Today we’d like to introduce you to Devin Meyer.
Hi Devin, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I started working full-time in kitchens in 2006 when I graduated from high school in Long Beach California. In 2008 the recession was hitting the restaurant industry pretty hard and after the third restaurant I worked for was forced to close, I decided to move to San Francisco to attend culinary school at the City College of San Francisco.
In San Francisco, I started working on a food truck, “Nom Nom Truck”, which was on the first season of The Great Food Truck Race television show and worked as a manager on the truck for 2 years while working several other kitchen jobs part time and attending school. .
In 2011, I decided to move to New York City and worked at “The Spotted Pig”, a Michelin starred restaurant in Manhattan. I worked up to the position of Executive Sous Chef when April, the chef/owner asked me if I wanted to be part of the opening team on her new restaurant in Los Angeles, “The Hearth and Hound”. While waiting for the restaurant’s construction to be completed, and several delays related to permits, I worked at “Chez Panisse” in Berkeley and “Commonwealth” in San Francisco. When the construction was complete, I did several months of hiring, training, recipe testing, and many other tasks associated with opening a restaurant, but as we were gearing up for our grand opening, a story broke involving one of the owners sexual misconduct, which derailed the entire company. After a year of being unable to recover and seeing no path forward, the restaurant closed.
In 2018 I opened a new restaurant in Orange County California and was getting ready to open the third location in 2020, when the Covid pandemic shut everything down, so a week before our grand opening, we were unable to open. I then took an Executive Chef position at a local restaurant in my home town of Long Beach, but it ultimately closed in 2021 at the end of the Covid shut downs.
In 2020, while being unable to work, I started “The Pig and Fig” to keep myself busy, and because I was driving my wife crazy. I started making a new dinner menu daily and delivering fresh made meals to up to 30 customers daily before going back to work. After the restaurant shut down in 2021, I started doing consulting and catering under the “Pig and Fig” name and have continued as a consultant to Texas in 2022. I registered a new LLC in the state of Texas in 2023 and started planning on how to open a food truck or trailer.
This year, I started operating two days a week out of Ghostline Kitchen in Austin as a proof of concept and as a way to develop the menu and gain insight into the delivery systems. One of the biggest reasons I failed in 2020 and 2021, was an inability to adapt to work with DoorDash and other delivery apps. I didn’t see the value at the time and thought it was going to be a fad. So far I’ve had a really positive experience and a lot of awesome feedback. I’m continuing to tweak things and work on efficiency.
Honestly, I love cooking, and after almost 20 years working in the industry I’m so so thankful that people continue to enjoy the meals I cook for them. The Pig and Fig is burgers and fries and will continue to feature those items, but we are going to continue to evolve and the menu will continue to grow. I have faced failure many times in my career, but I’m still excited to take chances and try new things. Austin has been the perfect home to start and grow this new business.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
My career as a whole has been a lot of ups and downs and this business has been no different. I thought it would be a simple matter to just serve food at a farmer’s market, but I found out there are a lot of permits and fees associated with even the smallest businesses. These requirements actually did puh me to expand the scope of what I had originally intended because I found that once I had met all of the necessary requirements for one thing, I was only a couple steps away from another. I’m now permitted and licensed to a level that I have the ability to just turn “The Pig and Fig” into a full time operation. The only limiting factor for me currently is time and limiting the risk of failure for my family. Eventually, when this grows into a truck/trailer or brick and mortar store, I have no illusions that there will continue to be struggles, but overcoming all of the challenges is one of the things that makes it fulfilling.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Currently, I’m focusing on developing my signature burgers. I’ve always loved hamburgers and have always appreciated the simplicity of burgers, but also the wide range within the category. It’s hard sometimes when a customer is comparing my product to one of the large chains and is focused on price. My burgers aren’t ever going to compete on price and I’m not interested in that.
Much of the food industry in general has moved to frozen pre-made products that are fried to order. They’re mass produced in large facilities and shipped all over the country, or sometimes from other countries. I am focused on local and fresh ingredients. I think the most important ingredient in any burger is the meat, and I use a high quality Texas grown beef. While I am happy with all of my ingredients I’m currently using, I will change out things if I find something better. I make myself a burger every day and taste the quality before serving it to my customers. I have taken items off of the menu when I’m not happy with the quality, because I would rather not sell something than serve something I’m not proud of.
What do you like and dislike about the city?
Austin is very supportive of small businesses in ways not every city is. I have found that while BBQ or tacos are what we may be known for, there is a willingness to give things a chance and I’ve been surprised that some of the items like my burger with blue cheese, fig compote and arugula have been very well received and are actually quite popular. I think because of the diversity of the city, there is a willingness to try different things and I love that.
My least favorite things are the construction on 35 and the heat. I’m no stranger to traffic, but when my only other option to taking 35 is spending $10 on a toll road, it’s a little frustrating sometimes. I also keep thinking it’s going to cool off, but in late October, I’m still waiting for Fall.
Pricing:
- 7.99 Americana
- 4.99 Americana Slider
- 12.99 Burger Meal Deal
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thepigandfig.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/DNcpUZ6u-Rz/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-pig-and-fig-austin
