Meet Mathew Yamali of Downtown fingers-Roll It Up Sushi Truck

Today we’d like to introduce you to Mathew Yamali.

Mathew, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
It all started in 2015 when I decided to move to a new city and start a business. I was 22 years old and ready to challenge myself. I settled on Denver due to a job that opened up at Perry’s steakhouse as a sous chef, there I met David my first business partner. We were both young and energetic about doing something new! So we decided to open up Roll It Up Sushi Truck in 2015.

After a few years of that, things were going well and I decided to start another project, that’s when Jesse and I created Downtown Fingers. I was so sick of being let down by these restaurants for their lack of skills in the fried chicken game, I wanted to create the best chicken sammie in Denver. Now it’s been four seasons with Roll it up and 1 with Downtown Fingers.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Things were definitely difficult in the beginning. Switching from a stable income to a volitive business like Food trucking was interesting. I had no fear about it but my business partner did. You realize soon you don’t get paid by the hour and what you do now will make you money in the future. Growing a business is definitely something that challenged me every day, there is no days off! After two years, I had a pretty good system in place, I knew gig that paid well and worked out all of the ones that didn’t. The second truck was 10x easier due to the knowledge I had from the first. I would say the hardest thing was just learning how to self motivate and drive yourself to successes.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Downtown fingers-Roll It Up Sushi Truck story. Tell us more about the business.
Roll It Up Sushi was the first sushi truck in Denver, I wanted to bring fast-casual sushi to people for a reasonable price, and show them, you do not need to spend an arm and a leg to go out for sushi. I also wanted to do something new with the food, and serve combinations of flavors that people have never seen before!

Downtown Fingers was just a statement. The chicken around is subpar and we can do better by keeping it simple and being consistent—Minimalizing what went on a chicken sandwich and just focusing on the basics. I’m very proud of the product we put out.

Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
Well, I don’t believe in luck when hard work is involved. I am lucky to be alive, lucky to be healthy and lucky to live in a time with so much technology but when I work an 18 hour day on events I scheduled six months ago, I don’t feel the luck, just the hard work. We are lucky tho Denver had been so loving towards food trucks, can’t say that about most cities in the US.

Contact Info:

• Website: Downtownfingers.com
• Phone: 7209493455
• Email: downtownfingers.gmail.com
• Instagram: Downtownfingers
• Facebook: Downtownfingers

Image Credit:
Mathew Yamali

Suggest a story: VoyageDenver is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.