VLOG | Day in the Life | Local Food Entrepreneur Edition | Powered by Square

What does a typical day in the life of Chef Matt Basile actually look like? In this Vlog we get an up-close and personal look at what it takes to make it as a local food entrepreneur and how Square's services tie directly into that success. Kickstart your online growth today with Square: https://squareup.com/ca/en/campaign/growonline

10 years ago Square approached Matt and asked him if he would like to add a terminal processing system to his cellphone, or in simpler terms, accept all types of cards for payments at his food truck through his cell phone. He did start processing through Square and 10 years later has integrated their online services into many different facets of his business. When Square approached Matt and asked him if he would be interested in sharing a day in his life he was glad to, and this is that day.
This Vlog starts out with a dialogue from Matt talking about what it really takes to even exist as a local food entrepreneur in this current economic climate. He says that he has a rough idea of what the day holds for him as he goes into it, but he never really knows for sure what is actually in store for him. Matt uses the term "dialed-in" to describe the state he needs to be in to make sure things run smoothly. There are a lot of moving parts in his business and proper delegation is a key factor. There is an off-site catering event happening today so Matt will jump on the food truck for a few hours. He has partnered with the brewery next door to his catering kitchen and the staff will be serving food to their customers all day as well. Most business owners would say this is more than enough to juggle in a single day, and they would not be wrong. Matt rises to the challenge however and is also serving food in the parking lot of the catering kitchen for a special 50's roller skating diner event.
He drops his two faithful companions off at a doggie daycare and dives into some office work before he hits the food truck. As you can imagine a big part of many of Matt's days are spent driving from one point to another. He does say that there are days where he simply refuses to leave the kitchen, and that is great example of the level of time management you need to be any type of entrepreneur. As we see Matt grabbing a few things from his car before heading in he mentions that he has moved many parts of his business into the digital realm but there will always be room for physical print-outs on paper of certain things. While Matt walks into the office he describes the chaos that will ensue in the parking lot in about four hours, mentioning that the kitchen will be at max capacity. We get a good look at Matt's office, which is exactly what you might expect for a busy entrepreneur who is always on the move. Tucked away behind shelves of foodservice goods lies Fidel Gastro central command. They have a clipboard for each day of the week hung on the wall, a system they have been using for years. They get a lead, the lead becomes an event, and they use the Square invoicing interface to get the initial deposit. They develop the menu with the client after that and then the day is reserved and put on the board. Those developed menus are used to make prep sheets for the kitchen allowing Matt to divide and conquer the mountain of prep work with his team. This system streamlines his entire operation. When he shows up to an event he has a final invoice ready to go and everything that you can prepare for has already been prepared for. He doesn't need to take any form of payment on-site and he can focus on taking care of his team and running a smooth event. As a small business manager Matt has a finite number of hours in the day, he loves that Square has been able to simplify so much of his business.
Matt grabs coffee for the team and heads on-site to the food truck. The food being served here looks truly delicious and there is no shortage of patrons waiting to taste it, he quickly swoops in and gets things running smoothly. Seeing that his work is done he heads back to the main kitchen to prepare for tonight's event. They will be taking orders from the parking lot using the Square app and they will come up in the kitchen on a ticket printer. This is the first time Matt and the team have ever done an event in this particular way. Based on his past experience with Square he feels good about the reliability of the ordering system, one less thing to worry about.
As Matt wraps up a day in his life we see clip after clip of orders processing and food being delivered. The parking lot event is a smashing success, the brewery food service is running like a well-oiled machine, and the food truck is on point. Matt sees this day as a great success because to him success is working with good people to put out a great product. Matt loves what he does and can't imagine living his life any other way. As always thank you for tuning in, come back soon for more fresh content.