Something To Look Forward To

We were getting our new routine down.  Wake up, make some ice, go for a walk, get all prep done for that days set up.  In the afternoon, I'd drive Kate's Ford Escape to another San Diego brewery.  We were like some sort of traveling grilled cheese circus.  

It's good work if you can get it.

We stacked up some good weeks that winter & decided to take off St. Patrick's Day.  It was on a Thursday in 2016, & we bought an MTS Day Pass to get around town to some Irish pubs.  

Easter Sunday was another off day that we spent hanging out with a few friends.  

It was good to have a couple days penciled off each week.  You gotta have that recharge or you can easily get burned out.  We had already learned that valuable lesson pre-retirement.

For my birthday in April, I planned a little getaway to Temecula (about an hour drive away).  I had earned some free nights at Best Western & cashed two of them in one Monday & Tuesday.  

That was another great part of our schedule- our off days were most peoples slow days so there were more specials & deals when you went out.  

I found a bowling alley walking distance from our hotel & even a karaoke bar.  I also got my first taste of the hibachi grill at Benihana.  My occupation is a cook, so I should probably observe some professionals, right?

We squeezed in some hiking, wine tasting, hot tubbing & a casino buffet on the way out of town.  Kate & I had a great time up there & would go on to take similar excursions away from Mad Munch.  

Using a business mindset, you can really plan out a nice trip that hardly breaks the bank.  The things you'll discover & the other small businesses that you'll support make it too valuable to miss out on.

A Second Chance at Work

"Yeah, it's a lot of work but at the end of the day, I'm doing what I love & I don't have to answer to anybody," Marty said & his wife, Virginia nudged him.  "Well, only one person."  They both laughed.

He was the owner of Second Chance Beer Company & had worked for years at Rock Bottom Brewery before he decided to go out on his own.  He had worked with a group of our friends at the location near La Jolla & that was a big reason we were setup at his brewery in Carmel Mountain Ranch.

"This beer is really good," I said.  We had the electric griddle setup right in the center of their large tasting room.  The place was massive with a kids area & plenty of games to play with cornhole & even a regulation basketball hoop.

"Thanks, that one just came out.  It's one of my favorites," Marty said.  

You could see how passionate he was about making beer.  In a way, I think that's why we did so well at the breweries.  Like these small craft brewers, we too had taken a risk & gave up our steady paychecks to pursue our passion.

Maybe that's why hand-curated grilled cheese sandwiches & small batch craft beer pair so well together.  And probably why it was easy for Kate to keep our weekly schedule full of breweries.

Long Walks & Lending Libraries

I started reading & getting into fiction & biographies after I graduated from college.  It was a freedom I never knew in school, when I was confined to reading chapters from business textbooks.  Novels & non-fiction were like forbidden fruit that I was discovering for the first time & from 2006 on I read books, one after another.

That was until 2015, the year of eight weddings & taking on more Mad Munch gigs after work that I kind of forgot about my down time hobbie.  But when we quit our jobs & became full-time Cheezer purveyors, I made a point of getting back into books.

With our mornings now free, Kate & I started going on walks.  We went together a few times, but discovered that it was a great hour away from each other.  A great time to clear your mind & get the creative juices flowing.

I'd always been an adamant cyclist- that word sounds funny to me, though- cyclist.  I always go with bike rider, instead.  But, this was the first time I began alternating with walks.  

It became a daily occurence I found that OB is a great place to walk around.  There's the beach, the tidepools, the cliffs, the pocket parks & if you go up the hill you're rewarded with some great houses & architecture.

And, also all of the "Free Little Libraries."  Each of the little book houses constructed out of different materials on top of a post & made to share the gift of knowledge to anyone who passes by.  I began collecting books- fiction, non-fiction, reference, how-to, self-help & even some business books.

One after another, I found some great material.  Soon, I got into the self-help genre for the first time & created a routine for the days & weeks ahead.  

I turned thirty-three that spring & I started to figure out what I was really capable of & what really mattered most.  Mad Munch was no longer a side hustle but an all-in endeavor that kept us pushing each other to make it the best it could be.  

I credit a lot of that new found ambition & confidence to the selflessness of our OB community & those who put their old books into lending libraries.  Thank you for passing on the torch of knowledge.            

So Long Sandy: 287,000 Miles & Counting

It was a Friday & we were headed to Kilowatt in Kearny Mesa for our first setup there.  Traffic was bad on the freeways, so the plan was to cut through Clairemont on the surface streets.  

Kate had the directions on her phone all ready, but Sandy (my truck) was not having it.  Her gas pedal suddenly lost all power, but fortunately I was able to coast off to the side of Morena Blvd.  We pushed it from there a few more feet into a parking lot of a Circle K.

"What's wrong?" Kate asked.

"I'm not sure, let me take a look."  I popped the hood & tried to restart it several times to no avail.  I even asked a few passersby if they had any idea what it could be, but they to seemed baffled.

"I'll call AAA & have them tow it to our house.  I'm sure all the garages are closed for the day by now," I said.

"I can't get ahold of Kilowatt, I tried texting but no response," Kate said.  "Oh, I know-  I'll just walk over to Coronado.  I can use their WIFI to message them on Facebook."

"There ya go.  You got your car keys?" I asked.  "I'll just unload everything from my truck into your car & then pick you up over at Coronado."

I'm sure it didn't sound quite as smooth as that.   I tend to get pissed off in situations where some piece of equipment fails on me.  But, the lesson here is to keep your cool & that in business you have to be able to think quick on your feet.  It's a valuable skill for anyone really.

Kate & I were able to right the wrong of my truck breaking down that day.  We showed up about two hours later than we were expected to & the good people there were OK with it.   Sales that night were so-so & we never did pop-up there again but, we learned a big lesson from the whole experience.

It was time for Sandy to retire.  My '92 GMC Sonoma was no longer dependable enough for doing Mad Munch.  We switched to Estelle, Kate's '07 Ford Escape & everything fit in there just fine.

