Conversations with Tosha Joseph

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tosha Joseph.

Tosha, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Food has always been the method in which I show love and support to those who matter the most. Cooking is a place where I find peace and freedom.

I began my love of cooking at the age of nine after my parents separated and my baby brother was born. We were raised by the most amazing mother, who was a master in the kitchen and used food as a way to love any and everyone that stepped foot into our home. My mother would cook Smothered Pork Chops, Greens, Rice and Gravy, Baby Back Ribs, Black eye peas with tender neckbones for flavor, cornbread, cabbage and the best Fried Chicken in the world! I watched my mother feed family, friends and even strangers. There was no way she would let you leave our home without having a full belly. This was our way of life; this was the way we loved.

I remember getting out of school each day excited to pick up my little brother from school and go home to create a meal that would make my mother smile. I would make stuffed bell peppers, stuffed chicken inside the oven and on the stovetop. I constantly tried to master my mother’s gravy, and can I tell you that to this day, I still cannot make her gravy the way she did. It was just the best!

Growing up, I remember pretending that I was on a cooking show, talking the audience through my recipes. The only problem was I don’t think I ever completed a full taping because I would get interrupted by my hungry little brother or my mother would come home, so I’d rush to make their plates. But I have to tell you, it brought me joy, peace and excitement.

Once I got married and had my beautiful three chocolate sons, cooking was and still is one of the ways that I show my love to them. I find joy in feeding my family and friends and making them happy with food.

The birth of Comfortwingz Food Truck was the result of Covid and the realization that I wanted to be happy, and I wanted to make other people happy and feel loved by sharing family recipes and love that had been passed down to me from my mother and my life’s experiences.

Covid taught us how to appreciate our loved ones, spending time with our friends and how to not take our time here on earth for granted. After giving so much of my time (27 years) working for one of the largest companies in Los Angeles and watching people be bullied, mistreated and disrespected at such a huge level, I just thought to myself one day, “What can I do to make people feel good”? How can I make people feel loved and appreciated, because we were living in a time where that was not happening? I not only wanted to make people feel loved, but I wanted to feel like I was doing something that mattered, and pushing paper or managing staff in a stuffy office for people who were generally unkind was not my idea of a good time.

I began to have conversations with my husband about my feelings of not being able to return to that job post covid. It just was simply not worth it. When you are in a bad environment for a long period of time, you tend to believe that everyone is the same, that everyone is nasty based on your day-to-day exposure. My husband said to me, “you should do what you love. You love people by feeding them, so you should do that.” He went on to praise my food and told me that he believed I could make a difference in the lives of people that experience my food.

Guess what? My husband is the person in our relationship that anchors us and is very cautious before making big life-altering changes, and would you believe that he told me to jump? He told me that once people tasted my chicken, they would instantly fall in love.

I am happy to say that I trusted his words and trusted myself to share my love through food. I began doing research on the method in which I would share my food and the Food Truck on the vote. ComfortWingz was born in February 2022.

The very first day out in the truck was a trial run to see what type of feedback I would receive. I thought to myself, “if I could just make one dollar, than it is doable,” Let me tell you, I made so much more than just one dollar! On the first day out in sun-shiny Santa Monica, California we had a line of people waiting to taste my chicken.

As the day ended, people kept asking me when we were coming back and where our restaurant was. I was so excited to see how happy everyone was. I felt so full and so honored to share my love with them. I remember thinking how kind and nice everyone who came to the truck was. Needless to say, that day was the start of my journey as an official food entrepreneur.

Comfortwingz Food Truck is now being requested in all of Los Angeles County, Orange County, San Diego County and even as far as Las Vegas. We are continuously growing and spreading love everywhere we go. Comfortwingz is not just food, it’s an experience. When you come to Comfortwingz food truck, we want to make you feel like family. While I am a 100% meat eater and specialize in natural poultry, it was important to me to create an environment where everyone feels seen and loved, so we made sure to incorporate a Vegan option for the non-meat eaters. Everyone deserves to feel loved, considered and happy.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I think my road started out smooth and with a bang! We received so much great feedback and requests for service from the day that we started.

However, as we headed into the end of the year, mid-October and into March of the new year, we were hit pretty hard with terrible weather. One thing that I did not anticipate was all of the rain and cold that would completely stall business.

Southern California is known for its great weather year-round. Unfortunately, this year we experienced the worst weather ever. We have not seen this type of weather in over 15 years. This brought us a struggle that we had not experienced. The positive is that it made me open my mind to different possibilities in creating and maintaining business, such as private catering,

The other struggle was finding people to work. It was very difficult to find people that took pride in their work and provide excellent customer service. At Comfortwingz, we are about the experience, making sure people feel loved and happy when they leave our window and enjoy our food. I am happy to say that we have found people who love food and people and they are a great addition to our Comfortwingz family

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We are Comfortwingz Food Truck and we specialize in Southern Fried Chicken Wingz.

We offer eight different varieties of flavored wingz like Garlic Parmesan, Lemon Pepper, Alfredo Wingz and Sweet Chili to name a few. While we specialize in poultry, we are an inclusive brand offering Vegan Wingz for the non-meat eaters.

We are constantly adding new flavors and menu options to complement our wingz.

I am proud of the way people feel when they experience our wingz. We’ve been told on so many occasions that our wingz reminds people of their grandmother’s or mother’s wingz growing up. Or people say that they have never tasted wingz like ours before. I believe the term they use is “AMAZING”.

What sets us apart is the love and intention that is set for every single plate served. Our intention is for the customer to feel loved and feel like they are a part of our family.

Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
My family deserves all of the credit in the world. Without my family, I couldn’t do what I do. My husband Deon is my anchor, my cheerleader and ride or die. My sons, Deon Jr., Xavier and Jordan are what I call my road dogs. That’s a funny term used to describe the closest people to you that are right with you side by side in everything you do to support you. My sons never allow me to do anything alone, they show up for me without me asking. But they have a great role model in their dad because with him I never walk alone.

My uncle Toney, who is my mother’s younger brother is my biggest supporter. Unfortunately, we lost my mom some years ago and I can tell you that my uncle has continued to be right by my side and is with me in everything that I do. He too, never lets me walk alone.

And last but not least, my nieces Troya and Cheyanne are side by side helping me hold down the fort and supporting me every chance they get. They are the daughters that I didn’t birth, but love them as if I did.

This is a family affair. Family is everything.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.comfortwingz.org
• Instagram: @Comfortwingz
• Facebook: @Comfortwingz
• Linkedin: Comfortwingz