‘Kinetic’ Cuisine
Andrew Tuchow ’13, co-founder of the mobile food business Kinetic, serves OWU student Hannah Simpson ’15 during a recent visit to campus. Kinetic serves healthy dishes designed with athletes in mind. (Photo by Lisa Digiacomo)
Andrew Tuchow ’13 studied neuroscience and psychology at Ohio Wesleyan University, and now operates a gourmet mobile food truck. Going from science to business may seem unusual, but Tuchow’s time at OWU prepared him for it.
“Being able to swap (from science to entrepreneurship) is not only speaking to the strength of a liberal arts program but also to the strength of the kind of work ethic that you develop here,” Tuchow says.
The company, Kinetic, is co-run by Tuchow and childhood friend Andy O’Brien. Both participated in college athletics and saw a need for healthy, quick food options.
Tuchow developed the Kinetic name after several weeks of thought, and his science study certainly played a role.
“(Kinetic is) energy ‒ it’s moving, it’s going somewhere, it’s helping you fuel yourself,” says Tuchow, who visited campus recently as part of a summer admission event.
“We like to call our food fuel because I feel like it gives a different kind of connotation,” he says. “This (food) is going to help me in a different way than most anything else.”
As head of Kinetic’s marketing, Tuchow’s psychology major also has been useful.
“(In psychology) you learn how people perceive different things, and to run a business that’s what branding and marketing is,” he says. “There’s a lot to learn, but I feel like without that psychology background it’d be a lot harder.”
Andy O’Brien, left, prepares food and OWU alumnus Andrew Tuchow ’13 works the window of Kinetic, their mobile food truck. (Photo by Lisa Digiacomo)
So far the duo’s focus on serving healthier food aimed at athletes has paid off.
After only a few months, Tuchow and O’Brien, who studied nutrition and the food business at The Ohio State University, have started looking at expanding their business into additional trucks and a potential restaurant.