Today we’d like to introduce you to Sip N Chip.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
We are a family-owned business which started with a dream that one of our Co-Owners Jenny had with her best friend. Enjoying a good fountain drink with flare, they had dreamed of opening a food truck and offering drinks and treats to their local community in Colorado. Move forward about three years and Jenny moved to Texas where Makenna and Robert Burke, her niece and nephew-in-law, lived as well as some other family members.
Jenny shared her story with Makenna and myself and we thought “why not?” We live in the perfect community for opening a food truck! We started researching how to start, how to source vendors and found locations to purchase a trailer. We didn’t know it then, but that was just the tip of the iceberg.
We purchased our trailer in February of 2022 after about four months of planning. We found a plumber to fit our equipment and a company to partner with for our soda fountain and syrups. We quickly learned that we would have to do it ourselves as our plumber backed out of the project and our soda fountain company failed to inform us they didn’t know how to work with food trailers.
I got to work and learned how to plum the unit and sourced a soda fountain that would fit our space and our electrical needs for our unit. It was a challenging time but goes to show if you have passion, you are capable of learning just about anything. We have had our work checked by multiple different people to ensure quality and have been given great feedback.
We then retrofitted the unit with a custom 8-foot solid wood table to hold all of our 26 syrup flavors and 6 large soda syrups. We wanted our unit to be clean, organized, and be aesthetically pleasing with the addition of some fun subway tile on the walls.
We have worked our way through a few vendors to find the right fit and currently love our vendor in San Antonio. They have come to our rescue as we learned the amount of product we are using and how quickly large events run through them!
It took us about three months to be up and running with the work that needed to be done on the trailer. We had them give us the trailer bare with only the plumbing, electrical and triple sink installed. We have installed everything else that is currently in the unit.
We had our first event at an HOA, Santa Rita Ranch in Liberty Hill, back at the end of May. Since then, we have been working hard to build clientele and show our local community how fun and unique our product is. Our favorite event so far has been the Liberty Festival in Leander. The energy was unmatchable and the other food trucks we were able to meet made it such a great experience.
We currently sell 8 different drink bases which can be combined with flavored syrups, fresh fruit purées, cream, coconut cream to create a taste for each and every person. And don’t forget our cookies. Our chocolate chip cookies are large, soft and jam-packed with flavor.
As a family-run business, it can get challenging to find childcare, know when it’s the right time to bring the kiddos along, work with different personalities and know when to ask for help. But it has helped us to grow as a family. We have had countless days that other members of our family will come work with us on the unit. We get asked fairly often how we have the time to do this. I am a firefighter, my wife and Jenny are both nurses, and we have three small children. I will say with the right passion, being willing to go back to the drawing board numerous times, and the love and support of family and your community you are capable of anything.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Oh heavens no! We have gone through so many contractors and vendors as we have tried to find reliable and affordable help. We are also learning what events are successful for food trailers of our specific type as we are a very specific market. And to top it off-money. It has been about twice as expensive as we anticipated but we have been able to continue to push forward through picking up additional shifts and budgeting.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
We are a custom non-alcoholic beverage and treats food trailer. We make soda, lemonade, Italian soda, kid’s drinks. You name it and we can more than likely make it. With 26 flavors of syrup, 8 soda/juice bases and countless add-ins we have about 300 different drink options but we like to show you our favorites to help you narrow it down.
We also sell homemade cookies that are amazing. We have chocolate chip, chocolate Reese’s, snickerdoodle. But the chocolate chip is definitely the favorite with our large milk chocolate chips!
We specialize in private events and large city gatherings as well as catering for parties and weddings.
What matters most to you? Why?
Family. We started this trailer to have a family business and something that we could do together. We invite our kids to help us when they want and include extended family almost every event. We want to brighten your day, so you won’t ever find us without a smile and a good dose of flavor to kick you out of any bad mood.
Pricing:
- We strive to be a family-friendly affordable trailer and pricing is anywhere from $2-5 per drink depending on how you make it up. We want you to be able to bring the whole family without breaking the bank!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @sipnchipsoda
- Facebook: @sipnchipatx
