ThePotatoCoop.com  |  2650 Gravel Rd, Harrisburg, PA 17110  |  717-425-6326

Allen Peck, Jr. started selling things when he was 10 years old. First it was candy, then lawn mowing services. By the time he was 18, he had his eye on a food trailer from which to sell homemade, hand cut seasoned fries at events. After all, who doesn’t like fresh fries?

Allen came from a good, hardworking family. From an early age he learned the value of hard work and a dollar. But he also saw friends and family tied to their jobs, working hard but not gaining the lives they desired. He decided to do something different. He wanted to create something that would give him the flexibility to own and invest in multiple businesses.

His potato trailer took off quickly. This is what Allen says about his first gig.

“We were setting up for the event and just wondering if this was going to work out. Who would actually come? I was so nervous. Then an hour later we had 40 people in line and we’re just freaking out hoping that all the mechanicals in the trailer would work.”

After several years running the food trailer, then a food truck and the trailer, Allen has opened his first brick and mortar store, The Potato Coop. He has plans to open a few more, then begin the franchising process.

He’s come a long way in 10 years since beginning his food business. But  it has not been easy.

“I learned quickly that an entrepreneur needs to be comfortable with levels of stress that would be crippling to normal people. There’s always something. But that’s how you grow and learn. I could have written a business plan for 10 years and been ‘working’ on this for 10 years and never done anything, but I learn by doing. You’ll never have all the answers. I certainly didn’t and still don’t.”