Good Neighbor Podcast Estero
Bringing Together -
Local Businesses & Your Neighbors in SWFL
Good Neighbor Podcast Estero
EP # 253 How a travel dream became SWFL's favorite food truck destination
Discover the delicious journey of Snow Monkey Business, Estero's homegrown food truck bringing global flavors to Southwest Florida. In this captivating conversation, military veteran Roger Munoz shares how international travels with his wife sparked an innovative culinary concept combining three distinct offerings: traditional savory foods, authentic boba tea, and spectacular snow ice – a specialized frozen dessert that transcends ordinary shaved ice with super-cooled flavors and fresh fruit toppings.
Roger pulls back the curtain on food truck entrepreneurship, revealing surprising insights about the significant overhead costs and regulatory requirements that challenge mobile food vendors. From commercial auto insurance to mandatory partnerships with commercial kitchens, the path to food truck success demands far more investment than many realize. Yet Roger's military background provided the perfect foundation for perseverance through these obstacles, allowing his family's dream to become reality.
The Southwest Florida food scene is evolving rapidly, with exciting developments like dedicated food truck parks creating vibrant community spaces where culinary exploration meets entertainment. Snow Monkey Business has carved out its niche with crowd-pleasing quesadillas and cheesesteaks while staying true to its global inspiration. As Estero locals who fell in love with the area's perfect blend of waterside living and community feel, Roger and his wife embody the entrepreneurial spirit that makes our region special – creating connections through food while remaining deeply customer-focused. Ready to experience these unique flavors? Find Snow Monkey Business on Facebook or text 239-888-9658 to bring this local favorite to your next event!
Snow Monkey Business LLC
Roger Munoz
239-888-9658
Estero, FL 33928
It's time to check out your neighbors on the Good Neighbor podcast, where we bring good vibes, great neighbors and local businesses in Southwest Florida together. Here's your host, Cabo Jim Schaller.
Speaker 2:Welcome Good Neighbors, episode number 253 of the Good Neighbor podcast. Today we have Good Neighbor Roger Munoz from Snow Monkey Business. Welcome, thank you, sir. Thank you for having me. Yeah, absolutely so. Let's jump right in. And why don't you share a little bit? Well, what does Snow Monkey Business do?
Speaker 3:So we are a food truck. We started about over a year ago. We are local here to Estero and we had a pretty good start and we do all kinds of foods. Our license is through the Department of Hotels and Restaurants, so we're very, very flexible.
Speaker 2:Okay, very nice, very nice. So I guess let's back up your story a little bit. How do you get involved in the food truck business?
Speaker 3:So this was a dream of my wife's for a very, very long time. So I'm a retiree, served for 21 years. When we retired in 2017, we took some traveling time. You know, we went through the South Pacific Islands and we saw the variety of you know different things. You know street foods. You know. Have you ever seen videos of Thailand and all those places? You know of Thailand and all those places you know? And one thing that caught her eye was the boba tea. You know, simply because it's popular in Asian countries. But even Starbucks now, you know, is throwing some flavors of boba teas in there and even back in, you know, 2000,. I think it was 2020, you know, when we came back and she was like you know well, we saw so different things. You know different countries, but nobody has the idea of putting everything together Food, boba tea and snow ice.
Speaker 3:Snow ice is different than you know. Your regular shave ice, right, you shave the ice. You know you put some syrups, you know, and that's it. No, this is a machine that super cools. You know, whatever mixture you put in there and it turns it into flavor Ah, snow, literally. And then you decorate it with fresh fruits syrups. It's delicious and people love it, especially in summer.
Speaker 2:Especially down here with the heat Summer coming on us, right? Yes, sir. So let's talk about challenges along your journey, whether personally or professionally. But obviously starting a business from scratch is a challenge in itself, but is there anything that helped kind of define who you are today?
Speaker 3:Yes, you know, I think you know my service in the military 21 years. You know, kind of like set the ground for don't give up. You know, no matter how many obstacles you see the food truck industry is, I'm not going to say it's easy, you know, because there's nothing out there that you know that will tell you how to start a food truck company from the ground up, especially if you're trying to do it legally Right, you know that's the key right there. So I think that's. I found a lot of challenges at the beginning, you know, because all the red tape, inspections, you know, and all the licensing, but that I didn't give up, you know my wife, that was her dream and I just pushed through it.
