1. Midwest Organization Development & Change Community Gathering
What Makes Chef Work?  An Exploration of What it Means to Own a Food Truck
Jane V Wheeler
JoeJohn M Lanza
Midwest Organization Development & Change Community Gathering
March 14, 2015

2. Agenda Research Question Literature Review Methodology
Preliminary Findings
Conclusion

3. “Yeah, well I love it. Everything that's good that's happened to me in my life came because of that. I might not do everything great in my life. Hey, I'm not perfect. I'm not the best husband and I'm sorry if I wasn't the best father. But I'm good at this. And I want to share this with you. I want to teach you what I learned. I get to touch people's lives with what I do and it keeps me going and I love it. And I think if you give it a shot you might love it too.” - Carl Casper in the movie, Chef

4. So what do you think?
From Chef’s perspective, what does it mean to own a Food Truck?

5. Research Question What does it means to own a Food Truck?
Why are they becoming such a big hit?
Working towards hypotheses.

6. Literature Review
Kane, T. (2015). The Entrepreneurial Decision: A Two-System Survey of DC Food-Truck Owners. Hudson Institute Economic Survey Research.
Aims to understand the entrepreneur’s decision between creating a business or choosing employment at an existing firm.
Offers unique survey evidence about both motivations and barriers based on a field survey of 30 food truck entrepreneurs in Washington, D.C. that was administered during the summer of 2013.
First, what are the personal motivations for entrepreneurship? Second, what are the policy barriers to entrepreneurship? Third, what are the personal barriers?
“Independence/Being your own boss.”
“Financing,”
concern over time commitment

7. Literature Review
Ryff, C. (1989). Happiness Is Everything, or Is It? Explorations on the Meaning of Psychological Well-Being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57,
Autonomy, environmental mastery, personal growth, positive relations with others, purpose in life, and self-acceptance.
Fordyce, M. (1988). A review of research on the happiness measures: A sixty second index of happiness and mental health. Social Indicators Research, 20, 355–381.
Chose this measure based on its track record as a frequently used measure for assessing current happiness (Seligman 2002) and because of its parsimony.
The measure consists of two items: (1) an 11-point item assessing happiness/unhappiness, ranging from ‘‘extremely happy’’ to ‘‘extremely unhappy’’ and (2) an item asking for the amount of time (in percentages totaling 100) spent in ‘‘happy,’’ ‘‘unhappy,’’ and ‘‘neutral’’ moods.
Test–retest reliability for 2-week period = .86 (Fordyce 1988). The final score is an average of (a) the scale score (0–10) from the first item, multiplied by ten, and (b) the percentage of time spent in ‘‘happy’’ moods.”

8. The Fordyce Emotions Questionnaire (Fordyce, 1988)
In general, how happy or unhappy do you usually feel? Circle the number from the scale below that best describes your average happiness:
0 Extremely unhappy (utterly depressed, completely down)
1 Very unhappy (depressed, spirits very low)
2 Pretty unhappy (somewhat “ blue ” , spirits down)
3 Mildly unhappy (just a bit low)
4 Slightly unhappy (just a bit below neutral)
5 Neutral (not particularly happy or unhappy)
6 Slightly happy (just a bit above neutral)
7 Mildly happy (feeling fairly good and somewhat cheerful)
8 Pretty happy (spirits high, feeling good)
9 Very happy (feeling really good, elated!)
10 Extremely happy (feeling ecstatic, joyous, fantastic!)
Consider your emotions a moment further. On the average, what percent of the time do you feel happy? What percent of the time do you feel unhappy? What percent of the time do you feel neutral (neither happy nor unhappy)?
Write the percentage of time that you feel happy, unhappy, and neutral below. Make sure that the three numbers add up to 100%.
On average:
The percent of the time I feel happy ________%
The percent of the time I feel unhappy ________%
The percent of the time I feel neutral ________%
Scoring information
Scores range from 0 to 10 with higher scores indicating greater levels of happiness. The average score for American adults is 6.92 ( SD 1.75). The average score on time happy is 54.13% ( SD ); unhappy is 20.44% (SD ); and neutral is 25.43% ( SD ).

9. Methodology Interviews Surveys ~ 10 Food Trucks in Toledo
Demographics Survey
Kane – Last 3 questions of survey
How many other companies have you started?
How long have you been running this business as your primary occupation?
When is the last time you worked as an employee?
Surveys
Ryff (1989)
Fordyce (1988)

10. Preliminary Findings Customer location - Go where the customer is
Small vs big city
Brick & mortar vs food truck or both
Product – full menu vs select items
Food Truck Culture
Hiring practices
Hire employees who know customer’s name
Upbeat and personable
“Salesman” mentality
An answer to “Wal-martization” – Individual spirit

11. Conclusion Watched a segment of Chef. Research question
Literature review
Methodology
Preliminary Findings
Thank you!