Frances Juru\u2019s aunt\u00a0had a pretty good recipe for mac \u2019n cheese, that delectable table treat that enjoys sharing a place on a Venn diagram with side dish, dessert, and righteousness.<\/p>\n
However, the aunt played stingy with the recipe. She wasn\u2019t giving away table secrets to the heirs just yet.<\/p>\n
Well, Irving Berlin, cue up your classic \u2014 \u201cAnything You Can Do, I Can Do Better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Juru came up with her own twist on it, something so good for Thanksgiving, with her own seasoning, that some in the family had a suggestion.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey said, \u2018This is really good. Maybe you should sell it,\u2019\u201d Juru said. \u201cI didn\u2019t think people would buy it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some six years or so later, Juru has been perfectly pleased to discover that she was wrong about that. Her Smackin Mac food truck is as sought after in North Texas as a Dallas Cowboys Super Bowl, but, clearly, more accessible.<\/p>\n
She has been recognized. In 2023, she earned the title of Best Food Vendor at the North Texas Fair and Rodeo and secured a contract with Six Flags Over Texas for special events, including Fright Fest and Holiday in the Park. She has also held seasonal partnerships with major universities such as UT Arlington and Texas Woman\u2019s University in Denton.<\/p>\n
Her culinary talent has been spotlighted on Texas Today on NBC, as well as in DFW Child, Voyage, and Discover Denton. She is a regular participating chef at the Fort Worth Food + Wine Festival and has collected honors like \u201cBest Comfort Food\u201d at the North Texas Food Truck Challenge and runner-up in Fort Worth\u2019s Mac Attack Competition.<\/p>\n
Her media appearances include features on Fox News, ABC, and NBC, and each year she can be found serving crowds at some of North Texas\u2019 most celebrated festivals and fairs, from Mayfest and Southlake Oktoberfest to each and every one of the 23 days of the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo.<\/p>\n
And, yes, she also has a semi-regular place at Dallas Cowboys home games. She invited me to find her there last week against the Packers. I called her on the phone instead.<\/p>\n
Juru is a native of Baltimore. She grew up in Los Angeles. Today, she lives in Aledo, a single mother to three. It was divorce that was her mother of invention.<\/p>\n
She needed to make a living.<\/p>\n
Juru, 38, attended a magnet school where she studied culinary arts. She earned a bachelor\u2019s in business administration in college.<\/p>\n
To get this venture off the ground, however, she went to YouTube University.<\/p>\n
\u201cIdeas started to pop up,\u201d she said of her YouTube experiences. \u201cSo, I said, \u2018OK, I need a tent. I need some food warmers. I need an oven.\u2019 \u00a0I just started building from there. When I got into Six Flags, it really gave me that experience that I needed to figure out how to make it a full operation.\u201d<\/p>\n
She went into the Six Flags venture with very little experience, \u201cbut I just learned along the way.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI continued to do more and more festivals in the tent, and they just got bigger and bigger. Then it was time to get the food truck.\u201d<\/p>\n
The combination of mac \u2019n cheese and mobility have become her contribution to the glorious philosophy of capitalism, innovation, and perseverance.<\/p>\n
The great achievement of capitalism, Milton Friedman once said, was not the accumulation of property, but the opportunities it has offered to men and women to extend and develop their abilities. The \u201cgreat virtue\u201d of a free market system, Friedman went on another time, was that it doesn\u2019t care what color people are; it does not care what their religion is. It only cares if one has a product people want to buy.<\/p>\n
Juru has a regular\u00a0eight menu items<\/a>, plus a \u201cMac of the Month,\u201d which varies depending on how the spirit moves her.<\/p>\n Juru also uses her business to give back to the community. Through Smackin Mac, she has donated meals to shelters, first responders, and families in need. She partnered with LVT Rise in Fort Worth to bring the truck out to serve free meals to those in need, according to a family friend.<\/p>\n Juru has made a rewarding life out of her business and a second full life after divorce. It was separation from her marriage that led to the need to pick this up full time, full speed. Though she had conceived of the idea of a food business pre-pandemic, the shutdown forced her to cast the concept aside until normalcy returned.<\/p>\n She has three young children, one of whom has special needs. She is the one and only full-time employee. She hires help on days the truck is on duty. One of those is her Aunt Brenda.<\/p>\n Is that the same aunt who wouldn\u2019t budge on her recipe, I ask?<\/p>\n \u201cNo,\u201d Juru said laughing. \u201cThat aunt is in Baltimore. My Aunt Brenda is a big supporter and one of the hardest working people on my food truck when we have busy events.\u201d<\/p>\n But otherwise, Juru runs every aspect of her food truck operation on her own. In the days leading up to festivals or events, she juggles long hours of preparation with trips to multiple suppliers \u2014 Ben E. Keith for her primary food orders, Restaurant Depot for extras, and even Sam\u2019s Club for odds and ends.<\/p>\n She is able to do it all, she said laughing, \u201cWith little sleep. very little sleep.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I make it work. I just don’t get much sleep. But other than that, I just juggle it all.\u201d<\/p>\n She has also been accepted into the Dallas Mavericks accelerator program as part of the fall cohort. Small business owners go through courses over several months. At the end, each pitches his or her business to a panel of executives and investors.<\/p>\n Juru has much to do to scale the business. The goal is a brick and mortar location.<\/p>\n With her heart, enthusiasm, and hustle, it feels less like a question of if she\u2019ll achieve that dream \u2014 and more a matter of when.<\/p>\n With mac \u2019n cheese, all things are possible.<\/p>\n Find Frances Juru and Smackin Mac on the socials<\/p>\n \ud83d\udcf8\u00a0Instagram<\/a><\/p>\n \ud83d\udcd8\u00a0Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n \ud83d\ude9a\u00a0Food Truck Schedule<\/a><\/p>\n