Tension was high, and Arthur and I were barely on speaking terms as we loaded the food into the car and drove to the site of our first catering gig: a movie set at a marina in Sausalito. We drove in circles looking for the location, and eventually someone had to come find us and direct us to the set. We were surprised to find a dark, dirt lot with a single street light. There were no tables in sight, something we had neglected to discuss beforehand.

We were three hours late by the time we got there, and yet all of the actors and production crew were excited to see us arrive. The only person who knew our scheduled delivery time was the director, a friend of Arthur’s who had bartered a fried chicken dinner for his film crew in exchange for producing our Kickstarter video. He was either too busy or too kind to mention our epic snafu.

The original idea was to feed everyone before they started filming, but we arrived just as they were wrapping up, so we became the post-filming treat. We opened up the back of the minivan and had another car park beside us under the one streetlight, and then we proceeded to have an old fashioned tailgate party. Our worries about the food and the scheduling disaster were proven to be misplaced as we received glowing compliments about every dish.

I vividly remember the emotions that night as Arthur and I struggled to cook and deliver that dinner for 25 people. That memory now stands in stark contrast to the ease at which we, with the help of an employee and two friends, cooked and delivered a very similar menu (only with refined recipes and better execution) for 90 people a couple of weeks ago. In recognition of this first year of significant — and sometimes painful — growth, I’m passing the keyboard to Arthur to share his own reflections on the lessons learned and challenges faced.

Drums & Crumbs Co-Founder & Co-Owner Arthur Chang Reflects On The Highs & Lows Of Our First Year In Business

Arthur Chang, Co-Founder & Co-Owner of Drums & Crumbs LLC

3 Things I have Learned So Far:

1. Running a small business has taught me more patience than I have ever thought I possessed.

Most of my really close friends and my old work colleagues know that I am a pretty impatient person when it comes to things in day to day life. That is why I thrived in my old job where information was expected and received quickly on both sides of the table. It is also why I thrived in NYC: it is a much faster pace than most anywhere in the world.

After having started this business, I have learned that the parties on the other side of the various business interactions I have had with work at their own pace. I’ve realized that I have to learn to accept this and know that thing will get accomplished  — just maybe not in my own internal time frame.

This newfound patience has surprised me because I really didn’t think I was capable of that. I am starting to learn that the ultimate priority is that the business succeeds over my own personality quirks. I have learned to not respond negatively to waiting longer than I want and stay aware of the larger picture. I am not perfect in this but I think I have adapted pretty well.

 2. The support of friends and family has been so overwhelmingly great that has really surprised me.

I know most people in your life want you to succeed, but the fact that so many have responded with verbal, written, emotional, and even monetary support via our Kickstarter campaign has really astonished me. Half of the reason I am still on this path is the fact that I know so many people want us to thrive and do well. In my lowest moments, I think of them, and it renews my ambition to move on.

3. One of the greatest joys I have ever had is watching complete strangers eat our food and then tell me how much they enjoy it and how happy they are that we are doing this.

That feeling they give me never gets old and is again one of the main reasons I keep pushing on.

 Most Memorable Experiences

 1. Taste of Sonoma

This was the first event when we offered our food to a great mass of people in such a unique and great atmosphere. The response from the people there affirmed that I had made the right choice in terms of the concept.

2. Meeting with the Opportunity Fund to discuss our loan process, and completing the loan application process itself.

I never really thought of myself as a true business person until I sat in a meeting room with the loan officer and our financial adviser and had to lay out our case and provide data and answer specific financial questions about our business concept.

Further, going through the loan application and having to provide financial reports made me realize this “project” (e.g. the business) was a real thing. It was a humbling experience realizing how much money is involved in just starting one small business organically.

Greatest Challenges

1. Getting the food truck built

It’s a little ironic that our main goal is perpetually my biggest challenge right now. I have always heard stories about how long it takes to build a restaurant or house, and as it turns out, that basically applies to any construction project. When it comes down to it, when you have to rely on a contractor to get your project completed, there are going to be delays, and you have to adjust to their individual quirks and way of doing thing. Since they are often small businesses too, there is no clear, standardized way of doing things. All one can do is maintain constant communication and move things as quickly along as possible while keeping a congenial relationship with that contractor.

 2.The kitchen learning curve

The next biggest challenge for me is the learning curve in the kitchen. I have always enjoyed cooking for fun and to entertain on a simple level, but I have never styled myself as a chef. Even though our menu isn’t complicated, I have realized that I have had to learn a lot more to be able to produce food for consumer consumption. This has given me a new respect for all chefs and cooks alike.

I am glad I have a good partner who cares about standards and has made me better in the kitchen. I also know that I want to eventually hire culinary professionals who have more talent and ability than I have to get our product to the next level. I know my strengths lie elsewhere.

Thank You!

With all the ups and downs of our first year of business, I am especially grateful for everything and everyone.

I know we are off to a good start, and I am looking forward to bringing our food truck  and our food to as many people as possible in this next year!

Like Arthur, Rachel is a southerner through and through. She was born and raised in Charleston, South Carolina, lived in Montgomery, Alabama for about 10 years as a kid, studied as an undergrad in Georgia, and went to law school in North Carolina.

