Conversations with Dana Ahrenberg

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dana Ahrenberg. 

Dana, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My name is Dana; I’m 32 and am a single parent of two beautiful daughters (Wesley, 11 & Wiley, 8). I started working in the restaurant industry at a young 14 years old! I quickly advanced from washing dishes, busing tables, hosting, taking tables, bartending, managing & helping cook in the kitchen! I always knew from a young age I wanted to start my own restaurant & strived to help grow and advance every business I worked for until I was ready and able to start my own form of restaurant independently. I didn’t come from a family of fortune and never had a “silver spoon” growing up and moving forward was intimidating as I was a young female and starting off with nothing with not many to fall on for help. Being an extremely hard worker and never accepting failure to myself, I was not discouraged, and I was ready! I started my own food truck company, D&W’s Street Eatery (D for Dana & Ws for my kids) in July of 2018 with a big red trailer and a beat-down truck. I was able to successfully survive my first couple years and established our tasty unique, and healthy menu throughout mid-Michigan! (Yay, they loved it too!) I then advance to getting a second food truck (box truck style) and then a third! Additional to the food trucks, I also added a tagalong company, D&W’s Events in 2019 (bar services, “off the truck” catering, bartending services, and much more!) I have had nothing but unexpected obstacles and trying situations keeping the trucks on the road and learning better ways as we went along! But I never let it stop us from making it to a job! We show up no matter what! If I told you some of the stories of how we made it to some and what our journeys have been like, you may not even believe me! (Haha) From flat tires to motor fires! I have since over the years advanced, and I put everything I have back into my company happily! We have updated to be more have a more sufficient flow & be better in any way we can since (always upgrading when possible!)! I truly have a personal interest and passion for eating food & hot rods since I was a little girl. So, running food trucks is nothing but fitting to my lifestyle & personality. It’s fun, quirky, ever-changing, and each job brings excitement to our work lifestyle! We love our customers & changing our scenery daily as we are in a different locations 2-4, 7 days a week! I’m very thankful and appreciate our loyal and new taco lovers, wonderful staff & community of support! D&Ws wouldn’t be where we are now (ever-growing still!) without the encouragement and support from those who surround us! 

We serve “Latin-American BBQ” gourmet Mexican fusion street food! Offering a wide variety of vegan & gluten-free friendly choices, along with smoked BBQ pulled pork, apple smoked chicken & cilantro garlic beef! Our food is flavor-bursting, unique, colorful & good for you! We focus on speed, quality & presentation – able to serve 100 guests per hour! Now that the trucks are established and the food has been shared and well-loved, I’ve decided to move forward to a more consistent opportunity for our loving customers to eat renovating a speakeasy bar and hideout! Who doesn’t want tacos and tequila?! Stayed tuned – it always gets better! 

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 have struggled tremendously with mechanical upkeep; being on the road with most jobs being averagely an hour away, the trucks take a beating on Michigan roads, so staying on top of the unexpected issues has been a huge obstacle that we are proud to be able to overcome & keep loving our trucks to keep sharing our food! 

We survived the Covid pandemic! That was basically nonetheless insane. Very proud to have survived that and still working towards the world being “back to normal” with inflation, especially on costs tripling and I’m some cases, quadrupling! 

Managing being a single mom, homeowner, and the eldest of my other siblings (6 brothers and sisters) caring for them & kind of being the rock of support and help for everyone around me can be challenging at times to remind myself to self-care and find time to focus. Still come out on top & always paying it forward to those in need! 

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
We are known for quality EATertainment! Serving gourmet street food that offers vegan-friendly options with BBQ that is flavor bursting, being fast, fully customizable & fresh! To share fresh “good for you food,” fast and beautiful, just makes me happy to see people enjoy it & watch their faces light up with enjoyment when they’re hesitant to try something that seems different & take that chance and love it! 

Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
I did mostly all my own research online and making phone calls learning how to start this style of company up in the beginning A then once the fine print was clear it was and still is a lot of networking, marketing, just getting yourself of there – the more people you talk to and share with the more people can get excited and learn about your business and what you have to offer. Having passion for it makes it effortless! 

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @dwstreeteatery
• Facebook: @dwstreeteatery