The Comeback Kid: Daniel Shemtob’s Story of Loss and Triumph

The Comeback Kid: Daniel Shemtob’s Story of Loss and Triumph

by | Podcast

Daniel Shemtob is the CEO and Founder of Snibbs, a company that creates ergonomically designed, slip-resistant footwear for professionals in healthcare and hospitality. He also created the acclaimed food truck brand, The Lime Truck, which gained national attention by winning Food Network’s The Great Food Truck Race twice. Building on his culinary success, Daniel opened Hatch Yakitori + Bar in Downtown Los Angeles, offering a modern take on Japanese skewers. After losing his home in the 2025 Pacific Palisades Fire, he partnered with World Central Kitchen to provide meals and Snibbs footwear to those affected.
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Here’s a Glimpse of What You’ll Hear:

  • [3:19] How Daniel Shemtob hired teens to run his early neighborhood business
  • [5:55] Impact of Daniel’s Persian Jewish upbringing and exposure to successful entrepreneurs
  • [9:19] Daniel’s first major business setback and the key lesson of chasing passion over money
  • [15:17] Launching The Lime Truck with no employees and a leased POS truck
  • [17:12] Why did The Lime Truck completely change its menu just two weeks after launching?
  • [22:13] How Daniel got cast on The Great Food Truck Race and developed a cult following
  • [26:46] Impact of COVID-19: losing $15M in revenue and pivoting during the crisis
  • [28:50] What drove Daniel to rethink slip-resistant footwear in a saturated market?
  • [35:01] How the loss of Daniel’s mother in 2020 shaped his personal and professional life
  • [38:17] Recounting the January 2025 LA fire that destroyed his home and family belongings
  • [40:27] Finding purpose in helping others through World Central Kitchen after the disaster

In this episode…

What does it take to overcome setbacks and emerge stronger than before? From losing everything in the LA fires to weathering the tumultuous economic downturns of the past decade, resilience seems to be the cornerstone of a successful life. But how does one cultivate such tenacity in the face of adversity? Daniel Shemtob, a celebrated chef and entrepreneur, shares the candid story of his entrepreneurial journey marked by extreme highs and lows. After filing for personal bankruptcy in his early 20s following a failed real estate stint, Daniel shifted toward passion-driven work, launching the now-famous Lime Truck. Years later, when COVID-19 decimated his catering business, he doubled down on Snibbs, his footwear company, and pivoted by giving away shoes to essential workers — an act that unexpectedly catalyzed massive growth. Even after losing his home in the 2025 LA fires, Daniel partnered with World Central Kitchen to serve thousands of meals and distribute Snibbs footwear, showing that purpose and action can power recovery. Tune in to this episode of the Smart Business Revolution Podcast as John Corcoran interviews Daniel Shemtob, CEO and Founder of Snibbs, about overcoming adversity and scaling resilient brands. Daniel discusses rebounding from personal bankruptcy, how COVID-19 forced him to pivot, the inspiration behind Snibbs, and what he learned from losing his home in the LA fires.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Special Mention(s):

Quotable Moments:

  • “You really limit yourself in your belief set — until you see what’s possible.”
  • “If I didn’t love what I was doing, I couldn’t survive the downs.”
  • “We gave away tacos and shoes — and then sold out of 7,000 pairs in 60 days.”
  • “My mom was a Renaissance woman — always growing, always redefining herself.”
  • “Losing the house was hard, but losing my mom was far worse.”

Action Steps:

  1. Align passion with profession: Daniel Shemtob’s story highlights the importance of loving the work you do. Passion creates resilience during setbacks and sustains you through long hours and uncertainty.
  2. Surround yourself with inspiring people: From early mentors to EO members, Daniel leveraged relationships to expand his worldview and push past perceived limits. Seek communities that challenge and elevate you.
  3. Turn service into strength: After losing his home, Daniel helped others by cooking meals through World Central Kitchen. Service can be a powerful way to heal, reconnect, and rediscover purpose.
  4. Build with long-term vision, not trends: Daniel grew Snibbs sustainably by focusing on product excellence and community impact, not just fundraising hype. Slow, intentional growth creates lasting impact.
  5. Practice daily gratitude and presence: From journaling to meditation, Daniel’s routines keep him grounded amid chaos. Incorporate mindfulness to maintain clarity and focus during turbulent times.

