Laura Hughes founded her own small business, LaLa’s Kitchen, in 2015 with a dream of bringing an exciting new culture and line of cuisine to Hutto. The popular food truck serves up authentic Korean comfort food in the heart of Historic Downtown Hutto.
Prior to opening her own restaurant, Hughes worked in the food industry and managed several other restaurants. A passion for sharing food with friends and family pushed her into entrepreneurship and convinced her to launch her own small business.
Working for herself required taking a leap of faith and enduring a few challenges. Two of the biggest obstacles she faced were not having a stable income and initially having to rely on others to help run her own business. Even with the challenges, Hughes encourages others who want to start their own ventures to take the risk of going into entrepreneurship.
“Make sure you have support behind you, not just when you succeed, but also when you fail,” she said. “Trust your gut and shoot for the stars. Dreams can come true, it just might take a bit longer than you expect.”
After LaLa’s Kitchen opened, Hughes saw first-hand the impact that her food had on her friends, family and customers, reaffirming that her risks paid off.
“When I saw my friends and family react to and understand our culture with love through food, I knew I did the right thing,” she said. “I love being able to educate others that some changes are good and that the unknown isn’t always scary.”
Nearly seven years after initially launching her own small business, including almost a year here in Hutto, Hughes hopes she can be an inspiration to others looking to make the transition into business ownership.
“I hope to inspire others to dream big and believe in themselves and what they love,” she said. “I didn’t get where I am without sweat, tears and doubts, but I had people in my life that gave me the courage and strength to make my dreams turn into reality. I will never regret giving it a chance to believe in myself and my dreams.”
For more information and to view a schedule of when LaLa’s Kitchen is serving up delicious Korean cuisine in the food truck park located at 209 Farley Street, visit the business on Facebook and Instagram.
As part of National Small Business Week, the City of Hutto is excited to shine a spotlight on local small businesses. The nationwide theme for #SmallBusinessWeek 2022 is the resiliency and tenacity of America’s entrepreneurs, who are doing their part to power our nation’s historic economic comeback. For the next couple of weeks, we’ll make daily posts on the City’s Official Instagram page to celebrate the local entrepreneurs whose businesses help make Hutto such a special place to live and shop. Follow along by visiting @cityofhutto on Instagram.