This is our second of our new interview series Five Questions With a Food Founder. In case you missed it, read last week's with Michael Horn of Craft Coffee.This week we talk to Kim and Tony Wentzel of Hot Sugar Atlanta. If you are attending TECHmunch Atlanta this Friday, you will get an opportunity to sample their desserts as they are one of the food sponsors.
What was your inspiration for starting Hot Sugar Atlanta?
We moved from San Francisco last year where we had witnessed the birth of the street food scene in 2009. It was inspiring to see people take their financial destinies into their own hands after the great economic collapse and start food carts all over the city. We watched small carts grow into legitimate brick and mortar businesses and tiny entrepreneurs help change antiquated laws to allow for street food to thrive. We wanted to start our business in a city with a lower cost of living and an emerging street food scene. Atlanta seemed like a perfect fit for us. We chose to do creme brûlée because normally you only see it in fancy restaurants. We wanted to bring it to the masses. The response has been overwhelmingly positive .
How did you come up with the name and logo of your business?
We spent a few weeks brainstorming and narrowing down until we settled on Hot Sugar. Since we were just developing our concept, we had to decide what type of image and style we were going for. We made a list of key words like, classic, fun, elegant, modern etc and went from there. We also did searches to rule out names that already existed. We had a lot of great suggestions from creative friends but ultimately we like the literal and playful sound of Hot Sugar.
For the logo, we used a similar brainstorming technique and worked with a really talented graphic designer. It was important for us to find a designer that had distinct style but was good at listening and interpreting our needs. Working with a good designer to create the perfect logo helped us further define our image and identity as a company.
What websites or apps that you are use that essential for your business?We use Square for all of our transactions and Point of Sale. It's a great option for a small company like us. We love all the graphs and reports and it helps us make projections and set goals. We also like using Twitter to announce where we'll be on any given day. Since we're mobile it helps our customers find us and interact with us in real time.
What's the best thing about having your own food business?
The best thing about having our own food business is that all the time and energy we put into it is an investment into our future and the future of our company. It's hard work and we don't always see results right away, but we have to look at the bigger picture and know that every effort exposes us to more and more customers. We love that it's challenging and creative.
What food trend do you think will be big in 2015?
Anything that pushes the envelope like the cronut or putting bacon on everything trend. Combining exotic ingredients with everyday food items seems to be where these trends spur from. Throw in a little gluten free, vegan and kale for good measure and you've got your next deep fried Twinkie. Let's hope the food trend for 2015 will be Hot Sugar creme brûlée!