their food needs. I live in the North Dallas area that has been growing at an exponential rate and very much wanted to take advantage of a growing market and their need for a convenient option for Cajun Food that is not abundant in my area.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I’ve had the pleasure of working with some very creative people within the restaurant industry. This allowed me to grow in my knowledge and understanding of the nuances of the restaurant industry. The first half of my career was mostly sports bars and chain restaurants, but I followed the trend towards gastro pubs and upscale casual that happened in the late 2000’s. With transitioning into that genre of restaurants it was important to become knowledgeable of processes and techniques that are used (mother sauces, sous vide, flavor pairings, etc) which translated into my bartending career. I was fortunate enough to do very well in many of the cocktail competitions that were held during that time, and began making a name for myself in that regard. Flash forward more than 10 years and with a lot more knowledge, I decided it was time to use what all I had accumulated over the years. The restaurant industry is very fickle and has a very high turn-over rate because of burnout and I was starting to feel it. It seemed I had hit my ceiling both professionally and financially and the reality of a family, and the focus I wanted to give towards it, could not allow me to devote 60-80hr/wk to an industry that could get rid of me at the drop of a hat. There was no growth potential left nor any sort of financial stability and it seemed that my desire for success was greater than the restaurants I was working for.

I did my research. My wife bought me a book about opening a food truck and after reading it I began evaluating the types of cuisines that are most successful/popular. The top 4-6 were oversaturated (Hamburgers, Asian, Street Tacos, BBQ, etc) but out of the 300+ listed Cajun was 7th most popular. I grew up in deep East Tx very close to the Louisiana border and had a pretty good knowledge of how to make most of the popular dishes. Basically start with the Holy Trinity (Bell pepper, Celery, Onion) and you’re on your way to every Cajun dish. In January of 2022 I picked up my food trailer and began doing all the things needed to be operational (Create an LLC, DBA, Fire Suppression Systems, Health Inspections, Permits for every city I wanted to operate in) and the list continued to grow. As I was doing all of this it came time to decide on a name. My mom had originally wanted me to do some sort of health food truck and threw out the name ‘Good to Go’ and that name was just stuck in my head along with the concept of making something as good as you can for people who are on the go. So lets keep the sentiment and put a Cajun twist on it, and Good to Geaux was born.

By May I was finally able to do a small event for my neighborhood. It was amazing.. My wife and I live in a very friendly neighborhood and during the R&D time of creating my menu I had been giving all of my food out to everyone around so they had all seen the progress I had been making and they were excited to try out the final product. Still one of my best days since opening up.

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.
Oh man. There’s so much around here. Staying in the food truck realm, the Truck Yard in The Colony is a must. They have a toilet seat museum, a 2 story bar, loads of options for food, and axe throwing. In Denton, Austin St Truck Stop, 6 permanent trucks and 13 others in rotation behind Eastside Draft House. I would have to take my friend over to the Castle Hills area to check out my buddy’s restaurants, Pie3.14 and TBD Kitchen. Two restaurants that kinda Yin Yang each other with the same ownership. Great Pizza and Italian inspired dishes as well as some of the best cocktails you’ll find in the whole metroplex at Pie. Fun street tacos and light Mexican dishes as well as some of the more unique Latin American cocktails, real palomas, margaritas served the same as a street vendor would, in a bag, and the best frozen margarita in the area over at TBD. Puttery at Grandscape is a blast. Several different putt-putt courses with food and cocktails readily available. Once the weekend came around we would have to check out the farmers markets around here. Krugerville puts one on every 2nd and 4th Sunday of the month, loads of fresh produce, local artisans, as well as a couple of food trucks. Denton Community Market is every Saturday and is one of the larger ones in the area, and once that’s over at around 1pm, you’re only a couple of blocks away from swinging back around to Austin St Truck Stop.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would like to give a shout out to my family. My parents have been a great help with encouraging me to venture out and take hold of the reigns of my destiny. My wife has been more than supportive with the process of becoming a small business owner and the new challenges doing so brings to our life, which we decided to do when we found out we were pregnant a little under a year ago. My son was born about a month after opening my business and the joke between my wife and I is “If your life is gonna change, might as well make as many changes as you can”

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GoodtoGeauxFoodTruck/