Speaker 2:And there's a lot of regulations and policies you got to follow, especially with a food truck more so than a restaurant, we'd say, right, yes, sir, a food truck. More so than a restaurant? We'd say, right, yes, sir, yes. So let's talk about maybe the myths or misconceptions surrounding what you do, and maybe we could clear up some of those for our listeners today.
Speaker 3:I think it's a. I'm going to caveat for what I said before. You know, with the licensing, like you were saying, you know the policies. I think some people you know tend to look at pricing at a food truck and they might think it's a little bit too expensive but at the same time the misconception is it probably is cheaper to run a food truck than it is a restaurant and in some cases it's actually.
Speaker 3:Your overhead is very, very, very high Between your commercial auto insurance for vehicle or vehicles depends on your setup, and then you're still going to have your LLC liability insurance for the business. So you combine all those it's also very over a gram per month. If you have a good system then you're going to need some sort of a storage where you can actually plug in your system that your overhead just keeps shooting through the roof. Also, like you said about the licenses, licenses are not cheap. You know.
Speaker 3:Just to maintain the inspections you got to maintain a contract with a commercial kitchen. That's every six months. So all of that requires us my wife and I we both actually certified food protection managers, which is a requirement you know for to have a full blown license with the department hotels and restaurants. So that alone tells you that your food is being prepared, is being handled properly. So this is the safety for the customer also. So I think the misconception sometimes is the food trucks tend to be a little bit expensive. But if that food truck is fully certified, you need to understand that it's a lot, a lot, a lot of investment that goes into it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's just not showing up with a truck and cooking some food. There's a lot that's prepared in advance and regulations and guidelines you need to follow to make sure it's safe for everybody. So do you notice anything trending in the industry lately? I know food trucks have become very popular in the last, you know, 10 years or so, but do you notice anything changing or trending?
Speaker 3:One thing that is trending right now is actually your I would say your food truck parks per se, and it had to do with, I would say, counties and local leaders being more involved, you know, in trying to give people more options. So it's a good thing. I know the Fort Myers has approved one. Fort Myers Beach is going to be down the road on Estero Boulevard, I think. Very nice. You have the backyard social right here by the airport RSW. Also, it's a pretty good entertainment area and you know. So these things are popping everywhere where you can stop by. You're going to have a bar, you're going to have entertainment, you're going to have food trucks and you can walk around and pick your food truck, whatever food you want.
Speaker 3:Also, you can have drinks, they can have live music, entertainment and all those things. So for the food truck industry that's very exciting, right? Because all of those things are coming up the proper way. So I think that's going to bring a different flavor and it's going to bring a different, I will say, food scene, you know, to Southwest Florida, yes, Absolutely.
Speaker 2:You know and I love the variety of your menu, just in general. Any particular favorites on your menu?
Speaker 3:So, you know, since our license is with the department of hotels and restaurants, we can. You know, like I said, it's very flexible, we can change it and we tried so many things, you know. So we narrowed down to what we have right now is because it's what we saw out there. You know what we saw traveling to different countries, even parts of the United, and you know just what people want. You know that's a key thing right there. So we narrowed it down to two types of quesadillas, you know you can have your skirt steak and your southwestern chicken. You know, and those two became popular.
Speaker 3:As soon as we put them out, we noticed that people were like you know, this is good, man. Also, the cheesesteaks you know we have a cheese steak and a chicken filling, um, you know. So the same thing, you know. We, we went online, saw a lot of people how they were cooking them. We try around, you know, we had people try them out and they're like you know, well, this is, this is really good. Uh, you know. So I think that the key thing with the menu, you know, it's just, you have to try it out, you have to let people try it, you have to put yourself out there and just accept the criticism. You know, make changes.
Speaker 2:That's it Adjust to what the people want, what they're demanding. Absolutely that's. Being flexible is important. So you mentioned you were in the military. Are you from Southwest Florida originally?
