Member Profile - Hoss' Loaded Burgers

NAME OF TRUCK: Hoss’ Loaded Burgers

NAME OF OWNERS/HOMETOWN: Dallas Shaw/Belleville, IL

MONTH/YEAR OF FIRST SERVICE: August 2011

TYPE OF CUISINE: Stuffed Burgers and Fries

SIGNATURE MENU ITEM: The Hoss – Stuffed with cheddar, topped with Benton’s bacon, hickory smoke BBQ sauce, onion crispers, and cilantro

WHAT DID YOU DO BEFORE YOU OWNED A FOOD TRUCK? Before I owned Hoss’ Loaded Burgers I worked for AT&T in their Business Services sales department. I enjoyed the people I worked with and was good at my job, but I knew I wanted to start something of my own and build it from the ground up.

WHY DID YOU START A FOOD TRUCK? I grew up cooking with my mom in the kitchen at home, so I had a desire to cook very early on. After deciding to go to college instead of cooking school, and then getting my MBA, I worked in corporate America for 6 years before making the decision to quit and get back to my passion: cooking.

I had the business background and MBA, but I wasn’t sure about how to get into owning a restaurant, so I didn’t know where to start. Then, my wife and I were out at the April 2011 Art Crawl downtown Nashville and I saw The Grilled Cheeserie (the first food truck I had ever seen in person), and I knew that owning a food truck was what I needed to do. After a few month of research and building a business plan, I got a loan and a truck and was on the road in August.

WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST FOOD TRUCK EXPERIENCE? While the first food truck I saw was The Grilled Cheeserie, the first truck food I had was Riff’s Jerk Chicken at Musician’s Corner in May 2011. It was amazing and is still the best jerk chicken I had (even after visiting Jamaica).

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE FOOD TRUCK IN NASHVILLE, OTHER THAN YOUR OWN? Everything from Smoke Et Al is always delicious, especially the brisket pita.

WHAT IS YOUR MOST MEMORABLE SERVICE/CUSTOMER/EXPERIENCE? The most memorable service was probably when the Cooking Channel’s show Eat Street came to tape us in November 2011. The people of Nashville really came out to support us and it was great to show how excited Nashville was about our growing food truck community.