For Dawon Matthews, pursuing entrepreneurship is always “not easy.”
After being charged with a felony at age 19, Matthews couldn’t find a job in the corporate world, so he decided to pave his way, he says.
“If they see a felony behind a person, they don’t even care about the qualifications you’ve got. You’re not accepted in that society,” says Matthews.
Currently 32-year-old Matthews owns five companies. Most notably, the success of Goods Seoul Kitchen, a food truck in Texas.
Born in Philadelphia, Matthews, he says, had a “rough start” in life before his family moved to the Norristown subway area.
“Growing up, I had nobody who wanted to be a mentor or myself.
Matthews excelled in high school, but got caught up in legal trouble in college.
As a freshman, he was charged with assaults that worsened after a party brawl, which caused him to be expelled from school and served in prison for six months. On probation he was charged with DUI.
“It just led me to lower the hole that only allowed me to come and go in and out of the system,” recalls Matthews.
Matthews earned an associate degree from Manor College and a bachelor’s degree in business from LaSalle University, but within two months he was lucky enough to hire more than 200 jobs. He “started my first company because of the simple fact that I couldn’t get a job with a university degree,” he says.
Today, his business attracts more than $1 million in net revenue each year.
“I’m always looking for the next one.”
In 2017, Matthews launched his first business, a cleaning company called Wonderful Cleaning, along with his childhood friend Darnell Hinton in the Philadelphia area.
He chose to enter the cleaning industry because he had low startup costs and did not require background checks from business owners, he says.
“As long as you can get bleach and some hot water, a spray bottle and some rags, you can turn this into business,” says Matthews.
His first job was to clean his brother’s house, but with the help of his high school soccer coach, Matthews landed a more lucrative commercial cleaning contract.
By the end of the second year, the fantastic cleaning had generated around $12,000 in revenue per month, and Matthews had moved to “Middleman” and hired other cleaning crews to fulfill the contract.
With revenue from Wonderful Cleaning, Matthews and Hinton bought a pickup truck and launched their second business in 2020, R&R Junk Removal.
A few months later, they were able to buy dump trucks, and the removal of R&R junk led to more than $100,000 in the first year, according to Matthews.
Matthews also used the income from two businesses to purchase detached houses. He currently owns 16 properties in the Philadelphia area, and earns around $11,000 a month from there.
In January 2024, Matthews moved to Houston. “I felt like I had a success in Philadelphia, so I wanted to get out of there,” he says.
Not all of his business ideas were a hit. Shortly after moving to Houston, Matthews sold some of his properties to start a nightclub. That didn’t work, he says, and he ended up losing more than $170,000 in the venture.
He then decided to try out the restaurant industry.
“I’m always looking for the next thing,” he says.
Matthews launched Goods Seoul Kitchen in August 2024 with a $40,000 loan to buy a food truck.
Goods Seoul Kitchen is a food truck based in Houston, Texas.
Corentin soibinet/cnbc makes it
Success in the food industry
Apart from working at KFC in his freshman year at university, Matthews had no previous restaurant experience when he first started doing merchandise.
There was a lot of growing pains. “I didn’t even know how to turn on the trailer when I first started,” says Matthews.
And just a month after launching Goodies Soul Food Kitchen, the chef he hired unexpectedly stopped.
“I don’t know anything about food,” says Matthews, but “I had to find a way to become a chef,” he can hire another person.
For Matthews, developing Goodies’ business model was paramount.
He was inspired by the success of chains like Chick Phil A and Chipotle. “These people are nothing different. Their food is no different from the other foods you see in KFC, Popeyes, and things like that. But what’s different is the service,” he says.
“If you look at it as a businessman, money is not food,” he continues. “Money lies in the service and the quality and systems you produce. That’s where you reach your success in the food industry.”
In his view, the late-night food scene in Houston “not that good,” so Matthews decided to sell merchandise Soul Kitchen as an evening option for club fans.
Goodies Soul Kitchen’s serves side dishes such as fried fish, lamb chops, chicken wings, fried chicken, mac and cheese, sweet potato casserole and fried cabbage.
The truck currently runs four days a week from 7pm to 3am, and Matthews has four employees running the truck to handle food preparation.
Unlike many other food trucks, Goods Soul Kitchen is always based in the same location in downtown Houston. On average, they serve around 300 customers each week. “Good Club Night” has more customers, but he says, not so much when it’s raining.
This summer, Goods Seoul Kitchen generated revenues of around $20,000 each week, Matthews says, and the trucks were profitable from the start.
In 2024, Goodies generated gross revenues of over $1 million, according to a CNBC Make It reviewed document, and according to Matthews, they are on even better with a catering deal and holiday parties in 2025.
As of September this year, Goodies has earned more than $665,000 in sales.
Food is the future
Following the merchandise success, Matthews opened another food truck, bird and bread in March 2025, selling hoagies, tacos and chicken wings.
“What did you think you knew? This business model really worked. Let’s do another business model,” he says.
He plans to sell most of the other companies next year to focus on his food business.
“They say you’ve started to find what you want to do for the rest of your life at this age,” says Matthews. “I think I’ve found my love for hospitality entrepreneurship.”
Aside from his business goals, Matthews is also working on hiring recovery addicts and former felonies.
“Here you’re not judged by your paper,” he says. “You are not judged by records. You are judged by your skills.”
Managing all his ventures is not easy, says Matthews, but his mantra is “Pick your hard.”
“Being poor is hard. Being rich is hard. Being happy is hard. Being sad is hard, right?
Matthews is currently preparing to expand his merchandise to a brick-and-mortar store with a sports bar and burger shop.
From now on, he says, it’s “goods to the moon.”
Do you want to be your own boss? Sign up for CNBC’s Smarter and start a new online course, how to start a business: For first-time founders. From testing ideas to increasing revenue, find step-by-step guidance for starting your first business. Sign up today with coupon code EarlyBird to receive a 30% introductory discount from the regular course price of $127 (plus tax). Valid provisions from September 16th to September 30th, 2025.
Additionally, we request that you sign up for CNBC to connect with experts and peers in our newsletter, money, and life to get tips and tricks for success in the workplace.