Speaker 3:So I grew up in Manhattan, new York City, okay, 71st and New York Avenue. But you know, back in 2006, I had the opportunity to come down to Jacksonville, florida, so that's what I used to do for the Marines. You know there's a small outfit out there. You know we were there for six months and the wife and I we traveled all around Florida during that time and the moment we crossed the state, you know, we got to this side and we're like, you know, this is the spot. You know, hands down. You know there's no way. You know we tried Texas.
Speaker 3:You know we lived in California, san Diego, for a while, you know, and they're like no, it's just a combination of things. You know proximity to, you know, to the waters. I love fishing in my own time, you know I do short fishing for sharks. I go to Bonita, you know, and I catch like five, six footers, nice, and catch, you know, barracuda and a whole bunch of other fish too. So that was important for us. You know itself, the area Estero itself kind of caught our eyes, simply because back in the day when we were looking, it was small enough that it felt like it was comfortable for us to call it home Later, down the road.
Speaker 2:And it's growing nicely. It's got a good mix of young and old and new things happening here, such as the food trucks and everything, so I love it. So I know owning a business can be very demanding. You mentioned fishing, but is there anything else you love to do outside of when you do get them in a free time?
Speaker 3:You know, just spend time with friends and family, you know, just get back to the basics. You know, sometimes you get so busy that I think you forget, you know, about the people in your life, and then I think that's something you know we have to remember. So we make the time, you know like to get ahold of family and invite them over, you know, go to their house, and we find time to do that all the time, you know, we have her family over, or my family, which is the case right now. Know, um, my family's going to be here this weekend, all the way until, I think it's wednesday, and then her family comes in. Uh, she's originally, uh, her family is originally from taiwan. Okay, you know. So, uh, yeah, you just, you know, spend time with friends and family, you know that's the important part.
Speaker 2:That's why we do all this right to enjoy life with the people we love. Yes, sir. So is there one thing you wish our listeners knew about Snow Monkey that maybe they wouldn't be too aware of?
Speaker 3:You know that we are actually very friendly, we are customer-driven, we are local to Estero. I think a lot of people don't. Especially in Estero we find a lot of businesses, a lot of events, you know, that tend to overlook, you know, the businesses that actually like from here. Sterile is very small, you know, yep. So that's one thing that you know. I think that, like, your shows actually help, you know, I guess a lot of people don't, don't, don't see that, you know, and sometimes we see, you know, and we're like right, yeah, we couldn't get in there, but somebody from like you know, like two hours away, you know, managed to get in there, you know. So I don't know, uh, it's just a food truck. You know, industry, the way it is marketing is very hard, you know, to do. Yeah, it's just it's not like a restaurant. You know, uh, that you can actually do all these great things. You know, um know, but that's one thing we like people to know that we are here locally, you know, and you know our calendar is open, you know, yep.
Speaker 2:Support your local business and your neighbors, absolutely so. How would our listeners go about contacting you if they wanted to check you out or wanted to hire you?
Speaker 3:for an event. So we are on Facebook. It's Snow Monkey Business LLC. An event. So we are on facebook. Uh, it's no, it's no monkey business uh, llc. Um, we also have a phone number at 239-888-9658. That's a 239-888-9658, and they can send us a text. You know, call us and make a reservation or, you know, invite us to events, uh, but facebook has been the uh force, uh, behind all of this, even though though you know Facebook is not supposed to be a business marketing tool. But you know, southwest Florida Food Trucks is actually a page. You know it's a group that people can find and you go in there. You're going to find all sorts of food trucks. You know, like who's available, who's doing what, or just type in your event and whoever's available is going to start sending in their menus and their timelines. You know availability, so yeah.
Speaker 2:That's it. It's all about connecting the community. Well, roger, it's been a pleasure getting to know you. First of all, thank you for your service as well. Thank you, thank you for being such a good neighbor as well, too, so we hope to see you out in the community soon. Yeah, thank you, sir.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the good neighbor podcast, bringing together good vibes, great neighbors, local businesses in Southwest Florida. To nominate your favorite local business to be featured on the show, go to Cabo Wabo Jim. com. That's Cabo Wabo Jim. com. Or call two, three, nine, four, two, seven, four, one, zero, zero.