Rachel has always had an active creative side, dabbling in drawing, painting, writing, and music ever since she was little. When she entered the somewhat dry world of legal academia, she realized she needed to find a creative outlet to help maintain her sanity. On a whim, she picked cake decorating, making cakes from box mixes and decorating them with colorful frosting designs. She quickly grew tired of the bland box mixes and was soon making cakes and cupcakes from scratch.

While her cake decorations were admittedly solidly mediocre, her baking was not. What started as a hobby grew into an obsession, and she would sometimes bake four kinds of cookies at a time to share with her classmates and regularly delivered pies to friends’ doorsteps. Baking soon spread to cooking, and she developed a special affinity for southern comfort food. This culinary prowess came as a surprise because Rachel hadn’t been exposed to cooking growing up.

Baking and cooking went well with another skill that Rachel had been honing since she was a teenager: hosting. She always loved getting people together, whether it was a back-to-school Hawaiian luau or a Valentine’s Day ladies-only poker tournament. She would distribute homemade paper invitations and prepare a themed menu of snacks and beverages. Favorite events include an Annual Halloween Preview & Arm Wrestling Competition, complete with inscribed trophies, and an annual semi-formal holiday wine and cheese party, which has only grown more elaborate over the years.

By the time she moved to New York City in 2008 to work as a litigation associate at a large law firm, one thing was very clear. Rachel loved food, loved people, and loved when she could put the two together.

Although Rachel was instantly at home living in the big city, working at the law firm wasn’t a perfect fit. She loved the intellectual challenge of the job, but she didn’t like the demanding schedule and the internal politics. She also wanted more room for creative expression.

The thought of quitting a comfortable job in a bad economy caused her some hesitation, but life made the decision for her when she was laid off in 2011 in the fourth round of mass layoffs at her law firm. By this time, her law school fantasy of opening a bakery was reborn, and she took a job at a small but busy bakery in New York’s Upper East Side. Working behind the counter at the bakery confirmed what she always suspected: selling delicious food was inspiring and fulfilling.

Moving to California was an unexpected twist that came after a mother/daughter trip to Napa and Sonoma in 2011. The bright sun and beautiful landscapes (not to mention the amazing wine) was irresistible, and in early 2012 she packed up her life in New York and drove across the country to California to start a business.

While putting plans together for a bakery, she realized how much better the experience would be if she had a business partner to share the ups and downs of entrepreneurship, particularly someone who shared her passion for food and offered a different set of skills. Her conversations with an old friend from New York City, Arthur, about selling fried chicken together started off in jest but quickly turned serious when they realized they shared a vision that is now Drums & Crumbs.

Rachel’s strengths include her legal background, knack for baking, eye for design, affinity for the written word, love of bringing people together, open mind, sweet smile and willingness to take a chance on something she believes in.

Today, we are introducing Arthur.

Arthur is a born and bred southerner hailing from Memphis, Tennessee. An elevated appreciation for food and an entrepreneurial spirit must run in his blood, because his father was a celebrated and acclaimed chef and restauranteur in Memphis. Consequently, Arthur saw the ins and outs of the restaurant business from a young age, busing tables, bar tending, performing various food preparation jobs in the kitchen, and learning to cook.

While in college at the University of Tennessee, he forayed into the world of wine, taking wine education classes and working at a local wine store. Arthur spent a year at law school but discovered the legal life was not his calling and instead managed a wine store and taught classes on wine tasting.

His first “career” began when he moved to Nashville to work in finance, which paved the way to New York City where he worked for a couple of well known financial firms over the next seven years. Even then, food was always on his mind. Arthur took food writing and wine tasting classes and actively explored New York’s inspirational and limitless culinary scene.

By 2012, Arthur knew it was time for something else. He weighed his options inside the world of finance, even studying for and taking the Chartered Financial Analyst exam, but he knew his passion laid elsewhere.

When Arthur encouraged Rachel to take her first non-legal job at a bakery in the city, he had no idea that he was setting his own fate into motion. Rachel moved to California in early 2012, and by June of that same year she had convinced him to take a trip to the west coast to explore the idea of opening a business together. Two months later, Arthur quit his job in finance and took a three-month sabbatical to savor the last of his time in New York and travel to London. In November 2012, he moved to San Francisco to help bring Drums & Crumbs to life.

Arthur’s strengths include his business background, intimate familiarity with the food and beverage industry, determination, self-discipline, gentlemanliness (apparently that is really a word) and lifelong love of food. He’s also somehow held on to his sweet Tennessee accent.

Both are also born and bred southerners. Arthur grew up in Memphis, Tennessee, and Rachel was born and raised in Charleston, South Carolina and also spent a decade in Montgomery, Alabama somewhere along the way.

Rachel moved to Santa Cruz, California in February 2012 in search of something new and with the hope of opening a business. Arthur had a similar notion, and will be moving to the west coast in November 2012.

Based on their shared passion for high-quality food, local ingredients and Southern cuisine, Arthur and Rachel have joined forces to bring you authentic Southern comfort food made with a California sensibility and a hint of New York City style.