Today we’d like to introduce you to Arman Elliott.
Hi Arman, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
In September of 2015 I moved to Austin, Texas with a vision to peruse a long awaited entrepreneurial journey that me and my childhood best friend spoke about since we were small kids. That journey finally came into fruition after I was able to convince my then girlfriend and younger brother to move to Austin and join me along this journey. It wasn’t long after they arrived that we realized that we didn’t know where to get a good cheesesteak from? We wanted something authentic and delicious, something that made us feel close to home. After trying a few different spots around town that were all pretty lackluster to say the least, we had a bright idea to come up with our own cheesesteak company to compete with the sub-par market in Austin where unlike back home in Jersey, you can get a cheesesteak at any corner in any random local pizzeria, and a good one at that. Out here the food scene is dominated by Tex-mex and BBQ. We knew we found our niche. Fresh ingredients, great service, and smooth rhythm and blues were at the forefront of our concept and we spent most of 2017-2018 learning any and everything we could about cheesesteaks and food trucks and running a business and shopping for food trucks and the list went on and on.
Me and my brother Kris have been in the hospitality industry for the better part of 15 years, ranging from waiting tables at corporate restaurants to private catering events and high-end bar service and hotel work, but never anything in the back-of-house working directly with preparation of the food. We were taking a risk having never worked in the kitchen but were confident that as long as we didn’t “burn it, or over-season it” then we knew we’d be fine. After months of working behind the scenes getting permitted and coming up with color schemes and menu items, we were blessed to be able to open for business and sell our first cheesesteak at the beginning of April of 2019 in downtown Austin Texas, right next door to the Westin hotel directly across the street from the famous Antone’s music venue.
Those first days looking back my brother and I can both agree that those were the days that, as we would say, “put some hair on our chest”. Working a half block off of “Dirty 6th street” with a large and very active homeless population and drunk college kids leaving the bars hungry and ready to eat at any costs really taught us a lot and gave us true insight on the grit and tenacity that will be required to get through this entrepreneurial journey that we’re embarking on.
8 months later winter hit hard and it was time to regroup and refocus on how to pivot our business to reach higher sales and growing our brand. We were getting a lot of love on social media and we were excited to reopen up for SXSW 2020 and then boom! The pandemic hit and everything changed. We had to adjust to all the new norms of PPP style service with masks and non-contact procedures, as well as deal with whirlwind of Inflation that rocked the food industry nationwide. This was a really dark time for us and we’re we’re really experiencing the downsides of entrepreneurship and the stresses of being new business owners in a tough Austin food market.
But we stuck with it and dug deep and in June of 2020 we found a new home at the corner of Cesar Chavez and pleasant valley and we continued to thrive on the Eastside, earning numerous food blog awards and being crowned the best cheesesteak in town by all the leading food publications such at Eater Austin and Infatuation.com to name a few.
Fast foward to 2025 we’re looking to scale to the next level soon and open a small starter storefront in the near future and really showcase our full concept with more Northeast flavor menu items and a wonderful musical experience to enjoy all day and night 7 days a week.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The road to success has not been a smooth one whatsoever. It’s kind of been a lot like i35, Always under construction always trying to improve. Sometimes it’s smooth sailing and other times it’s bumper to bumper traffic, sometimes the other drivers are nice and they signal and allow you to merge and other times you get the finger and have suppress your inner-Jersey roadrage while someone is trying to run you off the road, either way however it goes, you have to keep driving. That’s business and thats entrepreneurship. They say a successful entrepreneur is not one who doesn’t see failure, but one that never gives up and always keeps going.
That’s what my brother and I have ingrained in our subconscious that no matter what, we have to keep going.
Not only did the price of dairy and other produce ingredients increase substantially but the supply chain got rocked during those deep pandemic months and that caused us to have shortages on our bread rolls and we only use one style of roll which an Amoroso Roll hearth baked. Plus, labor was insane with the going rate for a food truck employee going from 12-15/hr pre-pandemic to 18-22hr post-pandemic. That has been another major reason why it’s been hard to fully expand is because of the cost of food labor that is truly hard to find.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
My brother and I have a huge passion when it comes to hospitality and service as a whole. We learned that working in various food establishments back home on the east coast as well as growing up in an area with an affluent restaurant culture, deep rooted with rich restaurant history.
