Being a Food Vendor in 2020
It was the beginning of March and we just finished a 4 day festival as a food vendor in Okeechobee. We just found that Coachella was being cancelled due to Covid-19. Driving back from Okeechobee FL, under the dark New Mexico skies, you can get lost in your thoughts. What’s Covid-19? There’s a virus going around the world that is killing thousands of people? What are we going to do for work? Anxiety took control of the wheel.
We still had high hopes of doing the next event in April (Beyond Wonderland) however that quickly got cancelled. California and the country was put in a mandatory shut down. We didn’t have work anymore. What do we do? Well, there was nothing we could do. There was no work for a food vendor anywhere, we got lost like so many others. All we could do it sit back and process what was going on. After a few weeks, my mom and I decided this is a great time for us to catch up on getting things repaired around the warehouse. We called one of our good friends and we went to work.
Going to work every week, even though I wasn’t getting paid, felt good because we were making progress on the trucks and it gave us dignity. As April and May went by, I was started to get low on funds. I wasn’t broke but I needed to step it up a little. I decided to get a temp job in a warehouse, just to hold me down for awhile.
Working in a warehouse was hard work. I came home exhausted and I woke up sore in every part of my body. It was no fun. July comes around and we get the call we’ve been waiting for. We got work! Drive-In movie theaters at the Rose Bowl became popular again, they were popping up everywhere in the country because it provided socially safe distancing and an opportunity to get out the house again. We we’re working! We were so happy and it gave us purpose.
I had my warehouse job and the drive-ins, I worked so much! I accomplished so many goals financially that I had so much confidence. My mom was happy too! Those events help us up and gave us dignity. We didn’t make tons of money but we were happy. We set ourselves up with relationships, saving and attitude that we persevered.
Then the winner came through for us, Yucaipa Pumpkin Patch. We got a spot and we crushed it for 16 days. People were buying funnel cakes left and right. Families wanted to get out the house because they haven’t done anything all year. This was their moment and it was ours too! That saved us and it saved a lot of other food vendor. We were happy to be sharing happy memories with hard working people and to see people work with pride. We loved it!
2020 was a hard year for a lot of people. It was hard emotionally but we’re a family business for a reason, we do it together. To all the other small businesses and families who work together, we’re with you. Don’t give up. Keep pushing because at the end of the day, we have no other choice.