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Episode Transcript

John Corcoran: 00:00 All right. Today we’re talking about resilience and how to bounce back from failure. My guest today is Daniel Shemtob. He lost his house in the LA fires. He also suffered a major setback in Covid just a couple of years before that. I’ll tell you more about him in a second, so stay tuned. Intro: 00:17 Welcome to the Smart Business Revolution Podcast, where we feature top entrepreneurs, business leaders, and thought leaders and ask them how they built key relationships to get where they are today. Now let’s get started with the show. John Corcoran: 00:34 All right. Welcome, everyone. John Corcoran here I am, the host of this show. And you know, if you’ve listened before that every week we talk with interesting CEOs, founders and entrepreneurs from all kinds of companies. And we’ve had Netflix, Grubhub, Redfin, Gusto, Kinkos, LendingTree, OpenTable, lots of great episodes. So check out the archives if you want to learn more and check out those episodes. And of course, this episode is brought to you by Rise 5, where we help businesses to give to and connect to their dream relationships and partnerships. How do we do that? We do that by helping you to run your podcast. We are the easy button for a company to launch and run a podcast. We do this strategy, accountability and full execution. In fact, we invented what some are calling the Wix of B2B podcasting. It’s our platform Podcast Copilot. So if you want to learn more about that, you can go to Rise25.com or email us at support at Rise25.com. All right. My guest here today, as I said, Daniel Shemtob first wanted to give a shout out to Andy Cheng who’s a friend of mine. He’s the founder of OptiNizers, which is a virtual staffing company that will help you to leverage remote staffing, remote talent from all over the globe. Check him out. You can Google the name. And he’s a great guy and a great resource. But my guest today is Daniel Shemtob. He’s the CEO of Snibbs and also born from The Lime Truck. He’s a celebrated chef entrepreneur. He’s one The Great Food Truck Race twice on the Food Network he started his culinary journey at the age of 20, founded The Lime Truck in 2010, quickly became a sensation all around Southern California. But the story that we’re telling today is also about setbacks and resilience, because at the time of Covid, he had just expanded his business pretty dramatically. And of course, as you know, many restaurants, many culinary businesses, and hospitality businesses are shut down during that period of time. So it was a big period of struggle for him. And then most recently, we’re recording this in March of 2025, just two months ago, lost his house in the horrible, devastating LA fires. So, Daniel, it’s a pleasure to have you here today. We’ll get into your personal story about what you’ve been up to for the last two months, after the horrible fires that have ravaged Los Angeles. But I always start people with what they were like as a kid, because I think it’s kind of a reflection of who we become as an adult. And you were a hustler. You were going around the neighborhood and I guess papering the neighborhood, telling them about how you can do different services. And this is a key distinction, because there’s a lot of people that have on the show that do something like that, but they don’t figure out that they should hire other kids to actually do the work, and you’d figure that out. So I love to ask about how you figured that out at a young age, because some people, myself included, take a lot longer to learn that lesson. Daniel Shemtob: 03:19 Yeah. You know, you learn a lot. And by the way, thank you for having me. And excited to be here. So yeah, no, I think, you know, it’s funny the nature versus nurture as as who you are as a kid and how you kind of establish. But I was always born to be an entrepreneur. I did everything that’s pretty traditional lemonade stands, selling candy, all the fun stuff. But I noticed in the neighborhood that I was at that there was a really kind of a growing older population, and it was Newport Beach, so there was a little bit of disposable income. We weren’t in the nicest neighborhood, but we were still in Newport Beach and what I saw was that there were a lot of requests around the same time. And so I think out of necessity, I realized that I needed a little bit of help. And then also, I think it was something really kind of synergistic about using the neighborhood to help the neighborhood. And I really like that kind of aspect of it. And so employing older kids in the neighborhood who had maybe a car or physical attributes that they could do the job and giving them the tasks and just taking that cut. And so it allowed me to be able to do more work. And then in some cases, it was a necessity because I was ten years old and didn’t have a driver’s license or a way to bring back groceries from the market. John Corcoran: 04:35 So you’re ten years old and you’re going around and you’re finding 16 year olds to do these 16 and 17 year olds, and you’re recruiting them to do this work in your business. That’s a little crazy. Daniel Shemtob: 04:46 Yeah, I guess I never really thought about it for a long time. John Corcoran: 04:50 I’m serious. Daniel Shemtob: 04:51 I’m saying it. John Corcoran: 04:52 Out loud like I have not heard that very much. Daniel