I got my truck fixed & ended up selling it via Craigslist & parking it on Sunset Cliffs Blvd. with a hand written sign about two months later.  The girl who bought it for $1200 was moving to Maine with her dog & said it would be cheaper to buy my truck than to rent a U-Haul.  Now, I imagine Sandy sliding through the snow somewhere in the Northeast- a beach truck on a permanent vacation. 

One Color Mad Munch T-Shirts

We also decided to print another batch of T-shirts before our money situation became uncertain.  A couple weeks into full-time Mad Munch life, our local T-shirt printer, James Gang, finished off our latest print.  This time around, we went with only one-color, direct to garment.  

I still think they are the best standard Mad Munch logo shirts we've had to date.

We chose around eight different colored, Hanes 50/50 cotton blend shirts.  Kate & I grabbed a few that we liked best, wore them to the markets religiously & boxed up the others to sell for $14 a shirt.  

That's right, you read that correctly, we sold them for only $14.  Our thought was, "we need them for our work uniform & as long as we sell enough of them to break even, than we have free work shirts."

Sounds good in theory & it's great for advertising.  It's pretty cool when you're out walking around OB & you see someone sporting your shirt with your design that you helped create.  

But, a lot of our T-shirt orders came from the east coast & the midwest (our friends & families back home).  And while the customer paid the shipping & handling costs, Kate still had to go to the post office & ship them out.  A lot of work for $14.

But the shirts themselves have stood the test of time.  I still have a few left, though after holes in the armpit region began to develop, I cut the sleeves off entirely.  

But, nevertheless.  I've worn those shirts more than any others in my closet & they lasted over five years of wear & tear.  Not bad, for a $14 tee.

Too Cool to Be Working For Yourself

Before I left Best Western, I printed out several Grocery Lists, worksheets & other documents such as this one-page calendar:

The orange dates were our scheduled days off (Mondays & usually also Tuesdays) & white were our work dates with which brewery listed.  The other colors were special dates.  Notice how much less white space after January.

It was a pretty good schedule that Kate had setup for us.  She added a page to our website (above) to make it easier to find us.  

We could now wake up later, enjoy our coffee in the living room of our house together & have plenty of time to get ready for our afternoon/night tasting room setup.  

Generally, we'd leave around 3pm or so (the same as OB Market on Wednesdays) & drive out to La Mesa, Miramar, Sports Arena or Bay Park to pop up for the dinner crowd.  We'd be home usually no later than 9 or 9:30- basically working second shift.

I hadn't worked those hours in years.  And after working first shift at Best Western & third shift at the Inn at Sunset Cliffs, I loved having my mornings & lunch hour back. 

Our very first tasting room pop-up after "retiring" at Bolt Brewery in La Mesa, February 4, 2016. 

-----

Another valuable asset I acquired from my final working days at Best Western was an ice machine.  After getting ice from their machine on the third floor for over two years, I knew I had to find a new source after I quit.

"You should just make your own," my co-worker, Escalante, had said one day at the front desk.   "Get your own ice machine."

And that's what I did.  I found a small red, indoor/outdoor one online for $169.  Then I realized that I needed somewhere to put all of the ice I was making so I bought a chest deep freezer at Home Depot for around $240.  

Two small investments that I made with my last paycheck from Best Western, that paid big dividends & lived in the spare room of our house for years to come.        

Retirement Party Surprises

I said my goodbyes & clocked out at Best Western for the very last time that Friday afternoon.  I biked home to celebrate with Kate, in the best way we knew how: with a few drinks before dinner & a show.

On the way home from her last day of work, she grabbed us some Mickey D's.  Later, we'd take public transit downtown to the House of Blues to see Richard Cheese perform.  

If you don't know Dick Cheese, he puts a special lounge spin on Top 40 Alternative Hits from the '90s & '00s.  I had a copy of one of his CDs, but neither of us had seen him perform. 

Sometimes things just line up perfect.

"I got a surprise for you," Kate said before we headed to the bus stop across the street from our house. She handed me a cardboard mailer that had to be a record.

"What's this?" I asked.

"Well, since we quit & gotta cut back on expenses I figured I give you your birthday present now," she said.  "Come April, who knows where we'll be at moneywise."

If I know one way to start off any party on the right foot, it's by playing this album at high volume.  License to Ill - Beastie Boys (1986)

The next day, we went out to eat at the Waffle Spot.  If you've drove through Mission Valley on the 8 you've probably passed by this place many times.  And let me tell you it doesn't disappoint.  I'm a sucker for a boothy breakfast joint with pancakes & waffles- the more kitschy the better.

The excitement of the weekend & our new era as self-made bosses could barely be contained.  Kate had been planning her annual bar-crawl for months & the night was now only only hours away.  And I was equally excited for how well I kept a secret.

We were at home later that afternoon, relaxing & waiting for the big night when I got the text.  

Get her to come down to the beach, it read.

Ok, I'll see what I can do, I texted back. 

"Hey babe, let's go down to the beach.  It's so nice out," I asked. 

"What?  Maybe later, I'm about to vacuum," she said.

"No, c'mon.  You can do that later," I said.  "Let's just take a walk."

She gave a look & then laughed.  "No, I got a bunch of stuff to do before the bra crawl.  You can go if you want."

I knew she'd figure something was up if I persisted, so I went outside & texted back: I can't get her to leave, come here instead.  Abort! Abort!              

And that's where Kate first noticed her good friend from college, sitting on the couch, as she turned to vacuum the living room.

"Oh hey?  Wait...what the hell are you doing here?  Oh my God!" Kate wailed.

"Happy Birthday!  I'm here for the bar crawl," Lindsey said.  "Surprise!" 

"Screw You I'm Getting Hammered: Kate's 4th Annual Birthday Bar Crawl" Team Photo at Wonderland Ocean Pub, January 30, 2016. 

