Exploring Life & Business with Madison Mundy of Consult & Pepper

Today we’d like to introduce you to Madison Mundy

Hi Madison, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I went to UNC Chapel Hill with a dream of being a future restauranteur, which led to confusion in my young 18 year old brain! For as long as I could remember, I wanted to own a restaurant. I spent my college years touring culinary schools and trying to decide what kind of degree would interest me (beyond French which I always loved). I ended up getting a degree in Advertising and Public Relations and minored in French and entrepreneurship. I studied abroad in France during my junior year where I finished my French minor and had some life changing experiences.

For the first time in my life, I came to understand the importance of taking care of yourself. “Il faut que tu prennes soin de toi-meme avant que les autres”… my host mom said to me one particularly emotional day, you have to take care of yourself before doing so for others. I came to decide then and there that I would chase my dreams.

After I graduated, I accepted a job as a dishwasher for a fine dining restaurant in Raleigh. I quickly progressed to working on the line, as a baker and so much more. While there, I made the decision that instead of culinary school, I wanted to specifically go to pastry school (ask me about the chocolate cake moment!). I applied for the French Pastry School in Chicago and simultaneously was applying for PR jobs to satisfy my parents. Time after time I was told I did not have enough experience for the various advertising and PR jobs I applied for , and after being rejected so many times, it became clear that I would put myself on this culinary path.

Right after I paid my deposit and accepted my entry to pastry school, a food truck business called me and told me that they were sorry they rejected me…the person they hired the week prior did not work out and they would love to offer me the job. I said , well , I wish I could but I am moving to Chicago…BYE!

This was in 2016, which was an interesting year for me personally with a series of unfortunate events occurring in the first half of the year and then one of my lifelong dreams of attending a culinary school occurred in the second half of that year. While in pastry school, I worked at a fine dining restaurant as a server. Once I graduated pastry school, I worked in a bakery full time and still continued at the restaurant part time. I was driving myself into the ground working 20 hour days.

My mental health began to suffer and I knew that I needed to come back home to NC to regroup. Almost a year to the date, a month before moving back, this same food truck called me. They told me that the person in the position they filled was leaving and they wanted to know if I was at all interested in working for them. I said, “Lucky for you, I will be moving back in a month, so this is great timing, I accept!”

Once moving back, I began working as an events and social media coordinator for Chirba Chirba dumpling, a popular Taiwanese dumpling truck in the triangle. While working for them, I also was hired by the board of the Raleigh Durham Mobile Food Association where I connected with several other food truckers. I was constantly asked by other trucks if I could help them coordinate, plan or do social media but I was already working full time for Chirba AND teaching cooking classes.

In 2018, Chirba decided to reduce their operations to one food truck and I had a decision to make. Do I take a “normal person” job for the first time in my life, a 9 to 5-er with benefits, OR do I go off on a limb and create something where I see a need?

With the support of Chirba and Namu (a Korean fusion restaurant in Durham), I launched my business Consult and Pepper in 2019 as a food events consultant. The goal was to take the logistics, social media and back end work of operating a food business off of the client’s hands so they could focus on the day to day operations of running their food businesses. Word quickly spread throughout the food truck association and those folks who had asked for my help prior all wanted to sign on. I quickly hired someone to assist me with managing multiple truck schedules and I focused on growing the business into the events world through Namu.

5 years later to today, I have worked with multiple food trucks, kept businesses afloat during COVID and have grown the events side of my business by building and operating three successful events programs for restaurants and food/bev businesses. I still operate with a small team and select client list, with my newest being Landon Estate.

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?
That would be nice if it was! The struggles in the beginning for me were defining where I wanted to focus my business. I started with saying I would focus mainly on food trucks but quickly found that there would be a cap to what I could do financially. In order to grow, I had to turn my attention to building out events programs while still staying true to my love of the food and beverage industry.

The mental health road blocks I mentioned were not easy. I can never say enough wonderful things about therapy and the way you learn to empower yourself even in darker times.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I touched on this a lot in the first question!

I will say my business has refined and adapted a lot from my first version in 2019. That is the way of entrepreneurship. To say I did not know what I was doing is not completely accurate, but I would rather say, I did not know or fully understand how to grow. I knew I was good at logistics, planning and customer interaction, but it took me about 5 years to really know that was where the key to success would be. I am just now really starting to kick off that journey , so I am excited to see what will happen in my next 5 years!

I am the only food truck consultant in the triangle area who focuses solely on growing truck businesses, without having owned one myself. I give webinars and seminars several times a month to share what I know and what I have learned from my clients. I also know that my various experiences in the industry also allow me to more fully understand the pain points of F&B business owners. I have worked almost every position back of house, and I have worked every position front of house. I have had wine and beer training, plus a bartending certification. I have been everywhere so that I can speak the language of my clients, that is what sets me apart.

My business vision is to bring food and beverage businesses that extra hint of spice! We exist to take businesses to the next level in areas that may fall to the wayside. There is never enough time in this industry to do all the things necessary to stay relevant. Consult & Pepper takes those tasks, optimizes and manages them, so that F&B business owners can focus on the reason why they got started (whether that is to return to the kitchen and create culinary masterpieces, get back on the floor interacting with customers, focus on growth , etc.)

I am proud to be so multifaceted in this industry and be able to assist such a variety of businesses. I have not passed up on my dream of one day owning my own F&B business, and it is so inspiring to work through the issues with my clients and help them find success.

Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
Life has a funny way of placing you where you need to be. At times when I had what I considered life altering changes, it felt overwhelming which path to choose. The funny thing is, regardless of which one you choose, it is such an adventure to find out what happens next. If I had never accepted the job with Chirba Chirba, I would not have met my life partner, I would not have started this business, and I would not have learned what I truly love to do in my career. Do not fear those big decisions, whatever you decide will unfold an adventure and it is up to you to decide whether you will wait in anticipation or trepidation. Choose the anticipation, life is truly an adventure with exciting mysteries and opportunities !

Pricing:

• Food truck consulting
• day of coordination ( weddings )
• Food truck management
• event venue consulting

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.consultandpeppernc.com
• Instagram: http://instagram.com/consultandpeppernc
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/15ZnMxb7pw/?mibextid=wwXIfr
• LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/company/consult-pepper-nc

Image Credits
The Anchor Studio, Curious Notions Photo and Stacey Sprenz Photography