Today we’d like to introduce you to Cory Smith.
Cory, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I went to college for Music Business and spent the last 7 years working in the marketing department promoting concerts for AC Entertainment. I got furloughed in May of COVID and was left with quite a bit of time on my hands and very little income. I worked odd jobs for folks to get the bills paid but still found myself desperate for a project to keep me busy and generate dollars.
I am good friends with Duncan Trout of Captain Muchacho’s and got to talking with him about his food truck while on a hunting trip. The seed was planted and inevitably grew into an idea that married that business model with my favorite food, chicken wings.
Once I got my business plan ready and funds raised, Duncan dumped an incredible amount of time into helping me build out the truck from the ground up – I owe him far more than I’ll ever be able to repay for his kindness and generosity! We were finally ready to open in December of 2020 and I’m thrilled to say our first year of operations absolutely crushed all expectations. The amount of support and repeat customers we continue to receive is such an incredible feeling!
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
My 7 years in the music industry were an office job through and through. I would work my 40 hours and then field calls from agents and marketing folks on the west coast once I went home in the evenings. I thought I knew what working hard is, but owning your own business requires way more work than you could ever anticipate.
This summer we ran the truck 6 days a week and I ended up putting in regular 80-90 hour work weeks. On paper, that sounds terrible, but honestly, it’s such a drastic improvement from sitting in an office chair all day. This work suits my personality and drives so much better than my previous career and despite the extra hours, I couldn’t be happier!
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Wings on the Pig is a chicken wings truck. We serve classic bone-in wings as well as hand-breaded boneless wings, hand-breaded tenders, and tots/fries. We frequently offer special one-off gourmet loaded top/fry options that sell out very quickly! We generally have eight house-made sauces on deck and rotate in special sauces from time to time.
Duncan with Captain Muchacho’s let me know early on that the spirit of the food truck world is to keep your menu fresh and unique, but simple. I took that to heart and make sure that every ingredient we source is as fresh as possible and that all of our offerings are unique and deliberate.
What does success mean to you?
This is a tough one. When building this business, my goals were to make enough money to pay the bills and to be happy. I feel like we’ve been able to accomplish both of those so far and hope to continue that trend.
Looking back, I realize how silly it was to go sit in that office every day and how grateful and privileged I am to be able to work for myself and wake up every day on my own schedule.
My goal now as a person and a business are to provide support for every opportunity I get and pay it forward.
Contact Info:
- Email: cory@wingsonthepig.com
- Website: wingsonthepig.com
- Instagram: @wingsonthepig
Image Credits
Andy Vinson and Rhett Talbert