Radio Morning Show Shoutout

Friday, January 29, 2016, 9:27am: 

"Well let me ask you this, do you like your grilled cheese with ketchup?" DJ Chris Cantore asked. 

"Ketchup?  On a grilled cheese?  No way." his co-host said.

"Call me old school or whatever but I like to dip mine in a little bit of ketchup..."

It was kind of an odd debate, but I couldn't believe what I was hearing, over the radio- on Cantore in the Morning -while waiting in line to enter the Marine Corp Recruitment Depot.  I was dropping off families for their sons or daughters graduation from boot camp.  

It was a shuttle run that I did almost every Friday morning for Best Western, but this one would be my last.  

"Now, Kate what's your take on this?" he asked.

"I'm a big sauce person, so I'd say you can dip your grilled cheese in whatever sauce you like." Kate said over the phone.

"Good answer, I agree.  And what was the name of your food truck again?" Cantore asked.

Funny- people always thought we were a food truck.  I guess because they were featured in cable reality shows & there was a popular grilled cheese truck up in L.A.   

"It's called Mad Munch Grilled Cheezer Company & we're not a food truck.  We're a pop-up vendor that sets up at breweries." Kate stated while cleaning out her office. 

What a feeling to hear your name on the radio.  It was our first shoutout on the airwaves & I barely even heard it through talking to hotel guests & unloading the shuttle.    

"Oh, nice.  Your Grilled Cheese must pair well with our many local IPAs." the co-host beamed.

"Definitely.  Yeah, it's just me & my boyfriend.  Today's actually our last day working our 9-5 jobs.  We're quitting to do Mad Munch full-time." 

"That is great.  Good for you both.  Well, if you're out & about looking for some dank craft beers & delicious grilled cheese sandwiches be sure to check out Mad Munch Grilled Cheezer..." 

-------

Side Shoutout:  A huge thank you to Chris Cantore & 91X, for not only being a great radio station (one of my all-time favorites) but for also capturing my future wife on the radio talk about the business we built together & on one of the biggest days in our Mad Munch career!

A Taste of Freedom

Kate & I were setup at St. Archer for the fourth time, but this time we weren't going home afterwards.  There was plenty of ice left in our cooler & Blake the tasting room manager had even given us a whole case of White Ales.  

After we unplugged the electric griddle & packed up the last small loaf of buttered bread, I drove my truck over the summit on 52 east to the campground at Viejas Casino.  It was our friend Emily's birthday & she wanted to spend it camping with a shuttle to a cosmic bowling alley.  

And, Kate & I were like, "That sounds like fun!"

We arrived late, after the bowling frames were complete but found a nice flat spot to pitch our tent.  It was a chilly & starry night out there around a warm campfire.

Before we broke camp & left the next day, we decided to check out the casinos All-You-Can-Eat-Buffet.  Crab, shrimp, prime rib, an omelet station, every desserts you could dream up & of course, bottomless mimosas.  

In the words of Dave Matthews Band, we ate "Too Much," & drank "Too Much," & ended up getting a room at the casino's hotel.  It wasn't that expensive on a Sunday night & it was AFC/NFC Championship weekend.  So, we laid around & watched football all day.

We each called in sick to work on the last Monday that we'd be employed there.  

And, it was Kate's birthday, so we didn't feel bad about it.  I'll still don't & neither did she.  Like she said before, "The less time I spend in that office, the better."

Old Friends & New Beginnings

"Wow, those grilled cheese were amazing," Rob said.  "I like that Katers Taters the most."  I had known Rob & his future wife, Joanna both since kindergarten.  We were all in the same class that graduated 57 people at Brimfield High in 2001, so we knew each other pretty well.   

"First you pick us up at the airport & now you feed us.  What's next?" Joanna asked with a laugh.

There was hardly anyone besides the four of us on the back patio at Bay City Brewing.  Kate started to breakdown our setup & I opened the gate to back my truck in. 

"Well, we figured we'd take you guys out in OB.  Show you some of our favorite watering holes," Kate said & they agreed.  

"How's business going?" Rob asked when I got back.  He was a chiropractor with his own practice back home in Peoria.  They were in San Diego for a work conference at the convention center.  

"Great.  We got slammed earlier, before the Gulls game.  There was a line & a about a 40-minute wait until seven when the puck drops," I said.   

"Nice!" Rob said.  "Here let me help ya with that."  We moved the tent over & took it down.  "I do some pop-up events here & there in the summer.  You should get a van, Zach Daddy."

"No, I don't think so.  Sandy, here's great," I patted the top of the camper shell.  "Besides, we're going full-time in February, so we gotta tighten up on big ticket items."

"So, your not gonna drive the shuttle anymore?" Joanna asked.

"Nope," I said & closed up the tailgate for emphasis.  "We both put in our two weeks yesterday.  We're all in!"

"That's awesome- taking the leap," she said.

"Yep, I booked us at a bunch of these breweries through mid-April.  Only 10 more days & we gone!" Kate exclaimed.

The Last Dance & the Last Straw

Wedding travel & work at our day jobs was really starting to put a strain on Kate & I.  By mid-October 2015, we were both about as exhausted as a rock band after a North American tour.  We had been out of town nearly every weekend from the end of August through early October.

Showing off my Mad Munch T-shirt & my new White Sox hat at a pier on the opposite side of the country in Old Orchard Beach (O.O.B.), Maine, August 2015.     

The final wedding was in San Diego & we somehow ended up hosting the after party in our yard.  Kate was a bridesmaid & suggested it.  A fitting celebration to a long year of events.

But the year wasn't over & we still had to get up every morning at 6am & head off to our day jobs.  Kate couldn't stand hers anymore & I was starting to feel that way about working at the Best Western.  

