Today we’d like to introduce you to Lacy Allen.
Hi Lacy, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
I haven’t always worked in restaurants. I’ve spent the last 7 years working at Hell’s Backbone Grill & Farm, but prior to that, I was the Business Development Director for multiple nursing homes in Southern California. In 2018, I started an Indian spiced pickle company (Indigo Pickles) after spending 2 months traveling through India on 2 separate occasions. After the pandemic I started thinking about how I wanted to spend my life and if Boulder was going to be the place I truly wanted to settle. I knew if I wanted to really be all in, I would need to have something more creative and something I could call my own.
I started dreaming about having a cafe where I could use Indian influences in my food creations and I spent a year daydreaming about how creative and fun it could be. It felt like a wild idea. After the season ended at Hells Backbone Grill in 2022, I decided it was time to start something new so I reached out to the owner of Hills & Hollows and pitched him my idea. He loved it. We worked out the details and Wild Indigo Cafe was born.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It’s been relatively smooth, but starting a business in Boulder is not easy. There are so many moving pieces. Delivery schedules are steady during the season, but items can oftentimes be out or the prices will nearly double in a week so you have to adjust and be flexible.
We have been working with local farms to help keep fresh ingredients and stay local when we can. Hiring staff can also be a challenge as there isn’t much housing in Boulder. I’ve been really lucky though and have an incredible crew and even a very talented chef who also worked at Hell’s Backbone in 2022.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
We are a food truck restaurant located at Hills & Hollows gas station in Boulder, Utah. Our menu is basically Indian fusion, but it’s truly something you may have never seen before.
We serve cardamom waffles with chai whipped cream. Dosa, which is a fermented rice & lentil crepe. We strive to add a familiar twist to these food items so that you’re enticed to try something new while still able to eat something you know you’ll enjoy. Our “Chicken Salad Sandwich” served on Naan bread is a popular item and so is our “Vegan Dosadilla” which is a vegan breakfast quesadilla made with dosa.
I’m most proud of the level of thought we’ve put into the menu to make it unique and also delicious. We really care about the food we serve and we work really hard to make sure our menu has Gluten Free, Vegan, Vegetarian, and Dairy Free options.
We’ve also put a lot of work into creating a fun and creative space. The truck has a beautiful hand-painted mural which is an ode to the monument and tells a story of all the love we have for our wild place here in Boulder. Our motto at Wild Indigo is “Eat Wild. Stay Wild.” We’ve got wild ideas, and big dreams and we’re located in a beautiful, wild space. We want to honor that in every way we can.
The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
I learned that you have to keep moving forward. You have to love what you do and you have to keep being creative. It feeds something deeper inside of you that keeps you going no matter how hard things get.
Pricing:
- Vegan Dosadilla $17
- Cardamom Waffle $9
- Dosa Dog $9
- Garam Masala GF Fudge Brownie $6
- Waffle Sandwich $16
Contact Info:
- Website: https://hillsandhollowsmarket.com/wild-indigo-cafe/
- Instagram: @wildindigocafe
