Aces of Trades: Butler finds his passion with food truck Guac N Roll
CHILLICOTHE – He dreamed of being like his father.
“He was my idol,” said Brent Butler. “Everyone loved him.”
He also dreamed of becoming an astronaut and an athlete.
“But I never dreamed I would ever be in the food industry, anywhere,” he added.
Today, Butler has a food trailer called Guac N Roll.
“It’s always been my passion to own my own business,” he noted. “My father had a saying, ‘If it is to be, it depends on me, no one else.’ Plus, my mom is a true miracle. They fulfilled their roles as awesome parents. I do it for them.”
Butler grew up in Malvern, Arkansas until he was 15, then moved up to Chillicothe in 1992. He graduated from Chillicothe High School in 1994.
“After,” he recalled, “I went to Wright State University to study aeronautical engineering, but the United States Air Force came and swooped me up. I started out as a F-15E crew chief, ending my career as an air transportation specialist.”
“I became interested in the food truck business upon returning to reside in Columbus,” he continued. “I became the manager of the Easton Towne Center, AMC Dine-In theatre. This is where I really learned what it took to manage a larger team. A couple years later I decided to broaden my horizons by joining The Schimdt Sausage Haus team as a Food Truck Captin’ owned by Andy Schmidt. He took me under his wing and treated me like family. ‘Knowledge without college’ is what I thought of my experience with his company. He gave me the details and we opened September 2020.”
Andy Schmidt with Schmidt Hospitality Concepts remembers it well.
“Anybody can purchase a used truck, put up a shingle and start selling their mother’s favorite fried chicken,” assessed Schmidt. “But the successful food truck entrepreneurs have the gift of hospitality. I could tell from day one Brent had that gift and was going to be successful at anything he was going to pursue.”
“Pretty much when you go into something like this you are the everything,” Butler responded. “I prep everything for my weekly locations per the guidelines of mobile food service. I’m the cashier, cook, dishwasher, janitor, marketing, the list just doesn’t stop.”
“I’m glad at the path I chose,” he concluded. “It’s a lot of work, but I signed up for it. There’# a lot of stress involved with running your own business, but I know in my heart, with the blessings of the Lord, everything will be all right.”
For more information, log on www.guacnrollfoodtrailer.com.
About the series
Aces of Trades is a weekly series focusing on people and their jobs – whether they’re unusual jobs, fun jobs or people who take ordinary jobs and make them extraordinary. If you have a suggestion for a future profile, let us know at gaznews@nncogannett.com or 740-349-1110.