I punched up a scathing email but never ended up sending it to my boss.  I couldn't risk getting fired, but it was more like a stress relieving exercise for me.  Words like "incompetent" & "unappreciated" littered the draft.  I was tired of repeatedly fixing guest issues & covering for my co-workers.  

I felt like they were taking me for granted over there.

Then they called me on the day of that last wedding.  "Where are you, Zach?  You're on the schedule," my boss said over the phone.

"No, I'm not.  I haven't worked a Saturday in over a year, Anna & you know it."

"Well, you're on the schedule for today," she said.

"Well, I'm in a wedding today so I'm not coming in," I said & she hung up.

I wasn't in the wedding, but Kate was.  Anna didn't know that, but she did know I was off Saturdays.  My manager who made the schedule had copy & pasted an old schedule & screwed it up.

A month later, Anna's dad (the owner) scheduled a mandatory meeting on Thanksgiving Day.  I was livid.  The worst part was that the Bears played that night & I already had plans- because it was Thanksgiving.  

That weekend, on Small Business Saturday of all days, Kate got a crazy look in her eye.

"I think we should quit our jobs," she said.  We were on the couch in our living room drinking wine.

"Yeah?" I thought she was halfway joking.

"No, I mean it," she said.  "I can't stand working for Village anymore.  I'll find more breweries to set up at.  We can make up our own schedule.  But, we'll wait 'til after the holidays- no, my birthday- we'll start fresh in February, & do Mad Munch, full-time!"    

The Ins & Outs of Music City

It didn't take me long to find a job in Nashville.  Only a few nights of staying at hotels & crashing at a friend from high school's place before I got my first out of state gig.  

I got hired on as a "technician" at Can-D-Lab inside of the Opryland Mall.  

It was way more glamorous than it sounds.  I got paid around minimum wage to wear a lab coat at a mall kiosk & help parents & their kids fill up giant "test tubes" of sugar (think Pixie Sticks).  

But, even though I worked during the holidays, in a mall, I was thrilled to be out on my own.  I found a decent hotel that gave me a good weekly rate & it was walking distance to the mall.  They also had continental breakfast every morning & fresh coffee in the lobby.  

It was great.  I didn't really have to clean my room, I'd eat in the food court during work & grab beer & whiskey on the walk back to top off the styrofoam cooler next to my king bed.  

I spent Thanksgiving 2006 at the Shoney's next door then went & saw Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny at the movie theater.  I was living the life of a teenager, but all the while I kept looking for a real job for the new year.

My persistent search finally paid off after taking the bus all the way out to Franklin twice for interviews with Logo Chair, Inc.  At first it sounded like they wanted me to work in the office, but when I actually started work in 2007, I was in the warehouse unloading pallets & soon driving a forklift.

The work was steady, I got paid a nice salary (the only time I have in my entire life) & the company had just moved from Memphis, so everyone was new to town.  

I got my own 2nd floor, 2 bedroom, 1 bath apartment in Franklin & still had plenty of fun bucks to burn.  I spent most weekends exploring Lower Broad & West End honky-tonks, catching rides with co-workers as well as expensive 20-mile taxi rides into Nashville.  

What more could you ask for being a single guy in his mid-twenties?         

But, after two years, I grew tired of that life.  I worked long enough to get my drivers license back & for some good SIU friends to move to Florida.  I flew down a couple of weekends to visit them & I knew after hanging out at the beach what my next stop would be. 

"Whatever you do Zach, don't settle.  You'll only have regrets," my anti-alcohol DUI class teacher once told me.  I learned a lot during those many hours, but that stuck with me the most.  And, at that particular time, I knew I wanted to live somewhere where I could wear shorts year round.

At the beginning of 2009, during a recession, I might add (not the smartest idea), I packed up my recently purchased GMC Sonoma pickup & headed south to Florida for another fresh new start.

From Miramar to Beeramar

Kate's full-time job at Miramar Nurseries, where she had worked at for close to ten years, suddenly & without warning, got bought out by another nursery called Village Nurseries. 

She was one of the few employees that they held onto, while most of her co-workers took the severance & left.  Kate's two bosses, Tami & Laura, who she became close friends with over the years, were able to take the money & move on.  

Unfortunately, Kate didn't have that option.  She stayed on & was given a different shirt to wear, but in her same office.  This left her in an awkward spot, that forced her to work under a new micro-miss-managing boss, who refused to sit down in her office when talking to her.  

"I keep trying to help correct these mistakes, but she (her new boss) just tells me to 'not think outside the box.'  The whole thing is a disaster," Kate told me one night at home.  

"Damn, that's terrible," I said.  "What are you gonna do about her?"

"Well, I booked some more breweries for us to setup at after work.  That way, I can just leave early & just meet you there," she said.  "The less time I'm in my office, the better."

I could not argue with that.  I could tell how much this new shift in work was bothering her.  At the time, I felt like I was being taken for granted at my job. 

So, despite all of that & all of the weddings we were attending that summer & fall, we pushed Mad Munch into another gear.   Through the magic of email, Kate booked us at Pacific Brewing in Miramar (pictured).

The crowds & sales at Culture on Fridays were continually dwindling & we stopped popping up there by the end of August 2015.  

Belching Beaver in North Park's numbers stayed consistent for Mad Munch so we kept going back once or twice a month on Saturdays.     

Besides Bolt in La Mesa & Pacific in Miramar, we added Bay City near Sports Arena, Mission Brewing near Petco Park downtown & White Labs & St. Archer Brewing also in Miramar.

Photo: Serving a Cheezer at St. Archer Brewing in "Beeramar" as the area became called due to it's large population of micro breweries sprouting up. 

St. Archer became a strong foothold for us in those early days selling Cheezers in Miramar.  It lead to other opportunities in that area & ultimately helped us quit those pesky day jobs, when the time was right.

Summertime Changes

In August 2015, we took off Shroomin' Magnolia & replaced it with Pump Up the Jam (another Cheezer with goat cheese, but with Raspberry Jam) & also Spam Bam Thank You Ma'am, a Hawaiian themed sandwich with Spam, fresh pineapple & plenty of cheese.

