FROID, Mont. — Kaitlyn Dahlberg ‘16 balanced three majors and a concentration at Minot State: management, marketing, international business, and Honors. Since graduation, she has continued to balance a variety of business endeavors, like farming her family land — some of which is her own — as well as solo operating her own food and drink truck.
From Froid, Montana, a town with a population of less than 250, Dahlberg enjoyed moving to the big city of Minot to attend college, but something about her hometown caused her to return.
“I’ve always wanted to come back home,” she said. “I was already home during the summers because of the farming. I’ve had my own land since about 2017. Even when I was in high school, I’d take off the first week of school to run the combine for my dad. There are lots of things in Minot that would keep me there, but at the same time, I wanted to be home.”
Some other ventures Dahlberg had under[1]taken before moving home included working at Kaffee Kiosk, selling Color Street nail polish products, and staying busy with other odd jobs.
In October of 2020, however, she saw an opportunity to serve the community that drew her back to Froid.
“2020 hit with COVID, and nobody could go in to sit down and eat,” she said. “We’re in Northeast Montana — there aren’t a lot of different things, and consistency is key. When COVID hit, the café totally shut down, so there were no meals for anybody. It seemed a lot better to be outside “I also didn’t want to be stationary, and I didn’t really want a permanent location for my business. I wanted to be able to move around, so it was nice to think of different ways that a nonstationary truck could be helpful.”
Fast forward a half-year, and Dahlberg opened up her own food and drink truck, running at least five days a week during the late spring through early fall and travelling between Froid, Brockton, and events in the area like fairs, auctions, and centennial celebrations.
Her passion for coffee was part of the reason Dahlberg chose to open the truck.
“For my honors thesis, I worked with Andy Bertsch (professor in the College of Business) and wrote a market analysis of coffee in Minot,” she said. “I think back a lot to that, about different areas and how to market to them. I envisioned having a coffee shop, but I didn’t envision all the food items. I’ve always had some inspiration to have a truck, but I never expected to have it so fast.”
Today, as Dahlberg prepares for next spring, she is grateful to be balancing doing what she loves with the people she loves.
“Having my parents there is great,” she said. “They’ve always supported me. When I’m in Froid, my mom will even come during her lunch break to help me take orders. I’m also doing something that I’ve always loved to do, catering to the people, serving them, and making coffee and cooking.”
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INSIDE THIS ISSUE Under 30: A balancing act is a story from the Spring Connections 2022 issue. Connections is published two times a year by the Minot State University Alumni Association and Development Foundation. |
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Published: 04/05/22
