Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their very own.
Key Takeaways
- A Meals Community victory launched Shemtob’s profession, however a kitchen harm impressed his subsequent large concept.
- Drawing on his personal years in hospitality, Shemtob constructed Snibbs to raise staff who spend their days serving others.
- After dropping his house within the 2025 LA fires, Daniel Shemtob turned tragedy into motion.
What’s tougher? Operating a restaurant or a shoe firm?
Daniel Shemtob doesn’t even pause earlier than answering. “They’re each so goddamn equally onerous,” he says, laughing.
He would know. The chef-turned-founder has completed each. In hospitality, he’s the drive behind The Lime Truck, a Southern California favourite that grew to become a nationwide title. Earlier than profitable The Nice Meals Truck Race on the Meals Community, Shemtob had already constructed a loyal following together with his contemporary, quick and fearless strategy to meals. Then he took that very same truck, drove it from Malibu to Miami and gained your entire competitors.
“Operating a meals truck teaches you every little thing about enterprise,” Shemtob says. “Actual property, logistics, customer support, provide chain, you be taught all of it.” That schooling led to extra than simply TV fame. It fueled a restaurant profession that features Hatch, his acclaimed full-service idea.
Associated: This AI Device for Restaurant Homeowners Is Giving ‘Hours’ of Time Again
Someplace between late-night service and early-morning prep, Shemtob discovered his subsequent obsession: sneakers. After a foul slip within the kitchen left him injured, he began questioning why each non-slip work shoe appeared and felt horrible. “Nothing represented who we’re,” he says. “Cooks, nurses, bartenders, they deserve one thing higher.”
That frustration grew to become Snibbs, a design-forward footwear firm constructed for staff who by no means sit down. 5 years of trial and error produced a shoe that cooks really need to put on. Collaborations with trade icons like Nancy Silverton adopted, together with a mission-driven program that has donated greater than 1,000 pairs to hospitality staff in want.
I put Snibbs to the check. My firm’s catering supervisor, Steven Swiderski, tried them for every week and known as them “light-weight, breathable and top-tier for lengthy shifts.” After I learn the evaluate reside through the present, Shemtob’s response stated all of it. “Inform Steven I’d give him an enormous hug,” he laughed. “That’s the most effective suggestions you will get.”
Moments like that remind him why he began Snibbs within the first place. “I began as a busboy and labored each job as much as CEO,” Shemtob says. “So if I could make life a bit higher for the individuals in these sneakers, that’s success to me.”
Associated: He Signed His First Enterprise Deal on His Honeymoon. Now His Drive-Through Espresso Model Has 15 Areas.
Discovering power after the fireplace
On January 9, 2025, every little thing modified for Shemtob.
He and his spouse had simply settled into the Pacific Palisades, surrounded by household and making ready to welcome their first little one. When a wildfire broke out close by, they packed up rapidly, assuming it was only a precaution. Hours later, their house safety app despatched an alert. Smoke had been detected. Then a window shattered. “That’s once we knew every little thing was gone,” he says.
Days later, Shemtob borrowed a good friend’s bike and rode again into the neighborhood to see the harm for himself. “It appeared like a battle zone,” he recollects. “Vehicles burned out. Homes leveled. I handed my very own home as a result of I didn’t even acknowledge it.”
He misplaced practically every little thing. His automotive, his late mom’s belongings, child pictures and years of recollections had been gone. However grief wasn’t the place he stayed. Having already endured the pandemic, the lack of his mother and two failed companies, he acknowledged that acquainted ache and knew what to do subsequent. “I realized throughout Covid that the easiest way to heal is to serve,” he says. “So I started working.”
Inside days, Shemtob was volunteering with World Central Kitchen, cooking for first responders and displaced households alongside the Pacific Coast Freeway. As a substitute of accepting donations for himself, he raised cash to assist others rebuild. Snibbs joined the hassle too, donating a whole bunch of pairs of sneakers to hospitality staff and partnering with the California Restaurant Affiliation to assist these affected.
“Our firm’s mission is to raise the employee,” Shemtob says. “These are individuals who serve others day-after-day. The least we are able to do is maintain them after they want it.”
For Shemtob, service connects every little thing. Whether or not he’s feeding a crowd, designing a greater shoe or rebuilding a life, his motivation is identical. “It’s a must to keep lively,” he says. “Serving to individuals is what pulls you out of the darkish. It’s the one approach I do know.”
About Restaurant Influencers
Restaurant Influencers is dropped at you by Toast, the highly effective restaurant point-of-sale and administration system that helps eating places enhance operations, enhance gross sales and create a greater visitor expertise.
Toast — Powering Profitable Eating places. Be taught extra about Toast.
Key Takeaways
- A Meals Community victory launched Shemtob’s profession, however a kitchen harm impressed his subsequent large concept.
- Drawing on his personal years in hospitality, Shemtob constructed Snibbs to raise staff who spend their days serving others.
- After dropping his house within the 2025 LA fires, Daniel Shemtob turned tragedy into motion.
What’s tougher? Operating a restaurant or a shoe firm?
Daniel Shemtob doesn’t even pause earlier than answering. “They’re each so goddamn equally onerous,” he says, laughing.
The remainder of this text is locked.
Be part of Entrepreneur+ as we speak for entry.