We also bragged about how much we loved Johnny Cash (pictured) & that we didn't accept credit cards, but that month we also got with the times & started accepting card payments with this little do-hickey that Kate plugged into her phone.  

Technology is amazing, right?  Thank you, Square for allowing us to take payment on our phone virtually anywhere we setup.

Kate & I also added a few more tasting rooms to our schedule.  We expanded Mad Munch's range out to La Mesa & Miramar, both about 15 miles away from OB.  People just love craft beer & are happy to drink it in any setting that is close to their home.

We setup in the industrial district of La Mesa at Bolt Brewery a few times.  The best was when they had live music.  We'd make some money & listen to some pretty good music.  

Our first time at Bolt (pictured below), Stoney B. Blues commented on my White Sox hat & gave us a couple of his CDs.  Turns out he was from the south side of Chicago & loved to play the blues.

We setup there a few times over the next year or so, until the sales dropped off & the bands no longer played there. 

Serving at the Sundowner

The time had come.  It was our turn to give back to the Ocean Beach Main Street Association's Sundowner.  While we still didn't have a place of our own, we agreed to team up with host, Culture Brewing Co. & cater July's business mixer at their place.

Kate & I had been to many of these events.  If we didn't have a gig booked for the last Thursday of the month, we made an appearance.  

With free drinks & snacks it was an easy sell to stop by for an hour or two at a business in OB & shoot the shit with local business owners.  Obeacians are pretty easy to talk to & it was nice to know most business owners were in the same boat as us- just trying to survive & thrive at the beach.    

Besides, we paid $80 in annual dues to the OBMA, so we figured we'd reap all of the benefits of our membership.  And, there was always a raffle at the end.  All you needed was to remember to bring a business card.      

We brought plenty of them for this particular setup.  Along with Cheezer placards that Kate wrote up beforehand to describe some of our most popular sandwiches of the summer:

The heat was on that night.  Even though we were setup next to the walk-in keg cooler, the humidity & the electric griddle didn't help cool down a large crowd of people at dinner time.  

To make matters worse, the buttered sourdough was taking forever to turn golden brown & crispy.  We started calling this, "ginger-bread syndrome" after the fact.       

At least I was able to assemble the three different cheezers with factory line speed.  It was the first time we chose a limited menu of Cheezers to serve & it was a great all-round decision.  One we still use to this day, when doing catering setups.  Less supplies to bring & less time for people to waste on choosing from eight or more Cheezers.  A valuable lesson learned.

We didn't win the raffle (since we weren't eligible) that night.  But, we did give away a few "Cheezer Coupons" that were cashed in down the road at the OB market.  

It turns out free food is a great way to promote your business.  Even if they don't buy it, they at least got to try it & then, you're on their radar.

Gettin' Cheezy at Leisure Lagoon

Word was getting around about Mad Munch & Kate's friend of a friend, Laurel, thought we'd be perfect for her son's 5th birthday party.  She had tried us at the OB market & loved our grilled cheese.

"You guys would be perfect," she said.  "It's always tacos at these birthday parties, which is fine, but I wanna do something different."

We were thrilled about the opportunity & it was on a Thursday after work, which was open for us.  

The party was at a picnic area along Mission Bay, called Leisure Lagoon (no joke- that's what it's called on Google maps) less than 5 miles away.  Just a little peninsula with a small parking lot & some grass that is surrounded by the man-made bay.  

I remember how easy it was to setup out there with so much space.  After being crammed between tents & a bush every Wednesday at the OB market & shoved into a corner at Culture on Fridays, this was a nice change of scenery.

Laurel paid us $300 ahead of time so when I got groceries that Tuesday, I stocked up with enough extra supplies for around 40 people.  We went with our usual menu which looked like this that summer:

Guests would come up an order just like at the market or a brewery but didn't have to pay.  Tommy Applewoods, OBCs & Ava Magoos were popular out there to eat in a lawn chair or on a blanket.  

Laurel's group was well prepared with additional snacks (she & a bunch of the guests worked at Trader Joe's) & we we're all rewarded with a beautiful sunset.  By the time we packed up, they were busy toasting marshmallows & thanking us for the great sandwiches.

Leisure Lagoon was definitely one of the most picturesque setups that we've had in San Diego.        

Ocean Beach's Annual Chili Cook-off (& Street Fair)

After setting up & selling Cheezers at the 2014 OB Street Fair, Kate & I decided to try our hand at the Chili Cook-off portion of the fair the following year.  My dad had a great recipe that I grew up eating that I could enter & we felt it would be good publicity for Mad Munch.

We had to make at least 10 gallons of chili to participate in the "Restaurant" division of the competition.  My mom emailed my dad's recipe & I began doing the math to scale it up for such a large batch.  With Culture on the Mad Munch calendar for Friday night, I decided to make it Thursday after work.  

Kate was able to borrow a giant pot (50 quart, maybe?) from our friend, Monica & I got busy chopping onions, green peppers & tomatoes.  Then, I browned up 15 lbs. of ground beef.  Try doing that in a regular skillet!  Draining all the grease, may have been the hardest part.

I added my dad's special blend of seasonings with water, tomato juice & diced tomatoes & let it simmer on medium-low for an hour or so.  After that, I added kidney & chili beans & let those cook for another hour.  

It was quite a production & I was so glad I did it a couple days before the cook-off, because: 

A) Chili tastes a lot better when it has time to rest & the flavors have a chance to mingle & 

B) I saw several other contestants scrambling around on the morning of, worried that their beans wouldn't be done in time.           

It all started at 11am, when we were greeted with some light rain before a wave of chili enthusiasts bombarded us with tickets in hand. 

