In 2009, with the Los Angeles food truck obsession spreading nationwide, Ross Resnick, 30, created a company in Santa Monica to serve as a one-stop resource for food trucks. Roaming Hunger, which moved to West Hollywood last year, is a service that books food trucks for events and a smartphone app that helps people find the real-time location of grub trucks. Recently, the company has grown to take on catering, matching up event planners with trucks that fit their demands. Resnick spends most of his time working with developers and staying on top of food-truck culture, an enviously delicious task. Resnick spends his time away from work with his wife, who is a reporter for a local news station, and his new daughter. We spoke with Resnick about how he manages his time. .
Question: Describe your morning routine.
Answer: Usually, I wake up at 6 a.m. Sometimes, I wake up with an alarm clock but usually it’s from my 10-month-old daughter. My wife, Evelyn Taft, works early – she’s the morning show meteorologist on air at CBS, so I am on duty from like 3:30 a.m. on if our daughter wakes up. So we cuddle and listen to classical music and she gets her bottle and then I get relief from the nanny. Three or four days a week I go to yoga, spin or pilates. I start every day with a kale smoothie and a cold brew coffee with milk. Not at the same time. Then I get in to work around 9 a.m.
How do you achieve work life balance?
As much as you can combine the things you do that you are passionate about with family obligations, it’s great. I work out with my wife and, since I need to keep on top of food trends and eat out, I have that be my social life. I once read a David Sedaris essay where he said that you think of your life as four gas burners. One burner represents your family, one is your friends, the third is your health, and the fourth is your career. If you want to be successful, you have to turn one of the burners off. For me, social life suffers.
How do you carve out time for your daughter?
We get off the cell phone. It’s hard, but we really try to be present and not multitask with the screen.
How’d you get involved with mapping food trucks?
I traveled abroad as an undergrad at USC, and became obsessed with the street food in Hong Kong. I later went to UCLA for grad school and worked for a bunch of startups – my last job was at Honest Tea. Then, when food trucks started to get popular in 2009, I took that entrepreneurial skill set and my love of cheap eats and ran with it.
What inspires you?
I love what I do so much. The things we do here are so in sync with my passions that I don’t feel like I’m ever going to work. I feel everyday like I’m just living my life. After ten years of working in other capacities, this is the first time I have ever felt that way, truly.
