Business Women of Reno Calendar 2012

The Business Women of Reno calendar is a project my partner Jessie and I thought of as a way to promote local business women and help local charities. When we first opened GourMelt, we found a lot of fellow business women who were very forthcoming with helpful advice and support. I love to see the strong women of our community doing well and helping others. We got together with a friend of ours, Jason Spencer, who did all the photography for free. Most of the hair and makeup was also donated by Tyler DePetro of Society Salon who is also featured in the calendar.

We approached people we have become close with through business and asked them to be a part of the project. We know there are so many other female business owners who deserve recognition, this was just a small sample of what our area has to offer! The calendars are for sale at each of the businesses featured, all proceeds go to the charity chosen by the business owner.

The business women are:
Kristin Reagan -Tumblebus /Charity- Girls on the Run
Mary Allstead- Mix Cupcake Company / Charity- Children's Cancer Foundation
Kasey Christensen- Sup / Charity- Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northern Nevada
Haley Wood & Jessie Watnes- GourMelt/ Charity- Step2
Abbi Whitaker- The Abbi Agency/ Charity- Susan G. Komen
Jessica Schneider- Junkee/ Charity- Washoe County School District
Kristen Gil- Midtown Development Group/ Charity- Moms on the Run
Tyler DePetro- Society Salon/ Charity- Nevada Youth Empowerment Project
Camie Cragg- Camie Cragg Fitness/ Charity- Committee to Aid Abused Women
Angela Watson- Black Hole Body Piercing/ Charity- Build Our Center
Cynthia Lewis- Dressed Like That/ Charity- Brain Injury Alliance Nevada
Angela Swindells- LoKa Tile Group/ Charity- LoKa Cares

Please support these female entrepreneurs and their great charities!

The Cheese Truck

A local film maker named Jason Spencer approached us last summer. He asked if he could spend some time in the truck with us to film for a documentary he was making. We said yes, having no idea what to expect but hoping for the best. What he made went well beyond our expectations. We are so proud of have been a part of this experience! Please watch the short film below and share with your friends.

www.stormfrontreno.com

Food Trucks for Your Event

Food trucks are a wonderful food option to have at your event. They require no set up or tear down, there are many different types of cuisine to choose from, they already have health permits, and they feed a lot of people easily. If you are planning a party or event, a food truck is a fun and feasible option to feed your guests. Here are some things to consider when booking one or more food trucks:

How many people will attend? This is the biggest question to consider in the success of your event. Too many food trucks at your event can really hurt the operators of these small business and the success of your affair. Behind every food truck service of 2-4 hours is many more hours of preparation, stocking, and cleaning. Your local food truck operator will do their very best to provide you with an estimate of how many people they can feed in an allotted amount of time. On the other hand, not having enough food trucks will make the wait longer and you may run the risk of the truck running out of food. Please remember that there is limited storage in a food truck and if the operators run out of something, that's it, they can't run to the store or into the walk-in to restock. If you have a specific truck or two in mind, chat with the owners to see what they recommend for you specifically. Please give the operators the courtesy of letting them know if you plan on having more than one food option at your party, this will help them plan for the amount of food they need to buy and prep.

How long is this event? A food truck may be able to handle quite a few people for a few hours. But as stated before, there is limited room for food storage on a food truck. After a while, resources will begin to get depleted. If you are planning a very long event, it is better to have several food options to take the stress off of each other, and to keep your guests fed and happy.

Have I promoted my event enough? Please do not rely on the fan base of a food truck to create attendance at your event. Although many loyal followers will come to visit their favorite truck just about anywhere, the food truck's social media cannot be the only advertisement. Do your best to help everyone succeed by promoting and marketing your event yourself. There are may ways of getting attention to your event such as sending press releases, creating Facebook pages and event pages, email invitations, or using marketing agencies.

How do I get in touch with a food truck? Food trucks are very easy to get in touch with! Most of them have a Facebook page with contact info or at the very least, a telephone number. If you have a specific truck in mind, call or email them directly with questions. Be cautious of using third party "food truck handlers". The best person to contact about a business is the business owner themselves, they will be able to provide you with details about pricing and scheduling. If the truck you wanted has prior commitments, they will be able to give you with contact information or names of other food trucks. We have almost all worked together and know each other in this little city! There are also various websites that list food trucks:

renotahoefoodtrucks.com
renofoodtrucks.com
roaminghunger.com

Have fun planning your event and enjoying the great food Reno's great food trucks have to offer!!

One Year

Here we are after a year of business. What a year it has been! We are so happy with all the love and support that we have received from the community. We never expected such a warm reception and we could not be happier.

We have had some struggles along the way and not a day passes that we don't learn a new lesson. Learning from mistakes is the best way to grow. We aren't perfect, but we always strive to be the best we can be. We try not to compare ourselves to others because we are unique, with a unique product. There was no business model to follow in our area. We just jumped in the truck and went for it.  When we first opened, no one else was doing what we are doing, serving lunch to local businesses. We had no one to learn from. Just two women with a dream (and a small budget). We said yes to every request, every event. We worked 12-14 hour days, 7 days a week, for the first 6 months. During the winter we finally had a few weekends to rest. We run our business with love and devotion to our customers, and passion for quality and service. We want to make people happy and deliver a wonderful product. Over the year we have built some great relationships with other business owners and have met some great people, (some that have become friends) along the way. We are eternally grateful to those who invited us to come to their office or building and serve lunch, it's the only way we can run our business.

A huge enormous THANK YOU goes out to our families and friends to have helped us so much over the last year!!! Being away from our significant others, kids and pets was not the easiest thing to do but it was what needed to be done to make this work. Thank you for bringing us supplies, working on the truck, and stopping by events for "quality time". We love you all so much.

And last, but certainly not least, thank you to our fans and followers who never cease to amaze us. People will drive across town, from out of town, cut across traffic, wait in a line 50 people deep and smile while doing it, all for a GourMelt sandwich. Your loyalty and support is what keeps us going. The compliments and enthusiasm are the best motivation and make it all worth it. You are the reason we do what we do!


Here's to the years to come!
Love,
Haley & Jessie

Reno Food Truck Fridays

We are just days away from the coolest new downtown event, Reno Food Truck Fridays. It's happening the First Friday of each month from April-October! This will be held in the heart of downtown Reno, at the former Citicenter on Fourth and Center Streets. The city has spent the last few weeks cleaning up the area, repairing things and hanging lights. It is the perfect spot to have the trucks park and serve with plenty of seating and shade! We have the all of the best food trucks from the Truckee Meadows ready to serve some really great grub. There will be live music each month, featuring quite a diverse lineup. The Tumblebus will be there for the kids to play on. Great Basin Brewing Co. will host a beer garden. It's the perfect Friday night event to bring your friends and family and have a great time. Have everyone in your group grab a different type of food, meet in the middle and share some fabulous offerings! IndieReno will have several craft booths as well! We hope to see you there!

Nominated!

We are beyond thrilled to have been nominated for Rookie Food Truck of the Year in a national poll on Mobile-Cuisine.com! We are up against 15 other trucks across the country. It's been quite a year, full of hurdles and growth but we couldn't be happier with the support Reno has shown for us! Let's put Reno on the food truck map! Let's win this thing! Go ahead and vote, tell your friends to vote too! We appreciate it and we thank you!

VOTE HERE