After getting the tent setup & getting the chili up to temp on the grill, my job was pretty easy.  I just kept ladling chili samples into small paper cups on a tray.  Kate would mark the patrons "People's Choice" chili tickets with a sharpie & hand them a full cup.  

My math must have been good, because the large batch went the distance until around 2pm.  That's when the sunshine broke open overhead & we started breaking down.  I was able to back my truck up in the lifeguard tower parking lot, right next to our tent, & we were out of there in no time.

Kate & I went home, had a drink in the welcome silence of our living room.  

"I think they're announcing the winners right now on the main stage," Kate said.

"That's alright," I said.  "I'm sure someone will contact us if we win."

We didn't win.  But, we did have the rest of the afternoon off.  We loaded up some backpacks with refreshments & headed up to the Arizona Cafe to find some friends in the window, watching a great local band on the Bacon Street Stage.

It's still one of my favorite days of the whole year in Ocean Beach.  You just can't fake that small-town community feeling that it delivers every summer.

       

Weddingpalooza 2015

"Let's just go to 'em all," Kate said.

"Really?  Every damn one of 'em?" Zach said.

"Yeah, why not?" she asked.  "My work is about to get bought out anyway by another nursery so I might as well use all of my days."

"Alright, I think I can swing it with my work, too," I said. "Let's look at some flights."

Weddings.  In 2015, we were invited to eight of them & only two were in San Diego county.  We'd have to save up & find flights around our busy schedule.  

We needed to get to:

• Fairfax County, Virginia
• Lake Geneva, Wisconsin
• Rancho Bernardo (San Diego)
• Washington, Maine
• Naperville, Illinois
• Bloomington, Indiana
• Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
• Mission Bay (San Diego) 

Pictured: Showing off our new T-shirt in Reston, Virginia: the first stop on Weddingpalooza 2015.

From early June to mid-October we were jet-setters, driving rental cars, staying at nice hotels & exploring many areas of the U.S. neither one of us had ever seen before.  

The trips were a lot of fun.  It was nice to get away from work & catch up with friends & family.  We weathered a tornado in Wisconsin, ate at a lobster pound in Maine, took a riverboat tour in Chicago, danced our asses off in a barn in Indiana & rode beach cruisers around golf courses in the rain in South Carolina.  

All of the travel & the inconsistent work schedule took a toll on Kate & I.  Being home for a few days, working two jobs & then catching another flight out of town & doing it all over again.  I don't know how people fly out for work every week.  

In our short taste of it, I realized why they call the airport a "terminal."  That's how you felt, waiting there, two hours early, half-awake, psyching yourself up for another connecting flight home.

But at least home, was back to San Diego.  Even when you were sad that the trip was over, you still looked up at the big board & saw that warm, familiar name.  

"Welcome to San Diego.  The current weather is seventy-two & partly cloudy," the stewardess always seemed to say when we touched down at Lindbergh Field.

Ah, I'm glad Kate & I chose a great place to live, work & play.       

From Culture to Catering to a Concert

One Friday night while we were setup at Culture, a couple who lived in OB, was so taken by their Katers Taters that they wanted all of their close friends to try it.

"Do you guys cater?" he asked.

Garrett & his girlfriend were throwing a welcome home party for their close friend returning home from Naval deployment.  "We're gonna need to feed about 60-70 people & your grilled cheese would be perfect," he said.  

"That's definitely doable.  When is it?" I asked.

"Next Saturday," he said. "I know it's kinda short notice & you guys may be too busy, but-"

"Oh, not at all.  We'll do it," Kate said.  "What's your email?  That way I can send you a quote & we'll go from there," Kate said.

We were pretty busy that week.  Well, James Gang Company was anyway, printing out our brand new banner, T-shirts & business cards.

Now that we'd adopted a new logo & had it digitized with our friend Darren's help, it was time to put it in play.  We decided to give our money to OB's local t-shirt printing shop & the day before the catering gig, Kate grabbed a box full of these new, full-color T-shirts.

She had reached out on Facebook ahead of time to see who else wanted one of these beauties.  Our friends & family had been calling dibs on shirts for a long time.  I think we sold them for $20 a piece.

But that first Saturday of June, 2015 was the debut of the new threads & banner at Garrett's Party, up the hill in OB.

Our setup & shirts were so fresh & so were the Cheezers.  It was a warm crowd on a warm afternoon & our food was a hit with the parents & many of the kids out in his back yard.  There was a great air about the event & Garrett gave us a generous tip on top of everything else.

"You guys go have a fun night at your concert," he said as we finished loading up my truck.

Kate & I dropped off my truck at home, threw a couple bags & a cooler into Kate's SUV & headed to a Best Western in Chula Vista.  We had tickets to see Brad Paisley at the amphitheater down there, some 20 miles from our house & wanted to enjoy our night.  

Also, the Blackhawks were putting the finishing touches on the Lightning in Game One of the Stanley Cup Finals.  We watched the end of it in our nice 2nd floor room that I used points for & made a toast to a great day/week.

"Cheers, babe.  Not bad for a Saturday," Kate said.

"Yep, we've come a long way from Golden Hill market," I said.     

The Reno Golf Outing

Kate's friend, Sara, was able to include Mad Munch in a charity golf outing at Rancho Bernardo golf course.  Reno Construction, the company she worked at, paid us ahead of time to set up at the 8th hole & serve up Cheezers to participants.   

It was the first time that we set up on a golf course & since it was on a Friday, both of us took off work from our other jobs, which was nice.  

The golfers would come up to our tent, tell Kate which Cheezer they wanted & I would make it.  Kate quartered it & handed them a paper plate.  It was also great to not have to deal with money & give change, since Reno had fronted the bill.  

The guys golfing were nice & tipsy, but the weather was crappy.  The wind kept blowing out the burners on my grill & it rained throughout the morning, but it still was better than being stuck behind the front desk.  

And, it felt good to a be apart of a charity function that helped raise money for the Warrior Foundation.  It was a win-win for everyone & it even lead to other setups at other golf courses for Mad Munch in the future.

