Today we’d like to introduce you to Chris Thomas.
Hi Chris, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Like most chefs, I’ve always loved cooking and coming up with creative dishes. My mum was a home economics teacher so she also passed on the love of cooking and eating good, wholesome food to me. However, up until this year, it was purely a hobby. My wife Lizzie and I owned a promotional marketing company for over ten years that we lost due to Covid. At that point, we started working corporate jobs with the most recent one being at the same company. It was during that time, the concept for ‘Brit Boy Street Food’ came to be. Then just before Christmas, we were both fired within minutes of each other with no warning or reason. We said ‘if we’re ever going to do this, now is the time’. So when life gives your lemons, you make sausage rolls!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Anything worth doing is going to be a challenge. There is red tape and paperwork when it comes to starting a business but when it comes to developing a food business, the procedures behind food safety, permits, people’s health and wellness and proteins specifically is extensive. But for good reason.
Financially, my wife and I are running Brit Boy purely from our own savings. We didn’t get a loan or ask for any investments, at least not yet. At the same time Brit Boy launched, Lizzie started working a sales job that pays mostly in commissions in order to take care of our family as well as finance Brit Boy.
In addition to all that, we decided to start a business with a very active 18 month old. We don’t just have ourselves to worry about but the wellbeing of our son. However we know that these times will only make him stronger.
On the flip side, the support we have received from complete strangers has been amazing. Whether they are trying British style food for the first time, they are seeking me out to scratch an itch they have from a trip abroad or it’s someone who purely wants good food, has been humbling.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Brit Boy Street Food produces home cooked style crust-less British meat pies, sausage rolls and pasties. Our flavors range from traditional to innovative, from our Shepherd’s Pie to our Birria Pie with Cilantro Lime Mash, and so much more in between! Currently our food can be bought online and picked up at multiple locations throughout the Kansas City metro area. Less than an hour in your oven or air-fryer, you have a healthy meal ready with 55 to 72 grams of protein per serving, perfect for the family or on your own. We do pop-up events at brewery’s and other locations in order to introduce Brit Boy and British food to the masses. In the future, look for us in the frozen section of your grocery store!
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
The worst thing you can do is not to take a chance to go after what you’re passionate about. You will always wonder ‘what if’. It is impossible to know everything before you get started as one thing will lead to another and you become a professional problem solver as your new profession.
As a decent footballer, coming to the states on a soccer scholarship, I learned early on that you have to be a constant student of ‘the game’ and frankly never a know it all. I have never taken for granted the fact that I need to work hard in order to maintain consistency and results will follow.
You will pick and choose what advice to listen to, which is part of the challenge of getting it right in the end. Never get complacent. As soon as you take your eye off the ball, the quality or efficiency of your product and operation will depreciate and once a customer is lost, they will never come back. The key to any business is loyal returning customers. Keeping them happy with the product and consistency of what they have come to expect is key to a long sustaining business.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Www.BritBoyStreetFood.com
- Instagram: BritBoyStreetFood
- Facebook: https://Facebook.com/BritBoyStreetFood
- Yelp: BritBoyStreetFood
- Other: Brit Boy Street Food
