This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Hello and welcome to Side Hustle School. This is Chris Guillebeau, your host. Good morning, afternoon, or evening. Whatever the case may be, wherever you are in the world, this segment today is known as Throwback Thursday. It's our weekly segment where we take an in-depth look at someone whose story has evolved since we first featured them.
And in fact, we get to hear directly from that person to hear those updates, hear why they got started, what's going well, what has been challenging, perhaps some advice for someone out there who is trying to start their own side hustle or other income generating project. Now last week we heard from the founder of Throw Lights. Throw Lights offers gear and training for light shows. If you don't know what a light show is, well, I didn't know either until working on the episode or at least the original episode where we featured that guy. Basically the concept comes from electronic music festivals.
It's taking off worldwide, it's a new trend. Today we're gonna talk about a different trend, French Toast Bites. I understand French Toast a lot more than I understand electronic music festivals. And so in this update, we're gonna hear from Charisse McGill, the creator of these amazing French Toast Bites in Philadelphia. Charisse operates under the brand name Local Artists and Foods.
That's local with a K. What has happened since we first featured this delicious small business? Let's hear directly from Charisse. [Music]
My name is Charisse McGill, the owner, producer of Local Artists and Foods based in Philadelphia. I was last featured on episode 900 of the Side Hustle podcast.
My Side Hustle, which is now a real hustle, a real full-time hustle, French Toast Bites. I started with the Leap of Faith on November 15th, 2018. I resigned from my cushy director level day job at a local university here in Philadelphia. And two days later, I launched French Toast Bites in the middle of Philadelphia at the annual holiday market. And in the 45 days of that event, micro sales totaled 75% of the salary I left behind.
And that's when I knew I was doing the right thing. And that set the trajectory for what was to come. Since episode 900 of the Side Hustle podcast, so much has changed. I started this business with an outdoor open air motto. So there was an event in Philadelphia.
We were there from outdoor concerts, outdoor festivals, farmer's markets, you name it. In 2019, we had over 189 days worth of street fest. We don't have a storefront, didn't have a storefront, and we didn't have a food truck. We operated from a 10 by 10 white tent. In 2020, we set our expectations to go on the road.
Let's take this French Toast Bites love all over the country. Our main goal was to get the Coachella in California. And then the pandemic occurred that put a halt to my business. I panicked for like a month, then I pivoted. I had to pull myself together because I didn't resign for my cushy day job.
I didn't go back to school for the NBA and food marketing to be in vain. I received a phone call from a tourist attraction in Philadelphia called Penn's Landing. They said, they saw me on the news. They said, we have a space for you this summer 'cause outdoor eating was still allowed. And this was an outdoor location.
I said, I'm there. I was there before we hung up the phone. I brought all my French Toast equipment, had a very small staff, and we launched July 2020. That move made me the first black woman to own and operate a food establishment on the popular tourist attraction. It made headlines, it was huge.
The biggest challenge I'm currently facing is that 2022 serves as the first year that we have two retail locations, consumer packaged goods that are in store and available on all the delivery platforms, including Uber Eats, DoorDash, and Go Puff, and the Street Fester back. And that's kind of our roots. So this year is the first year that all three have to work together in unison. I'm now hiring for a full-time operations manager because there's no way my staff of 10, I make 10, can manage all of this opportunity, and we're not passing it up either, we're ready to scale. The advice I would give to someone who wants to follow in my footsteps and be a local food entrepreneur is to know the difference between what you make and what you sell.
We make French Toast Bites, but that's not what we're selling. By the time someone gets to my French Toast Bites location, any one of them, the parking is poor, they pass probably three other places to get French Toast, but they'll still come and find us and wait in line in 30 degree weather or 100 degree weather and take a picture before they take a bite, and that's what we're selling. What's next for me in the French Toast Bites hustle, concerts are back, we wanna get back on the road. We wanna get back to what we wanted to do always while still maintaining all the other endeavors that we have. Coach, hello, we're coming for you.
That's on our bucket list. [Music]
Thanks so much to Cherise for sharing her updates with us. Check out her website, Local Artisan Foods. That's local with a K-L-O-K-A-L, or follow her on social, same name. But listen, if you are in Philadelphia, even better, check them out at the Cherry Street Pier or Spruce Street Harbor Park.
If you're ever visiting Philadelphia, go check it out. Hopefully I'll be back at some point and can do that myself. They're also available on delivery apps and at some point soon, Coachella. Good work Cherise. Listeners, let me know what you think and who you'd like to see featured from our archives of more than a thousand stories.
If you've got a question or an update for us about your hustle, let me know that too, sidehustleschool.com/questions. Thanks for tuning in today. Another episode's coming out tomorrow. It's short, it's quick, it's action-packed. It's gonna help you with your income-generating project.
So I hope you'll join me again. My name is Chris Guillebeau. You've been listening to "Side Hustle School." [Music]
From the Onward Project.
