My dad ran a food cart and called it the ‘worst business.’ I decided to follow in his footsteps anyway.
Petey Stathopoulos, a 29-year-old entrepreneur, runs Petey’s World Cafe, a breakfast cart located in the bustling streets of Midtown Manhattan. Despite his father’s stern warnings about the challenges of the food truck business—labeling it as “the hardest and the worst business in the world”—Petey found himself in this line of work after facing a period of depression during the COVID-19 pandemic. With no clear direction in life and feeling stagnant at home, he was propelled into entrepreneurship when his father presented him with an ultimatum: buy a pushcart or leave the family home. This pivotal moment led Petey to invest $35,000 into the business, marking the beginning of a challenging yet transformative journey.
Operating the cart requires Petey to wake up at 4 a.m. daily, driving an hour from Long Island to Manhattan, where he serves customers until 11 a.m. The routine initially helped him regain a sense of purpose, but as he reflects on his four years in the business, he realizes that it’s not the long-term career he desires. The pressures of maintaining customer loyalty, managing rising costs, and balancing family life weigh heavily on him. He describes a typical month’s expenses, which include $350 for garage storage, up to $2,000 for baked goods, and various other costs, leaving him with just enough income to get by. Despite the hardships, Petey acknowledges the personal growth he has experienced through this grind, emphasizing that it has helped him discover who he is and what he truly wants in life.
Looking to the future, Petey dreams of transitioning from his pushcart to a specialty coffee shop, where he can further hone his skills and understand the flow of a more permanent establishment. While he currently feels trapped in the food cart business due to economic constraints, he remains hopeful and passionate about coffee, even experimenting with new drink recipes at home. Ultimately, Petey’s story is one of resilience and self-discovery, illustrating how the challenges of entrepreneurship can lead to profound personal insights and aspirations for a brighter future.
Petey Stathopoulos outside of his breakfast cart in NYC.
Business Insider
Petey Stathopoulos owns and runs a breakfast cart in NYC called Peteys World Cafe.
His father, who ran a food truck for decades, warned him that this business “will destroy your life.”
He dreams of a different job, but says the grind has taught him who he is and what he really wants.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Petey Stathopoulos, 29, owner of
Peteys World Cafe
, a coffee cart in New York City. It has been edited for length and clarity.
I run a
coffee cart
in Midtown New York City, but it wasn’t the life I’d planned for, nor a life I want to keep up long-term.
My dad’s been in the
food truck business
since before I was born and always told me, “Don’t ever get into this business. This is the hardest and the worst business in the world. You’ll destroy your life.”
During COVID, I was going through a
major depression
. I was out of a job, and I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life. I just stayed home at my parents’ place with my wife and kid and was kind of being a dirtbag. Then, after about a year, my dad basically got fed up with me.
He came to me one day and said he’d found a pushcart for sale, and he gave me a choice: either buy the pushcart or get out of the house. So, I bought the cart and the business for about $35,000.
See how Petey and other food truck vendors earn a living on NYC streets in the
BI video
below:
Living the life I was told to avoid
I wake up around 4 a.m. each morning at my place in Long Island, rush to the garage in
Long Island City
where I store my cart, and drive an hour into Manhattan, where I set up shop in Midtown. I then drive it all back when I’m done around 11 a.m., and I do this five days a week.
At first, the routine grounded me. Within a year, I began to feel like myself again. But now, four years in, I’ve realized that I don’t want to do this anymore.
Petey’s cart in NYC.
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The work is constant, and the customers can be unpredictable. I lost about half of my customer base when I raised my prices by $0.25.
That sucks because I always try to give good
customer service
: I greet you, I try to remember you, and I try to be as good as possible. But the stress of keeping up with raising prices and maintaining a loyal customer base is unrelenting.
Petey works on the corner of Park Avenue and E 32 St in NYC.
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I pay $350 a month for the garage, $1,200 to $2,000 a month for baked goods, about $200 a month for propane, $50 a week for cleaning, and that doesn’t include insurance, gas, and maintenance costs.
At the end of the day, I earn enough to simply maintain, but that’s not a way to live.
Petey giving a customer cash back.
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The only reason I stay in this job is because of my kids. I have a 7-year-old and a 2-year-old. But because of my work, I can only give my kids 20% of my battery, and I give everybody else 80%. I wish it could be the other way around.
I know I sound negative, but there’s so much positivity that has come from this experience. I had to
go through this to grow
and become the man I am today. Through this process, I’ve learned who I am and what I want. I think every man should go to war with themselves to truly find themselves.
I want to start a coffee shop
Petey making coffee in his pushcart. He hopes to have a different set up one day.
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Whenever I get rid of this pushcart, I plan on working for a
specialty coffee shop
and getting an understanding of how the flow works, because it’s all flow. Eventually, I would love to own my own coffee shop.
Right now, though, the economy’s pretty bad, and nobody really has money to buy a street business, so I’m stuck here for a while longer.
In the meantime, I enjoy experimenting with various drinks at home using my espresso machine. One of my favorites is an iced Americano.
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