Today we’d like to introduce you to Ricky Williams.
Hi Ricky, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I have been an accountant for 15 years. When the company I worked for got bought by a bigger one, I decided to take my buyout and figure out what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.
I have ALWAYS had a passion for cooking and am always the one being asked to cook at gatherings, etc… But I had NO idea how to run a restaurant and had no experience even working in a professional kitchen.
Well, a friend of mine told me that Gainesville was about to open a food truck park and at the time, they were ALL the rage. SO I figured, a food truck would be where I taught myself how to cook for the masses and learn the food industry at my own pace. Since I did most of the work to my food truck myself, it didn’t cost me a whole lot of money to get it up and going. If I ended up not liking it, no biggie, I could sell it, probably make a few bucks and go back into accounting.
Well, it went over like gangbusters! I had to learn everything on the fly, so that’s what I did! Boy did I have some doosies.
Well, a few years go by and I was able to build up my savings and knew it was time to open a restaurant. I found a great little place in downtown Gainesville. It was exactly what I was looking for, seating for about 40 people, the perfect size for me to learn the ropes of running a brick and mortar. Yeah, I bought the place in Feb of 2020. Exactly, one month before the government shut down all dining rooms for restaurants. YIKES!
But I was determined and not going to give up. Behind my place was a parking lot, it was actually the DPS parking lot. Well, the loophole for the government was that all dining rooms had to be closed, it did not say that you couldn’t serve food out of a food truck. Well most food trucks need commercial kitchens to do most of the cooking and prepping and then they load it all on their trucks, these are called commisarys. Well all professional ones had to close. Well, I just bought one!!! So I cooked the food in my new restaurant’s kitchen and served it out of my food truck. New York Style pizza pies!! We had to take reservations we were so busy. We had a girl that would take reservations F-Sun 4pm-9pm We figured out we could cook 4 pies every 15 mins. And we sold out every week. So by the time they allowed places to open in May, we made enough money to build out the rest of the place.
And the rest is history, now we are on restaurant number three with two locations!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Covid was the big one. Then soaring food prices, went through a horrible divorce.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Doc’s Sports Grill?
We are a lifestyle sports grill. Iconic Smash burgers, new york style pizza pies, wings, etc..
Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
Passion and drive
Contact Info:
- Facebook: Docs Sports Grill Bowie; Docs Sports Grill Muenster
Image Credits
Jennifer Foreman Photography