Trenton, New Jersey , 10 minutes away from where we grew up outside of Hamilton Township, at one point had some of the best restaurants in the whole state. With better pizza and bagles than in New York and better cheesesteaks than in Philly, and the authentic italian cuisine was world renowned. Celebrities like Michael Jackson and Frank Sinatra used to frequent restaurants in our local area often they were that special. So it’s kind of in our blood growing up even at home where our Puerto Rican mother would teach us about cooking with love and intention. We only transcend that same cooking style when we’re at the food truck and make all of the food that comes out that window with passion and love. People can taste the difference when you make food with a smile on your face or while singing one of your favorite songs. That’s the R&B’s way.
We are proud of were we come from and know that what we’ve brought to Austin is a true taste of back home and it’s here to stay.
When people come by the food truck and they engage with my brother and I and we talk about music and family and sports and community. People leave feeling like they’re apart of our family and we treat every guest as if so, and I think that that really set us apart from others in the industry.
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
Before I answered this question I had to stop and reflect for a moment. Such reflection that to truly understand the magnitude of such a question I have no choice but to become somewhat emotional. The words supporters , advocates, teammates, mentors seem to describe the very particular people who’ve helped mold this whole journey from the very beginning.
My Grandparents on my father’s side are the reason why we ever even came to Austin. They moved to south Austin in 1979 back when south Austin ended at the intersection of Congress and William Cannon.
Our granddaddy Grady Elliott Sr retired from the military as a Chief Master Sergeant and was dubbed by his peers as “A Chief amongst Chiefs” and was highly respected and renowned in the local community. Me and my brothers would come visit once a summer since we were 5 years old playing golf and going to church. He instilled values into our father that he then instilled in us that we carry to this day. The importance of hard-work, loyalty, trustworthiness , compassion and just doing the right thing were installed in us at an early age and I truly think that that has helped us succeed today when we transcend those things in business daily. Because of our father and Grandfather R&B’s Steak and Fries is made possible.
Another huge figure in our entrepreneurial journey and the success of our food truck is our childhood best friend who I mentioned earlier . He was the first person to pursued me to move to Texas and also believed in our vision and bought into the company as our very first angel investor. His name is Viet Nguyen and we’ve been best friends since the first day of kindergarten and grew up in Evansville, Indiana together from kindergarten to 9th grade. We’re essentially brothers and we manifested growing up and getting into business together when we were 11 years old and now almost 30 years later it’s all coming true. We’re forever grateful for him believing in us at first and sticking by us through the hard times to help us along the way when needed and we wouldn’t be where we are today without him.
Our mother and father have been such an anchor for us along this path as well and we use them as motivation each and every day knowing that one day soon we will be able to return the blessings they’ve given us and continue to make them proud of there sons as we grow the family business to new heights. Without our parents there would be none of this and we know that and we honor them each day by getting up and working hard each day and living like them with compassion and intention.
Their are many people along the way that have helped us get to this level and many people behind the scenes who’ve supported us with impunity but this next person who Im going to describe to you, has given unequivocal support throughout all of this and that person is my now wife, Alexis Elliott.
Sometimes in life God will bless you with things and sometimes those things end up being so important to you and your purpose that you couldn’t even imagine a world without them in it, and them being as wonderful and as graceful and as fearless as they come. Well then we’re talking about my wife, the glue that holds all of this together.
When I convinced her to take a chance with me and uproot herself from the only place she’s ever known and to move to Austin Texas in the summer of 2016 I knew that I had not only a supportive spouse but a life partner and the sacrifices made by her so that I can live out my dreams, because I’m no longer chasing them, I’m living them out. Each and everyday I wake up and im able to open up my food truck with my brother and sell cheesesteaks to the Austin community, running this family business, I’m already living my dreams, and because of her we’re able to somehow keep chugging along. She’s been on that damn grill with a baby in one hand and another baby in her stomach helping me pump out food in a hot food truck to any all hungry Austinites because she loves her family and would do anything for the family business. We love her so much for the person she’s been along the way and without her there is no R&B’s Steak and Fries .
Contact Info:
- Email: Info@rnbsteakandfries.com
- Instagram: @rnbsstekandfries
- Facebook: R&B’S Steak and Fries
