Exploring Life & Business with Jana Lehmann of DeutschTroit LLC

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jana Lehmann.

Hi Jana, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I am Jana from Germany. I applied for the Green Card Lottery starting in 2006 after a divorce. I renewed my application every year – kinda just kept it going. After a few years (in 2012) I got the letter that I actually won! There were a few things and appointments to take care off but at the end I had the Green Card in my Mailbox. I lived in Switzerland at that time and now had to pack everything, say Goodbye to family and friends and actually move to the U.S. It was mid October 2014 and I decided to start in Florida to have at least a nice beach and sunshine for my first few months all by myself in a new country with a new language and a lot of things I had no idea how to do them. In April 2015 I decided to travel thru the U.S. to see and experience more than just Florida. I bought a car I could sleep in and lived in my car for about 5 months while traveling to different cities and areas. I worked in different households and on farms to experience as much different things as possible. I was on my way from Ohio to Seattle and stopped in Michigan – in Detroit to be exact – and was lucky to meet wonderful people that loved the city and showed me around and I fell in love with the city. I decided to stay over the Winter and then travel further next Spring. I started dating to get to know people my age and one of them owned a foodtruck. We fell in love, got together and I started working on the truck. A few months later we went to Germany together and after we were back we decided have to bring good German food to Detroit. And that’s what we did. We started our business (DeutschTroit LLC) and did pop-ups all over Metro Detroit. Being the only German foodtruck was great especially during Oktoberfest Season! We did some Restaurant Takeovers, continued pop-ups, started catering and got a foodtruck a few years later and at the end of 2023 the owner of Lagerhaus No.5 in Eastern Market approached us. He was looking for somebody to take over his kitchen and provide authentic German food for his BrewPub. We started our residency there in March 2024 and expanded from there with having more possibilities regarding cooing, storing and prepping food. That’s where we are now and we are very happy there.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I always struggled with all the regulations. Sometimes they are hard to find out about or very hard to understand for me – not being a native speaker. But we have a lot of experienced friends in the industry by now and that helps a lot!
Also the whole Covid time was very hard – on every hospitality business! We were luckily small enough at that time to make things work and survived with home deliveries since people couldn’t go out to eat. It was a time where we had to get creative to survive and we did. I’m a very positive and super optimistic person and that helps a lot in situations like that!

We’ve been impressed with DeutschTroit LLC, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
We are providing German food for the Metro Detroit area. We started as a pop-up after a vacation in Germany and coming back to realize that there is no really delicious German food in the area. I missed my Schnitzel and even more my Currywurst. So we decided to start making it and providing it for the area here. As authentic as possible – that was what we were and are thriving for.
My partner in life and in the business is an experienced Chef and I’m a very good organizer and a great and very friendly face for our business. So the combination of these qualities seemed like a good combination for a business. We are making some dishes that people literally wait for all year and as of right now we are almost the only ones in the area that make them.

Who else deserves credit in your story?
There are a few people that helped us immensely along the way. There is Carla the owner of the foodtruck Shawn was working and partner in business with as I started dating him. She helped us with her knowledge, even lend us her foodtruck for our first ever event and kept providing information or whatever else needed as we started on our own. And then there is Karen, the owner of another foodtruck and also restaurant in Hamtramck. Always there to help us out with whatever we needed – especially regarding how to do things and how NOT to do things which I personally think is even more important. And there are Shawn’s parents who are our biggest fans and supporters and they are helping wherever and however they can.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.deutschtroit.com
• Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/deutschtroit
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/deutschtroit
• Yelp: https://m.yelp.com/biz/deutschtroit-charter-township-of-clinton
• Other: https://linktr.ee/deutschtroit