Persistence. There’s a reason they say persistence pays off.
Growing up in Boulder, Colorado I never really knew what I wanted to do when I was older. All I did know, was I liked food. I enjoyed eating it of course, but it was more than that. I loved everything about it. The creativity, the smells, the possibilities, they really were endless. When I started dating my now husband Ryan, I realized I had a partner that shared the same passion. It wasn’t until the winter of 2011 when we took that love for food, and made it into a career.
My sister was living in New York City, and the food truck craze was in full affect. She said these simple seven words, “You guys should start a food truck.” Within two months we had gotten a loan from a friend, and Ryan had designed and built a food truck. It happened quickly, but we were off and hitting the streets of Boulder, Colorado. Regardless of our inexperience in the business world, we both came from entrepreneurial families, and I knew we would figure it out as we went. While we were building our food truck, we learned about Ryan’s family history.
RollinGreens was originally founded in 1980 by the Cunningham family. They created the first organic and local food truck in Boulder. With three kids and one more on the way being Ryan, they retired the food truck. Little did we know, it was in our blood. With no other jobs or outside income, we made the food truck a viable business for five years. With each year, came more events, weddings, farmers markets, and soon we were working seven days a week with no vacations. We were killing ourselves. There had to be a way we could scale the company. That is when our packaged product line was born.
We took one of our top selling and most dietary friendly items, and began selling it wholesale, Millet Tots. Millet Tots are the only non-potato tot on the market, made from an organic ancient whole grain. We did one last summer season, and then retired the food truck. Consumer packaged goods was our new future.
Once again we found ourselves in an industry we knew nothing about. Two years later, and 800 stores nationwide and climbing, we have recharged our brand, and are feeding the world one tot at a time.
Regardless of the highs, the lows and everything in between, we continued to have persistence, passion, determination and each other. Some days you just want to quit, and some days you are on top of the world. We continue to ride the wave of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is risk, all day every day, but as long as you have the capacity and willingness to develop, change, pivot and grow, you will define your own happiness and success.