Chef & Entrepreneur, Russell Ingram
Dot's Nashville Hot Chicken & The Yacht Club, Fayetteville, AR
Russell Ingram owns Dot's Nashville Hot Chicken and The Yacht Club, both located in Fayetteville, AR. His businesses are unique because of his commitment to sustainability - from sourcing ingredients for his food truck from local producers to implementing award-winning sustainable waste & recycling programs in partnership with the City of Fayetteville.
We proudly help Russell with his small business and personal tax & accounting needs. We think he's a fantastic example of how entrepreneurs can scale their business and remain values-based.
In this blog post, we'll be sharing about our Client, Russell Ingram, and we'll also discuss how Avid Financial Solutions can help as your business grows.
Dot’s Nashville Hot Chicken is well-loved by Razorback fans who pour into Fayetteville each Fall. Anchored at The Yacht Club, Dot's is a quirky, beloved food truck known for delicious, unique, fast casual fare. Everything on the Dot’s menu locally sourced and made from Owner/Chef Russell Ingram's original recipes– and all orders are delivered at zero waste to the customer. By prioritizing sustainability and showcasing high quality local producers, Dot’s is creating a higher standard for food and business in Northwest Arkansas.
Dot’s menu boasts some of the hottest chicken in Arkansas. Ingram is the first to admit he’s obsessive over the quality of his products–
“We can get any of what we make cheaper, and probably a lot easier...’ Russell laughs, ‘but I just can’t do that. The Ozarks are rich with local producers who also hold high standards for their products. Cultivating relationships with those businesses means that my recipes shine in the way I intend. It’s a consistency of ingredients you don’t get without doing your homework, meeting the farmers. It’s important... quality ingredients are the foundation of everything.”
Eating Local: A meal at Dot’s supports seven producers from the Ozarks.
From local pork & chicken, to eggs, cheese, grits, bread– and even packaging!
Dot's proudly uses environmentally safe packaging, which for a business that's entirely takeout based, is impactful! Everything that's handed out of the truck's window can be diverted from the landfill. For Ingram, running a values-based business in Northwest Arkansas just made sense. "I just wanted my business to have a positive impact on the world. It's important for my own personal motivation."
An award-winning commitment to sustainability
The Yacht Club, the quirky midtown food truck park where Dot's is located, is home to some of the best fast casual meals in all of Northwest Arkansas. It's also a drop off site for recycling & compost, an investment Ingram personally made to decrease the environmental impact of his business. The Yacht Club is now the first private business in the city to operate as an official compost and recycling drop-off location for all city residents. Within one year, it had become the most popular independent drop-off, second only to the city’s own facility. As a result, in April 2022, Ingram was awarded the City of Fayetteville Mayor’s Environmental Stewardship Award.
Ingram hopes that making recycling and composting more accessible and less complicated, he's making a lasting impact– one take out container at a time.
A bright future for Dot's and Ingram– and new ownership for The Yacht Club?
As Ingram plans the first major expansion for Dot’s in 2023, his top priority is how to scale not only in size, but to expand his model to support even more local producers. Ingram placed The Yacht Club for sale last Winter, with the hope that he can streamline business operations to improve Dot's market share and make an even bigger impact on the Northwest Arkansas culinary scene.
In other words, Dot's isn't going anywhere anytime soon... and we suspect the very same can be said for Ingram.
How we support clients like Russell in NWA
We love to see entrepreneurs succeed! Our primary contribution is empowering small business owners to get back to what they do best– running their business!
We tailor our services to each business and get involved as much or as little as the business owners want. This means we can act in any of the following capacities, Consultant, Analyst, Bookkeeper, Payroll Specialist, or Tax Accountant.