Today we’d like to introduce you to Brian Foxworth.
Brian, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Rhythm’s Chicken and Waffles is a company initially started by me and my family and then parenting up with a friend Eric Hanrahan in the launch of the new location in Pacific Beach.
My journey started when I opened my first business picking up recycling (cans and bottles) from high schools around San Diego. I started ordering recycling bins and placing them around the campuses and collecting them after school. It was a lot of work, so I started brainstorming on ways to get more cans.
I then went to a baseball game sometime that year and realized they served beer and sodas out of cans and bottles, and that’s when the light bulb came on. The next day, I googled who the CEO of Petco Park was and his contact info popped up, so I called.
The GM answered the phone and me being totally unprepared, I introduced myself and told him what I want to do. At that time they were looking for someone to join there clean up and recycling team and take over the program.
Long story short, I met with the GM and they gave me the contract! I owned and operated Green Team Recycling SD and hired over 300 employees in cleaning the stadium after the games,
That was the intro to the business world.
After a couple of years holding that contract with Petco Park, I opened up Rhythms Chicken and Waffles Food Truck.
I have always had a passion for cooking and worked in culinary growing up so I decided to open a food truck. I started off as Rhythm and Desserts serving Ice Cream and Churros. Come to find out you have to sell a lot of ice cream and churros to make a profit so my father (Brian Foxworth SR.) came up with the idea to sell chicken and waffles off the food truck. With his idea and mom’s chicken, I thought it was genius and we instantly order the waffle cookers and started frying chicken and serving late nights in Pacific Beach… 6 pm-2 am (me, my mom and dad) Friday and Saturday nights. We started to get some traction and a lot of the breweries in San Diego became interested and welcomed us to come serve at there venue.
We started doing a lot of events around San Diego and people started loving the food, and that’s when we realized we had something great going.
In 2019, we got rid of the truck and began looking for a brick and mortar location. I stumbled across a place in Pacific Beach San Diego and thought it would be perfect if we opened up in the heart of PB. I then teamed up with my partner Eric and started the process of bringing Rhythms to PB.
I came up with the name Rhythm’s because music has always been a big part of my life. My father being a DJ has influenced me a lot. The idea of Rhythms is to have a place where you can eat and feel the vibes at the same time.
We opened up May 24th, 2019 and it’s been a busy year thus far. We have a lot of support from everyone in San Diego being that we are natives and family operated.
2020 is going to a big year for us and with the support of San Diego, we plan on expanding very soon.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
So far, it’s been good but there has been a few bumps along the way.
When we first opened on the 24th of May we served over 500 people in 2 days with 1 waffle cooker!
Our power was not strong enough to operate 6 waffle makers at once so we blew the circuit and had to serve off one waffle cooker which resulted in some of our guest having to wait 45-60min for there food. Good thing is they were satisfied when they got it.
Other than that, finding the right employees was the toughest part. Every business struggles with this and finding the right employees is a very important part of running a smooth business.
My mother helps out a lot! Thank god for mothers!!!
Please tell us about Rhythm’s Chicken and Waffles.
Rhythm’s is known for our chicken and waffles sandwiches and our chicken period. We make sure the chicken is fresh every time and we take pride in making sure everyone is satisfied. I think that’s what sets us apart from others.
I am proud of the “come up”. I am proud of how we started from the bottom with an old truck and ended up in the heart of PB.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
Growing up playing outside with all the kids on the block. Those memories are priceless.
Contact Info:
- Address: 1136 Garnet Avenue
San Diego, CA 92109 - Website: www.RhythmandDesserts.com
- Phone: 619-452-8118
- Email: info@rhythmschickenandwaffles.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rhythmschickenandwaffles/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rhythmschickenandwaffles
Image Credit:
Brian Foxworth, Vince @MarveousMuncher
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