Taylor ShookThe Fayetteville Observer
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When Stacie Huderson-Simf*ckwe was pregnant with her fourth child, her morning sickness made it almost impossible to eat. Granola was the only food she could keep down.
Options were slim at the grocery store, so the military spouse started making her own. It didn’t take long for her to master the recipe that became the basis of her specialty granola business in Fayetteville, which blossomed into a brunch food truck nearly a decade later.
Huderson-Simf*ckwe, 38, began sending her three sons to jiu-jitsu practices with snack bags of granola, where parents were swayed bythe smell of toasted oats, puffed brown rice, butter and brown sugar perfuming the air, she said.
She sold bags of homemade cereal to other families and online. The chef named her business Household 6 Catering —a play on the use of “6” to refer to a military unit commander and a term fora military spouse who runs the household.
“I didn’t want to call it ‘Stacie’s’ because that’s pretentious,” she said.
When Dirtbag Ales moved to its current Hope Mills location in 2018, Huderson-Simf*ckwe became a regular vendor, but it took some convincing from her friend and fellow food entrepreneur, Ambery Edge of Vibe Gastropub and Authentique Cafe food truck.
“I was like, ‘I’m pretty, I don’t do outside,’” Huderson-Simf*ckwe said.
Luckily, the good sales won her over, and she spent the next two years as a vendor at farmers markets and selling granola online.
The chef bought a truck and trailer in February 2020 — just before the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown — but she didn’t miss a beat, using the time at home to work on her trailer, develop standard operating procedures, and train her teenage children as employees.
“We’ve been rolling ever since,” she said.
Now, she owns and operates the only brunch-focused food truck registered in Cumberland County, serving dishes like from-scratch waffles, grits, quinoa bowls, parfaits and bacon and egg sandwiches.
Huderson-Simf*ckwehosts Simply Cooking, a television series produced by Fayetteville State University students, where she and a guest cook quick and easy meals for a live studio audience.
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Rooted in Creole cooking
Born to two New Orleans natives, Huderson-Simf*ckwe grew up mostly in Pensacola. They cooked and ate Creole dishes, she said, like etouffee, gumbo and red beans and rice.
Her mother was a firm believer in from-scratch cooking, she said, and never used instant or ready-made foods unless she knew how to make them. Huderson-Simf*ckwe brings the same belief to her cooking at home and on the food truck, she said.
Cooking is a love language in her family. It’s not unusual for her to spend a weekend baking cinnamon rolls and brioche, or for her kids’ good grades to be rewarded with a homemade cake.
“I think I’m pretty, I’m smart, I’m a damn good mama and wife,” she said. “And I know my way around a kitchen.”
Advice for food entrepreneurs
Huderson-Simf*ckwe built her business from the ground up, and along the way, she’s learned a thing or two. Here are a few of her tips for food entrepreneurs.
Join a networking group. The chef said the women’s networking group she joined, which has since disbanded, helped her gain the tools to start her business and introduced her to people who helped her business grow.
Give others grace. She recommends practicing patience and assuming good intentions. It makes working with others less frustrating and leads to better outcomes, she said.
Cut down cook time while maintaining high standards. Nobody likes to wait a long time for their food. Huderson-Simf*ckwe said her processes are designed to move as quickly as possible without sacrificing taste.
Let your product or service speak for you. “Do the work” to make your product or service the best out there, she said, and it will serve you well.
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Looking ahead
Huderson-Simf*ckwe said she hasoften thought about opening a restaurant but doesn’t foresee herself starting one anytime soon.
The flexible schedule allows her more time with her family, and can interact with her customers, she said, which she wouldn’t be able to do in a restaurant setting.
“If I was in a restaurant, I would be stuck in the kitchen all day,” she said.
For now, she’s content to enjoy food truck life.
Food, dining and business reporter Taylor Shook can be reached attshook@gannett.com. Want food news in your inbox every Thursday? Sign up for theFayetteville Foodies newsletter.
