— courtesy VGCC

Vance-Granville Community College will soon offer its Mobile Food Truck Entrepreneurship Workshop Series at the college’s Main Campus in Vance County for the first time. Previously, the course was offered on the Franklin County and Warren County campuses.

A partnership of VGCC’s Small Business Center and Personal Enrichment department, the program will be held in Building 7 on Main Campus on four Monday evenings, Feb. 5 through Feb. 26, 2018.

Serving as instructor for the first time will be Ray Chow, founder of Hibachi Xpress and Catering by Ray. Chow has worked in restaurants since he was seven years old. A graduate of N.C. State University, he started Hibachi Xpress restaurant in Cary, and expanded to three locations, as well as managing some of his family’s other restaurants in the Raleigh and Wilmington areas.

In 2011, Chow expanded his restaurant/catering business with the addition of a food truck to participate in different festivals and large gatherings. Over the years, the popularity of food trucks has continued to grow, and in 2014, Hibachi Xpress shifted focus towards catering and the food truck business, moving away from the brick and mortar stores. Chow is also a co-founder of “foosye,” a startup tech company building innovative technology applications tailored to the food truck industry.

The first class in the series, “The Art of the Food Truck,” will be held on Feb. 5 from 6-9 p.m. This workshop serves as an introduction to the program and covers the fundamentals of owning and operating a mobile food unit.

“Preparing for Success: Concept and Design” will follow on Feb. 12 from 6-8 p.m. The design of the food unit as well as budgeting and costs are covered in this session.

“Administrative Necessities” is scheduled for Feb. 19 from 6-8 p.m. Participants will learn about federal, state and local regulations, zoning, licenses and permits they will need.

“Marketing for Success” will conclude the series on Feb. 26 from 6-8 p.m. This session will include a panel discussion with several food truck owners, focusing in part on how they promote their food trucks through social media and other forms of advertising.

The cost of the program is $60 for the first class. The other three sessions are offered free of charge.

Participants in the program will also be required to sign up as clients of the VGCC Small Business Center, which is free of charge, and to complete the ServSafe food safety certification course. A separate fee of $74, plus materials, is charged for ServSafe.

The deadline to register is January 29, 2018. For more information and to register, contact VGCC Small Business Center director Tanya Weary at (252) 738-3240 or smallbusiness@vgcc.edu or Gail Clark at (252) 738-3385 or ped@vgcc.edu.

–VGCC–

(VGCC is an advertising client of WIZS.)