Best Student Run Business: Breakfast Jawn

THREE YEARS AGO, two Darla Moore School of Business students saw a need for a quick, delicious breakfast option on campus with a simple purpose: students feeding students. To fill this need, they opened The Breakfast Jawn, a food truck on Greene Street. The truck is open Monday through Friday and fully run by USC students. It serves breakfast burritos, bowls and pancakes.

“Getting to feed people is definitely the most rewarding,” Jacob Matthew, coowner of The Breakfast Jawn, said. “You wake up early on Friday morning, it’s not fun, but then you’re feeding 150 to 200 people.”

Owners Logan Fowler and Jacob Matthew had the idea when they were looking for part-time jobs in the restaurant industry to earn extra money. When they couldn’t find the right fit, they decided to open their own restaurant on campus with the help of William Knapp, a College of Hospitality, Retail and Sport Management professor who works with Carolina Food Co., USC’s food service provider.

“We pitched our idea to them, they gave us a checklist of things we needed to do and that’s how we got our stand,” Fowler said. “They’ve been nothing but supportive of us. We come to them with different ideas, and they tell us to go shoot for it.”

Now, a couple of years later, they’ve upgraded from a stand outside of Gambrell Hall to a food truck on Greene Street. Students can even use meal swipes to grab breakfast on their way to class.

The food truck remains entirely student-run, including finances and hiring. Fowler and Matthew are making plans to ensure that Breakfast Jawn remains student-run after they graduate this spring.

“We’re hoping that when we get that process done, that it continues into perpetuity,” Matthew said. “I think it’d be super cool if I come back for a football game in five years, and the truck’s still here with students still running it.”

Check out why Breakfast Jawn was voted the Best Student-Run Business, and enjoy $1 pancakes every Friday!