Life & Work with Victor Valdivieso

Today we’d like to introduce you to Victor Valdivieso. 

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I was born and raised in Ecuador, but my mother’s side of the family hails from Northern Italy, so I was fortunate enough to have both ethnicities in the kitchen. I started at the bottom as a young teenager working odd kitchen jobs, and when I turned 18, finally saved enough money to move to the United States and move up the ladder in the industry. I was in Charlotte, NC for several years, leaving behind a plethora of kitchen experiences and responsibilities, moving in 2016 with my then-girlfriend, now wife, to Charleston, SC. Our dream together was to own a food truck one day, but when do you find the time to make that happen when you both have full-time, demanding jobs and a new baby? You don’t, you make the time. Fast forward to COVID, which proved a detriment to the Food & Bev industry, I found a gem in the rough you could say. A down payment and business loan later, my food truck needed a lot of TLC, and in return gave me a lot of tough love. For the first six months, I was at the mechanic more than I was on the road serving food. I would work a week, and break down for two or three, with anything from rewiring the entire thing to a new diesel engine to a broken rear axle to everything new tires, breaks, steering, and gas pedal related. But if it wasn’t rewarding, I wouldn’t have kept moving forward, and we aren’t ones to give up in our family. So, we persevered through a lot of good and bad times, and I am so glad I did. I truly love what I do and wouldn’t change it for anything. Victor’s Lab is truly a dream come true and can’t wait to see what the future has in store for us. 

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
There are two options- building a brand-new food truck for a lot of money or buying an old one with hidden and potential problems. We went with the latter. As I said, we broke down, in the beginning, more times than we were on the road serving food. And that was all I wanted to do, serve food. The mechanic once told me once to breaking a rear axle is a one in a million chance- and so it did. It was a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, literally to keep the dream alive. But once you make it through to the other side, you realize it was all worth it. I do not think we are out of the woods, or if we will ever be being we are a kitchen on wheels, but the time spent in the shop has at least thankfully lessened for now. 

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
To me, food is an art form. I love making things people don’t necessarily make at home, or something they crave to come back to over and over again. I find molecular gastronomy to be very interesting and have dabbled in it myself quite a bit. And the food isn’t straightforward, it can be experienced in many different ways. That’s why I like to take different cultures and fuse their flavors together. For instance, I am always asked what is in the meat of my burger- is there chorizo? Or why do I take empanadas and add PBR and Dr. Pepper? 

Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
I always loved cooking in the kitchen with my Italian grandfather, and bringing my friends over to experience food from Italy when all they knew was Ecuadorian food. I saw how valuable and rewarding it is to bring cultures and flavors together. 

Contact Info:

• Email: info.victorslab@gmail.com
• Website: www.victorslab.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/victors_lab/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/victorslab843/
• Other: https://streetfoodfinder.com/VictorsLab