Spaghetti Monster Food Truck Serving Murfreesboro and Middle Tennessee
About Us
Justin Harris
Owner/ Chef
Spaghetti Monster LLC &
Silver Spoon events & Catering
About eatatspaghettimonster.com
Beginnings
I am a child of the restaurant industry. Both of my parents worked at Captain D's, They actually met at Captain D's. Dad worked his way up the corporate ladder and mom stayed managing the front of the house. She would leave D's to work at my school cafeteria, quickly becoming the "cool lunch lady". Dad kept at it and eventually became the VP of Operations of Captain D's. Some of my earliest memories are of me in a restaurant kitchen.
I remember one time my dad took me to the local corporate store and I held the camera for the training video he was making for the next menu promotion. I was also in a few scenes of the Captain D's training video that was shown to all new employees. My part in the video was accidentally knocking over a drink, the video then did a freeze frame and described to the dinning room staff ho w to react and what to do in that type of situation. So if you were hired at Captain D's and watched the training video in the late nineties till 2009, I was in it. In 2006 Captain D's was acquired by a new parent company and corporate and leadership changes forced lay-offs of many long-termed D's executives, including my dad. After he left D's, he continued working in the industry landing with Santa Fe Cattle Co. There he did what he always did, impress through his knowledge of the industry and good old-fashioned hard work. One man cannot save a company and unfortunately the economic downturn of 2008 forced Santa Fe to reduce their footprint and close most of it's stores. Dad was given the opportunity to move to Texas and stay with Santa Fe or stay in Tennessee and be let go. He stayed.
Staying opened a new door for my dad. The co-owner of Sant Fe also owned a steakhouse in the tourism district by Opryland in Nashville called Caney Fork. My dad joined in and led operations for Caney Fork and quickly put them in a position to expand. My dad got to write recipes and even create the menu. This was my first experience in creating something for a restaurant. I helped write the copy for their menu. I was in college at Middle Tennessee State University studying journalism and graphic design. I loved typing, writing, and designing a menu. At the time I was employed with Captain D's. This is where my story begins.
My Time In The Industry
I started at Captain D's in October of 2006. I was just a fry cook, the fish cook. I loved it. I kept to myself and did what I was told. The franchise I worked for did everything right and it showed. We were one of the best run D's in the company. Within a year I had moved to management and worked there until 2012. When I left, I was 3rd in charge. The Assistant Manager. I had received about a dozen awards in my time there. After MTSU, I worked for the Miller/Coors distributer in Nashville. Of course I learned a great deal about beer and alcohol sales but what I soon discovered is that I loved seeing and being in all of the new restaurants going up during Nashville's boom in the 2000 teens. I remember making a wine delivery to Sean Brock's restaurant HUSK and being so impressed by the smells and atmosphere of one of the nation's top chef's kitchen.
During this time is when I realized that I wanted back into the restaurant industry.
This is when Silver Spoon was born. Originally wanting to do BBQ, I had a smoker built. It was big and I could tow it. After receiving it, we began to advertise to get some business. Our first ever client didn't want BBQ. She asked if I cooked other things beside BBQ and I said yes. I love cooking. Something about cooking for others gives my joy. It's like knowing a magic trick and knowing the best part is going to make them smile. Our first wedding catering was pasta, and we've never looked back. The smoker had a one stove burner on the backside, a grill on the back and a barrel reverse flow smoker on the side. I cooked Fettucine alfredo on one stove. I used the barrel smoker as a heating well by putting 10 sterno flames on the bottom cooking rack, while using the top rack to store the cooked food in aluminum pans. I cooked the Italian grilled chicken on the grill and delivered it to the serving line fresh.
I continued working for the beer distributer and would cater on the weekends when I could. We would only do 3 maybe 4 events a year.
My Time In The Industry Cont...
When I wanted to go full time catering I realized that is was going to take more than just a smoker on a trailer. So I put Silver Spoon on hold, knowing that I wanted out of beer and wanted to get back into restaurants. While waiting for an opportunity to open up, I worked at Yoplait. It was good to see the manufacturing side of our food supply. However, It was not for me. As luck would have it I got to go back to D's with a raise and promotion. The franchise I worked for had grown since I left nearly 4 years ago and was expanding in our area. I was to train to become the General Manager while a new store nearby was being built. That is where the current GM was going to go. I was hired in February of 2017 and was promoted to General Manager in November of 2017. My team and myself were very successful. The restaurant ran better year after year. Each year that I was GM, I received GM of the year. 3 Times. In 2021 I was promoted to Area Manger. I now oversaw the operations of 3 restaurants. During this second stint with D's I continued to cater with Silver Spoon maybe twice a year. When the pandemic hit in 2020, Silver Spoon did not operate again until the spring of 2022.
After a year and a half being Area Manager I started to feel the need to go off on my own grow. Friends and coworkers would often ask "Have you ever thought of having your own restaurant?" I would bring dishes that I cooked to share with employees. The response was always the same. "You should do your own thing."
So I did.
Spaghetti Monster LLC
July 1st 2023. Spaghetti Monster LLC was born. Out of this business would operate a food truck as well as a fine dining catering company, Silver Spoon events and Catering. The idea for Spaghetti Monster came from 2 things. My childhood and Silver Spoon. As a kid I would often eat spaghetti between two pieces of white bread so when I was trying to think of what to sell I knew I wanted to sell something unique. I also knew that we had a good product with Silver Spoon's pasta. I figured the fancy Silver Spoon pasta wouldn't work well on a food truck so I used Silver Spoons recipes but simplified them for a speedier service. Spaghetti Monster's opening day was August 29th 2023. Since then Spaghetti Monster has grown and become a local favorite.