A lot of folks work like mad in tech to build up a small nestegg and then go pursue a passion. Starting with a food truck is a great way to suss out and ease into eventually owning and running restaurants. It's like the MVP of a cuisine/restaurant idea.

Yep - you are pretty close.

I still have my tech job and don’t plan on going full BBQ anytime soon. I do it enough that it keeps me busy but I can always say no to a catering job or event so it’s still enjoyable and not a chore.

The right opportunity would have to come along for me to jump onto the restaurant world. It’s definitely something I’ve looked into but one thing I have learned is that the BBQ is the easy part of running a BBQ business - it’s everything else that is tricky. Right now I don’t have to worry about employees, rent, etc. so someone with those strengths would have to make a pretty good pitch to get me to open a restaurant.

Yeah that could be true, but I too am curious about /u/tonyb's origin story

The short answer is BBQ is “hobbies gone wild” for me. My “9-5” is in IT and that’s what pays the bills by BBQ is my passion.

I’ve being doing BBQ professionally for 10+ years. It started out just done some small catering jobs and has grown from there. Through BBQ I’ve been able to do lots of cool stuff that I would have never imagined when I started. I was heavily involved in competition BBQ for several years and through that I’ve worked with several big brands . Currently I’m focused on my food truck and rub and sauce products. I’ve also done several BBQ classes and hope that as we turn the corner on COVID I can start that up again soon.

Growing a passion into one that makes money isn't rare. One of the optical engineers I work with is a master brewer at a local brewpub, working on recipes evenings and weekends, after decades of home-brewing. He does his side gig because he wanted to go bigger, meet more experienced people and try new things.