In Bloom Market with San Diego Made

Kate's good friend, Meg, thought we'd be the perfect food vendor for an artisan market that her friend, Kristin, was putting together.  

Kristin's non-profit was (& still is) called San Diego Made & twice a year they put on a market for local artist & creators to showcase & sell their wares.  She booked us to setup Sunday from 10-3, outside the Union in Barrio Logan, a San Diego neighborhood adjacent to downtown.  

Our spot blended in well with the craft fair.  Probably because we were a small, local artisan ourselves, peddling our Cheezers to other small business owners. 

The best part was that we were the only food vendor there.  Being the only game in town is great & when you're a vendor talking to customers & selling your crafts all day, you tend to get hungry.  

Especially when you smell bacon, pesto, mushrooms & spinach wafting through the air on a gorgeous afternoon.  We did a lot of Totes MaGoats & Shroomin' Magnolias out there & created quite a buzz for ourselves.  

Kristin invited us to many more San Diego Made events over the next few years.  We liked doing them a lot.  They were always solid, high-exposure gigs that Mad Munch did well at.  It was also nice to be a part of a community of other self-made bosses.   

From Donnie to Monty to Sammy: Our New Logo

Kate & I decided we wanted to come up with a new logo, something more fun & cartoony.  We felt that we had outgrown "Donnie," & his mustache.  

I scoured the internet at the Best Western front desk until I stumbled upon this logo of "Monty," the mascot for the Tampa Bay Rays Double A Team, the Montgomery Biscuits:

I liked the idea of making an actual grilled cheese into a character, with hands, eyes & shoes.  So, I used "Monty" as a basis for what would become "Sammy."  I sketched out pages of characters over the next weeks before Kate & I arrived at a logo we were ready to digitize.

A friend of ours, Darren did graphic design for his own company, Foxhole Studios & we hired him to make our new logo come to life.  

Back & forth we went- him emailing new proofs & us giving notes for minor tweaks.  I no longer have any of those early drafts of our logo (we experimented with a lot of different mustaches, sunglasses, sandwich shapes & colors) but, in the end, Darren nailed it.

And now we still have that logo that you see everywhere today:

I guess I can see the resemblance between the two.  I think butter is the secret to a successful logo.    

Photo Credits for Montgomery Biscuits Logos: Chris Creamer, SportLogos.net

FOMO Culture

"Zach?  You home?" my friend Brian asked knocking on my front door.  It was a Friday night after working Mad Munch from 5-9pm at Culture.  Kate rolled her eyes.  I opened the door.

"What's up guys?" I asked & let them in.  "We were just watching Dateline."

"We were on our way home from the AZ (a.k.a. Arizona Cafe, a local bar) & thought we'd stop by.  You guys have an extra beer?" Brian asked.  Him & his girl, Lisa seemed to have had a few.

"Sure," I said & grabbed a growler than we'd had filled at Culture earlier that night.

FOMO, or the fear of missing out.  It was something I was dealing with on the weekend nights when we had to work Mad Munch back in 2014-2015.  Being in my early thirties at that time, you'd think I wouldn't have that kind of problem.  But, there's a reason we often refer to OB as "Never-Neverland." 

While I was busy making Cheezers on the griddle, I was worried that I was being left out of having all of the fun.  But, after working two jobs on Wednesdays & Fridays, I was also pretty exhausted by the time Dateline came on at 10pm.  The sound of Keith Morrison's voice was extra soothing after a long week.     

But, I couldn't help but think, I could be doing something better with my time.  They say that's the hardest part of building a routine or good habits- keeping them going even after the thrill has worn off.  

After having a few beers with them in our living room they took off.  I was glad to see them, but realized that I had lived that Friday night lifestyle for years & done it pretty well, if I do say so myself.  

It was around that time that I subconsciously made the decision to push on with Mad Munch- stay the course- & that I really wasn't giving up that much of my social life to do so.  

Afterall, when you regularly set up in a tasting room, your friends will still come out to say hello, when they get thirsty.  

Shroomin' Magnolia & Instagram

Sleepy Pedro hadn't been selling very well so we decided to bring in something new to replace it.  We had done mushrooms on the Pretty Boy Floyd pizza Cheezer & our take on spinach artichoke dip on the Chester the Sailor back in the early days & both were popular.  So we decided to combine the both of them & add ricotta cheese.  The result:

March 2015's Cheezer of the Month, that ended up staying on the menu board through July.  Cheddar, Mozzarella & gooey Ricotta, with Sliced Mushrooms & Spinach.  

It was the perfect special for that spring & summer where our lineup was OB Wednesdays, Culture on Fridays & Belching Beaver most Saturdays.  Three night set-ups where drinking was the the big draw.  

Kate recently setup an Instagram account for Mad Munch & was spreading the word nearly every day with some clever puns to grab people scrolling along on their smart phones.  We had tried some ads on Facebook & on Yelp when the platforms offered free/discounted trials.  Neither made much, if any impact on our sales.  

But, her Instagram posts seemed to lead new customers to Mad Munch.  I think you can see why:

SCORE a Day Off in Class

My day job at the Best Western was starting to drag on me.  I spent most of my slow time at the front desk checking my email, social media & working on Mad Munch stuff.  

One day I got an email about a SCORE workshop that I thought might help take our business to the next level.  The class was in Poway, but I decided it was important enough to just take a day off & go.  I mean, our goal was always to do Mad Munch full-time & leave our day jobs behind, so I felt like this was a step in that direction.   

I think it cost like $30 to register, minus an unpaid day at the hotel & probably $5 in gas to drive my truck fifty miles round trip, but it was an investment in my future.  And a day removed from guests complaining about the view from the room they didn't pay for.

I wish I remember the name of the presenter because he did a great job.  He gave us a lot of good information in only like an hour or so & I scribbled down as much as I could.

