- JT Tarwai, Isaac Flomo, and Eddie Adegeye bought an old mobile dentistry unit for $5,000.
- They converted it into a food truck serving Southern-style fare outside bars and at festivals.
- The business — which the trio describes as a "dream come true" — has annual sales of $240,000.
When self-taught private chef Isaac Flomo began posting images of his signature Southern comfort food on social media, he was delighted by the positive feedback.
Some of his clients in his native city of Minneapolis included professional athletes with the Minnesota Timberwolves and Minnesota Vikings. Flomo's popularity soared when players shared photos of his classic recipes, such as chicken wings in Dijon Buffalo sauce and steak-and-cheese fries.
He worked out of his home kitchen but couldn't keep up with demand.
The friends were busy with other enterprises
"I'd post that a plate would be available within a certain timeframe, but you'd have to pick it up before it was gone," he told Business Insider.
Flomo's friends from childhood, JT Tarwai and Eddie Adegeye, saw the potential to build on his success and expand into the restaurant trade. The entrepreneurial trio talked about collaborating when the time was right.
But they were preoccupied with existing ventures and other plans ranging from wellness consulting and insurance to an assisted living company, a car dealership, and real estate.
One night in 2019, the friends found themselves hanging out in an RV belonging to Tarwai's uncle, watching TV, playing cards, and eating snacks.
The laid-back evening got them thinking about their latent idea: instead of the high stakes of investing in a brick-and-mortar restaurant, how about the slow rollout of a mobile food facility?
The 31-year-olds discreetly questioned people they knew in the Minneapolis nightlife scene who bemoaned the lack of affordable late-night eateries.
"They confirmed what we already knew," Tarwei said. "There was a good customer base."
The pandemic delayed their business plan, but they tossed around ideas for the kind of vehicle they should use. In 2021, Flomo watched a YouTube video about a man who converted a yellow school bus into a mobile home.
"I thought it would be the perfect solution for us," he said. They looked into buying one, but nothing suitable came up.
Then, they stumbled upon an unusual deal on the auction site, K-bid.com: an ad for a 1996 Winnebago that had been used as a mobile dentistry unit on a native American Indian reservation.
It had less than 400,000 miles on the clock and had been stripped of most of its specialist equipment, such as dental chairs. It contained office supplies, a bathroom, powerful LED lights in the treatment area, and random items such as examination gloves and a replica of a human jaw with teeth.
"It needed a bit of TLC, but it was perfect for us," Adegeye said.
The team split the $4,470 purchase three ways before an unexpected setback nearly derailed the project.
They hadn't bargained for major mechanical issues and soon discovered that the truck's axle needed immediate replacement for a hefty $15,000.
It prompted discussion about whether they'd made a terrible mistake. Still, the disappointment didn't last long.
"We're a bunch of optimists," Adegeye said. "It would take more than that to keep us down because the food truck was a dream come true."
The estimated $100,000 renovation took two years to complete, with most of the money spent on labor. Contractors installed everything from stainless steel walls and counters to custom-made kitchen fittings, such as prep coolers.
The vehicle had to meet strict safety and hygiene codes, including the mandatory installation of an $8,000 fire-suppression system over the griddle.
Flo's Eats LLC — named for Flomo — finally received its operating license on June 6, 2023, ahead of a soft opening near a bar in downtown Minneapolis's North Loop a week later.
"We knew there was a lot of foot traffic along that particular street," Tarwai said. "Besides, we had to start somewhere."
The experiment was an unmitigated success. The team could barely keep up with demand and risked running out of ingredients.
Business has been booming ever since. The truck has made such a name for itself, there is healthy competition among premises owners to have it parked outside their buildings at night.
It also serves workers during the day who lunch near The Commons, a green space in the heart of Minneapolis.
"We could never have imagined it would skyrocket in this way," Adebeye said. He said the business, which usually operates between March and November, has reached annual sales of $240,000.
The menu started out as — and has remained — relatively simple. Flomo said the best-sellers include his $17 buttermilk-fried chicken sandwich and $11 grilled cheese on garlic bread. "Why change what's trusted and most popular?" he said.
Special events are another lucrative side of the enterprise. Flo's Eats has secured dates at large-scale city celebrations, including the Minneapolis Aquatennial over July 4 and the annual Monarch Festival, celebrating the butterfly migration to Mexico.
Tarwai said the lines of hundreds of people stretched so far that they couldn't see the end. They cope with the stress, he said, by dividing up the labor as fairly as possible.
"We can all work the different spots on the truck, whether it's griddle man, cashier, or something else," he said, noting that the truck goes out five or six times each week in peak season.
The biggest challenge for now is deciding on the next steps. The team has invested in a second RV — "not a dental unit, this time," Adebeye said — which is expected to hit the streets this summer.
"The one thing we don't want to do is spread ourselves too thin and not be able to serve our home community," he said. "In the meantime, we're enjoying the ride."
