Off the Grid
Originally from Denver, Colorado, Matt started his career as a public school educator. His professional career then took him to Southern Japan, where he taught English with the JET program. After working for several years in the hotel/hospitality industry in San Francisco, Matt’s memories of Japan and past culinary adventures inspired him to launch his own ramen food truck, Tabe Trucks. This experience provided him with a first-hand look at the ins and outs of operating a mobile food business — and planted the seed for what would eventually become Off the Grid.
Capitalizing on the initial popularity and growth of Off the Grid Markets, Matt has overseen the company’s growth into a scalable experience platform focused on unlocking the value of space through food. Beyond public events, Off the Grid specializes in large-scale agile catering and corporate dining innovation including its own modular manufactured product, Cubert, and proprietary software platform. Most importantly, Off the Grid is proud to routinely engage more than 300 food businesses that together serve more than 4,000,000 meals a year through its platform.
During the creation of Off the Grid, Matt met with a free one-on-one counselor from the San Francisco Small Business Development Center (SBDC) to discuss the process of permitting food trucks throughout the city. Off the Grid has also been able to accelerate its growth by taking advantage of the SBA 7(a) Loan program. Off the Grid has received four SBA 7(a) loans for over $3 million from the Bank of San Francisco.
With the recent launch of Cubert Cold Prep, Matt and his team at Off the Grid are transforming the way that people invest in space through food. With endless options for customization and personalization, Cubert is designed to empower visionary creators of all stripes — from entrepreneurs and innovators, to artists and artisans. Cubert is engineered with their business in mind, offering all the perks of a permanent structure without any of the physical constraints. Cubert Cold Prep can be experienced every Friday evening at Off the Grid’s largest weekly market Off the Grid: Fort Mason Center.
Aside from their events business, Off the Grid has been proud to support emergency services agencies during times of natural disaster. Most recently, Off the Grid supported Sonoma fire relief efforts both raising funds and taking responsibility for feeding over 25,000 meals to affected areas of Napa and Sonoma Counties. Off the Grid continues to talk to emergency management agencies throughout the State of California about their experience and how they might assist in the event of future disasters.