Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephen Dewey.
Hi Stephen, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, you could tell our readers some of your backstories.
I come from an Italian Family in New York, which started my love for delicious food. Every time our whole family got together, we would have a feast. Whether it was my grandmother preparing one of her delicious Italian meals or bringing in food from numerous local Long Island eateries, there was always great food. My family moved away from the NY/NJ area when I was a kid, and I became an extremely picky eater. Most things I tasted didn’t live up to what I tasted back in NY with my family.
As I grew up, I started working in restaurants to make money while in school. First, it was Subway, where I became a “sandwich artist” at 16, then a few other places in Wilmington, NC, before moving on to NC State University for College. While there, I was lucky to work at Cloos’ Coney Island and get real hands-on experience. I learned what it meant to have a small family business and what it meant to its customers. Somewhere along the way, I went from working in restaurants to make some extra money and thinking I would never do this for long to realizing that I loved making our customers happy. It is different from getting to know your customers to the point where they are no longer just customers. They don’t just come for the amazing food, but they are coming in to see us. Before I knew it, I had graduated college and then, 6 years later, was still at Cloos’. I loved being there so much, but it made me realize I wanted my Restaurant. I wasn’t ready yet, though. I needed another experience. I went to work at Bella Monica Italian Restaurant in Raleigh. It had been my wife and I’s favorite Italian place for years. I learned so much about how much details matter. Every little detail is important; this means only the best ingredients. This means doing everything you can to satisfy the customer through service, not just the food.
After all that, I decided to take everything I had learned through my culinary experiences and start the Barone Meatball Company. I knew that my grandmother’s meatballs would be a hit, and every other meatball we have done comes from some of my favorite meals along the way. I’m incredibly picky about what ingredients I use and am a stickler for the details in everything we do. Ten years later, it’s amazing to see the great people who have come to the truck and continue to come. It still makes me just as happy to see my customers enjoying one of my creations. Things will change over the years, but I plan to continue building relationships between my customers, my employees, and everyone involved with our business.
Please talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned. Looking back, has it been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Some challenges pop up every day when you run a business. Me, I am constantly reminded that I can’t do everything alone. I need people who are willing to help along the way. My Mom has been my business manager since day 1. My wife has helped in numerous ways, from filling in on the truck to helping with social media, taste testing, etc. I am lucky to have a great family. My kids, ages 11 and 7, help in every way possible. I have also been lucky to have had some great employees over the years. Most of them will help in a pinch, even if they last got on the truck years ago. With all of this, the greatest challenge is still finding quality employees to maintain the business and help it grow and thrive. For every 1 great employee, there are 10 that either never show up or, if they do, are unreliable. We are always looking for great people to join our team. I don’t even care so much about experience; I look for people with a great personalities and a willingness to learn. People want to be here and be part of our Barone family.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
We are a food truck serving delicious meatball and vegetarian ball creations to the Triangle area of North Carolina. We strive to maintain consistency in using quality ingredients, providing outstanding service, and being reliable for our customers. We can always be found by looking at our website, baronemeatball.com/schedule. We also love catering events by setting up a buffet of our delicious meatballs.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.baronemeatball.com
- Instagram: @baronemeatball
- Facebook: @baronemeatball
- Twitter: @baronemeatball
