Crawfish ettouffee, beignets, shrimp and grits. If you saw these on a menu you’d be right to think of Creole cuisine. What may immediately come to mind is finding this cuisine in Phoenix, Arizona.

Sandra Hicks, a Louisiana native, through Sandra Dee’s Catering brings Creole to the Phoenix area with her catering truck. She shares her story with us.

What inspired Sandra to get into foodservice?

Inspiration came out of a necessity for Sandra. ”I was laid off from my job as a Marketing Manager at GCU, armed with a Master’s degree and 25 years of experience in Business Development and marketing, I found myself over qualified for the Arizona job market. I knew it was time for a career change. I love to cook so with my business background and my love for food the two just seemed to go hand in hand. The food truck industry was booming in Arizona and the answer to my questions was clear: BUY A MOBILE KITCHEN!”

What does Sandra love best about her business?

I love that I build my on schedule and I seem to only take jobs that I know I would have fun doing. Every new stop is a chance to grow my business, It also helps that I love my food truck family because we all work so great together.

The most interesting/oddest/coolest things to happen to Sandra’s business?

The most interesting thing would be meeting the crew from EAT STREETS and being asked to be a part of the next taping in Phoenix!

The Oddest thing would be when people come to my trailer and say WHAT WAS SANDRA DEE like?

The Coolest would be, Jason’s and Angel’s Food Truck Wedding! The family of the wedding party was AMAZING and the wedding was BEAUTIFUL! We felt very honored to be there!

As far as overcoming obstacles, Sandra has a few stating up. Here’s her take on them:

The biggest business challenge was with the build of my kitchen. There were several problems that cost a lot of money to fix. For instance, driving the trailer down the street. The trailer was only 5 months old. The trailer actually weighed over 10,000 pounds and it was too heavy for our Ford F250 to pull on a regular basis. We had to buy another pickup to pull the trailer. The manufacture did not honor their warranty. It cost us a nice chuck of change to repair. Also the power usages for the trailer were understated, where we were told it require a 6800 watt generate, it actual required more than that. We went through 4 generator only to end up by a Honda 10000 Watt for over $6,000.00. The expenses for our first year of operation was well over $85,000. For most new business this would have destroyed them.

What Cambro products help her business today?

The Cambro products that make my business work are the Storage Containers and lids! Being mobile we rely on a nice tight fit! Thanks to Cambro our sauces, mixes, and food preps are storage safely and perfect. Our food costs are also down because we can save a lot of our prepped veggies for the next day!

We wish Sandra continued success and thank her for sharing her story of success. As the featured foodservice business of the week, she will receive a storage container gift pack which will surely be put to good use.

Links for Sandra Dee’s Catering:

Website | Facebook | Twitter

Do you have a foodservice business that you want the world to know about – nominate it – click here!