  

There was so much material about menu positioning, where your numbers should be, mission statements & clear visions, creating a "Best Practice Audit," & a list of great books.  

I've referred to these two pages of notes over the years many times & I've continued to build more Mad Munch notes around them in the same notebook.  It's been my go-to when something feels off or our sales are struggling.  

Looking back, it was the right move.  SCORE has helped us time & time again figure out the stuff that we don't know.  

That's why you never stop learning & change is the only constant to make it.     

Mad Munch's First T-Shirts

We had been talking about making T-shirts for a long time & one day Kate just went on Vistaprint.com & made it happen.  

Our full color photo of Sleepy Pedro was featured on the back with our slogan (pictured below) & the front breast showed our logo, or Donnie as we liked to call him.

She added a couple of large car magnets with her phone number on them to slap on my truck & a mouse pad, to round out the package.

We'd been doing Mad Munch for almost two years & it felt like we had finally earned our very own work shirts.  It made us look more official when we were making grilled cheeses & arguing under our tent. 

White may not have been the best color choice, though it was the cheapest.  Years later, we paid our friend from kickball, Charlotte, $40 to tie-dye all four of them, giving them a second life.

All four of them still hang in our closet, ten years later.  I'll wear it at the shop every once in a while. They've seen plenty of wear & tear, but they're a great reminder of our early days, our original logo & when you could still find Sleepy Pedro on the menu. 

Moving Out & On Down the Line

"You gotta get out here, brotha," Chase told me on the phone.  He had graduated from SIU in May & already moved to Long Beach. "You belong in California."

"Yeah, well, maybe one day," I said.  "I'm about to move to Tennessee here in about a month."

"Tennessee?  Where at?  When?" he asked.

"Well, I'm catching a ride with my cousin down to Carbondale, Halloween weekend," I said.  "I bought a one-way Greyhound ticket, leaves Monday night from there to Nashville."

"Ah yeah, Music City, baby.  Lookout!" Chase said.  "What're gonna do for work?"

"I'm not sure yet.  But, I'll find something.  I got some money saved up in the meantime."

It was a bold move, but I had to go.  People have told me since then, that packing up all your important belongings & moving is a crazy.  Or it's a great idea.  It depends on who you're talking to, I guess.  

"Do it while you're young," they usually follow with.  And sometimes, "I wish would've done that."

Either way, I was done living with my parents after 10 months in the house I grew up in.  They were nothing but hospitable & supportive of me throughout, but it was time for me to get out there.  

We had driven through Nashville a few times on our way to St. Augustine, FL, where my older brother recently moved.  Just looking out the window of the car, in that short period of time, I knew something was going on there.  And, I couldn't wait to find out what it was.

So, that Friday, October 27, 2006, my cousin, Rooney, picked me up in his Ford Ranger pickup, I threw a suitcase & a heavy backpack in the back & we made the journey to southern Illinois.  

We stayed at DP's apartment, dressed up like the Beastie Boys for Halloween (with my little brother who came down from college at Macomb) & fought for our right to party (like it was 1986) all weekend.  It was a great send off.  I said goodbye to them Sunday & then DP took me to the Greyhound station on Monday night.

"Good luck, buddy," he said.  "Let me know once you get settled down there & we'll come down & visit.  It's only a three-hour drive."

But, the bus took what seemed like six hours, stopping at every one-horse town along the way.  

When I finally reached the bright lights of downtown Music City, I took a taxi from the bus terminal to the Motel 6 that I had booked about a month in advance.

I checked in, unloaded my laptop & hung up some of my nicer dress-shirts & the one sport coat I had for future job interviews.  It was well after 2am & I dozed off in my king bed.  

That was my new home for the next few nights.  I would get busy finding work the next day, so I wouldn't have to go back to Illinois.            

Get Outta There & Take What You Can Get

After I graduated from SIU, I moved in back home with my parents.  I had no money, no car, no job & no girlfriend.  All of my college friends were still in school saying, "You should just stay here in Carbondale for another semester."

But, like my older brother who'd been there before told me, "After you graduate you gotta get outta there.  You don't wanna end up one of those people who never leave."

As I looked to start my career in 2006, I found it was hard to get anything going without a drivers' license.  Mine had been revoked for a DUI while visiting Carbondale in 2002.  I looked at getting one in other states, but realized I had to get to the root of the problem there in Illinois.

So, I took the necessary anti-alcohol classes, borrowed money from my folks & uploaded my resume to Monster.com.  I spent my mornings e-mailing for jobs in radio & TV, office work, sales & managerial roles anywhere that asked for a degree.  

I got an interview at a Steak N' Shake that I felt I nailed, but the guy couldn't hire me because I didn't have a drivers license or a car.  "What if we run outta lettuce or something?  You gotta be able to go get it."

My first "sniff" of employment after college was a sales job at place in Peoria called Kelly Publishing.  I would flip through phone books in Kansas & Nebraska & cold call business to place ads on high school football schedules.

"Are you affiliated with the school?" they'd ask on the other end of the line.  And I had to tell them, "No, we are not."

Click!

I lasted two weeks & made one sale, which wasn't enough to cover the gas it took for my mom to drive me the twenty miles both ways.

I went back to emailing my resume off to faraway places: Jacksonville, FL, Orlando, Savannah, GA.  But, it was in the local Journal Star newspaper that I found my next job.

Affina!  It sounds like something you'd say when you struck it rich.  And, it was my Eureka!

It was another call center, but this time I was taking the calls, answering questions about people's pool filters, serial numbers & warranty info.  Stuff I knew nothing about but they paid to train me for a few weeks, which helped fill that small school void I'd been missing.  

So, I worked the first shift, even doing four, 10-hr day work weeks for a while, catching rides to & from with my mom & saving money for the first time in my life.  It ended up being a nice period of catching up with old friends & allowed me the space to dream up bigger projects down the road.