Today we’d like to introduce you to Lara Webster.
Hi Lara, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I got my start on Food Network. I have always had a passion for food and thought about starting a restaurant. I decided, on a whim, to apply for The Great Food Truck Race when I saw they were casting randomly online. On a coffee high, I decided to apply. Fast forward, I ended up getting the show and we made it to the final episode of 8 episodes in the finale. It was one of the most difficult and most rewarding experiences of my life. I found out I was pregnant shortly before competing not the show with my third baby. That launched me food career. After the show aired, I started Brunch Babes Food Truck. Three years later, I started operating our cities beach experience with two concessions and a retail shop that we built. We have been growing the businesses ever since. With all of my businesses, my goal is to create an experience for our guests. We live in a tourist town that gets extremely busy in the Summer. I want to create an experience through food that creates core memories. One of my daughter’s peers at schools told her that she was so excited for The Sandbox to open because the mermaid’s milk milkshake was her favorite memory of Summer. This is a big part of my why. The world can be a stressful place and if I can bring joy to a moment for someone, I am doing my job. I also want my kids to see hard work and if you have a dream, you can do anything you put your mind to. I still can’t believe my career began on whim of an application and I was actually casted. It has been a whirlwind of 6 years and growing multiple businesses but I love bringing experiences through food.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I don’t think it is ever a smooth road when starting and growing businesses. I don’t believe that you can “have it all” and have a work/life balance if I am honest. Sacrifices have to be made when growing businesses. I went into this expecting and knowing this would be extremely challenging. It requires very long days, as in 14-16 hours for me 7 days a week at times. I choose this because I don’t work all year so I trade slower winter months where I can be fully present with my children for chaotic Summer days. The hardest part of my career is missing moments with my kids. This is something I struggle with daily and if I am honest, I am always reevaluating the next year. There are so many more struggles beyond this but nothing else matters. I believe at the end of our lives, the only thing that matters is our relationships and memories that we have made. We all hope to leave an impact through our profession but there will always be someone better and doing new things. My main focus in life is my family and this is the biggest struggle.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
My current role is owner of two businesses, Brunch Babes and The Sandbox. I run the day to day operations, menu creation, staffing, and focus on growing each business. For both business, we specialize in super creative fast casual cuisine. My goal has been to take approachable food such as a slider but bring a unique twist on each dish. At Babes, we do loaded tots, handhelds, tacos, specialty coffees and scratch donuts on the weekend. Some of our most popular dishes are our Cuban Loaded Tots, Donut Sammy, Shaken Cold Brews and a donut flavor that changes weekly such as S’mores, Blueberry Cheesecake or whatever I feel like creating that day. At The Sandbox, we do gourmet loaded sliders, amazing rosemary russet fries and loaded milkshakes. We have an adorable beach merch shack focusing on locally curated products that our guests can take home to remember their time at our beautiful beach.
I am most proud of creating businesses in our community that the community is proud of. I have created places that offer jobs for almost 30 people each season. Most of our staff are young high schoolers where we are their first job. We get the chance to teach them how to be great employees and what service should look like in the restaurant industry. I have built this from the ground up with the support of my family and we continue to offer amazing products and service. We are creating core memories through food, souvenirs and more and that is awesome. My goal is to grow something our community can experience and love. Not everyone can afford to travel to Hawaii or the Florida Keys so my goal is to bring that feeling of vacation here for all to experience. I am also proud that we work with other local businesses to help them grow as well. I believe that success is through collaboration. We are a small town and however we can work together to bring each other business is only going to help us both grow.
What sets up apart from others is the unique food and the collaborations with other local businesses. We have won a local business competition to help us continue to grow and we take pride in the support from our locals.
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
If only I had time to read, haha. Truly, most of my learning has been through experiencing other businesses and traveling. I do love reading when I have time and focus on local print and travel blogs mostly.
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