76. Hot Chicken is Good for the Soul: Business as Spiritual Nourishment with Joe DeLoss

Joe DeLoss is a social entrepreneur who’s focused on building transformational brands that leave a positive thumbprint on the planet. The owner and head fryer of Hot Chicken Takeover, Joe has been called “the best marketer in Columbus.” 

Starting out as a humble pop-up, Joe generated such incredible demand backed by positive word of mouth for Hot Chicken Takeover, that the Kickstarter he launched to fund the purchase of a food truck raised over $63,000. Now, they have six locations. Joe calls himself a social entrepreneur for a reason. Hot Chicken is a fair chance employer that provides employment opportunities to those who are often overlooked, be it due to criminal histories or just a long gap in their employment history. At one point, over 70% of their workforce was made up of people who had been formerly incarcerated or affected by homelessness. 

He states that the company employs anyone with “an orientation towards personal growth”, something that’s reflected in the way he’s lived his life. On today’s episode of Gravity, we get into where that drive stems from and how Joe is driven to take action both for himself and for the world. 

Joe is a spiritual person and takes us through his philosophies, from finding and fanning the flames of spirit in others to filling up our cups so much that they overflow into those of the people around us. It’s an optimistic and in-depth conversation that I know you’ll be inspired by.

What Brett asks:

• [01:45] Tell me about your childhood.
• [07:20] What was it like dealing with hardship as a child?
• [12:20] Can you elaborate on the idea that you adopted a persona each time you joined a new school?
• [20:30] What drove you to be an entrepreneur at such a young age?
• [21:50] Did your entrepreneurial spirit continue into high school?
• [24:45] Did you see yourself being an entrepreneur after high school?
• [27:00] How did you shape an identity coming out of school?
• [35:00] How did pursuing coolness help or hurt you?
• [40:40] What led you to start Hot Chicken Takeover?
• [46:00] How does Hot Chicken Takeover fit into your life, spiritually?

To learn more about intentional living, and for the complete show notes, visit: gravityproject.com

Resources:

• Hot Chicken Takeover’s website
• Joe DeLoss’ website
• Hot Chicken Takeover on:
• Wikipedia
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram

Gravity is a production of Crate Media.