Shemtob: 04:54 Yeah, yeah yeah, yeah. John Corcoran: 04:56 That’s cool. And your background is Persian Jewish, right? Daniel Shemtob: 04:59 That’s correct. John Corcoran: 05:00 And so I grew up in LA and in the West Valley, San Fernando Valley. There is a large Persian Jewish population there. And I’m a bit fascinated with the immigrant experience, especially, you know, scrappy immigrants that come to this country and that and that make something from nothing. I don’t think you were born in the United States, right? Yeah. So your family was your was your parents was the next generation that came over? Correct. How much do you think that that upbringing, being a part of that community shaped who you are? Daniel Shemtob: 05:31 So I had a very dynamic childhood, and I didn’t follow the same playbook as a lot of the Persian Jews here in LA. And I think it was just kind of circumstantial. So I grew up with parents that worked hard, but we weren’t as kind of well off as some of the other Persian Jews in LA and some of those families. John Corcoran: 05:51 There’s a lot of wealth among Persian Jews in LA also, too. Daniel Shemtob: 05:54 There is? Yeah. But what I did have, and I think this is the big differentiator and I had it in multiple ways, was exposure. And so I had exposure to these hustlers that a lot of them came with nothing and built things. A lot of them came with something and built them into bigger things. But I also grew up in Newport Beach. And, you know, at that time, opulence was a very big fad. I graduated high school in 2006, and so I think that was pretty much the peak where money was crazy. And so kids were getting Lamborghinis in our high school. And so I saw that and I. And so to me, and I remember this so distinctively our first job, it was a sales job. And everyone put on their board what they wanted when they made money. It was like a dream board, early exercise. And I looked over at my neighbor and my neighbor had an infinity. Infinity is a great car. Do I sit there and think that that’s the dream car I’m going to get when I get all my money? And it’s just not. Because and for him, where he grew up and what his mindset was, and he was like me at the time. He just saw an infinity as kind of peak opulence. And for me, because I saw kids getting these ridiculous sports cars that they really shouldn’t have. I just saw a different level of it, and I remember the exact moment where I started to recalibrate all value, and it was I got so when I was 16 or like right when I turned 16, I asked this guy to mentor me, who was 25, and he was already a self-made millionaire in the mortgage business, and he said, I’m not going to mentor you, but why don’t you come play basketball with us at six in the morning? And so I played in a league and all those guys were young millionaires. Everyone was under 30 and driving crazy cars, and they were making million dollar transactions in the locker room. And so I saw that that was just common practice. And again, so it just kind of leveled up that opportunity. And so I think I had a lot of influence by the community around me, both Persian, Jewish and just being in Orange County and just kind of seeing that, you know, as far out as it is for a kid to see $1 million, it was being transacted in front of me in a casual setting. John Corcoran: 07:55 And so did that teach you that it was possible for you? Did it teach you that this wasn’t a crazy idea, that that kind of thing could happen in, you know, and that you could be involved in it? Like, what was your takeaway from seeing it up close? Daniel Shemtob: 08:10 Yeah, exactly. I mean, you called it. Yeah. My takeaway was if these guys can do it, why can’t I. And I think secondly, it’s also you’re, you know, a five minute mile that was never run. And then it was run by a bunch of people. Right. And so it’s like you really limit ourselves in our belief set. And so that was really eye opening for me that it was just possible. And then, you know, these guys are also I think the second part of it, which was really nice, was they allowed me in. So I think, you know, it’s one thing to kind of see it from far away and be like, oh, I wonder how they got there and stuff. But to allow me in and see them transact and just spend a little bit of time with me. You know, it really impacted me as a young, as a growing person. John Corcoran: 08:52 You know, and a lot of people self disqualify before they even grab for that brass ring. Like they might say, well, I’m just some guy running a food truck. I shouldn’t even apply for that, you know, Food Network show. Like, I won’t even throw my name in the hat, but perhaps you put yourself out there because of that exposure. Daniel Shemtob: 09:19 Yeah. And also, I mean, it’s. What are you satisfied with? I mean, if I am me, the number is big. You know, as far as revenue and how big I want to grow a company. And, you know, most people would be happy getting a company to eight figures, you know? But for me, that’s just a stepping stone to where I want to go. John Corcoran: 09:38 So talk about the first setback. So you graduate. I think you said 2006 from high school. So 2006, 2007, 2008. For those that don’t know, well, you know, we have the global economic meltdown that happened in the 0809 time period. But real estate in particular was on fire in Los Angeles all over the country, but especially in, you know, in LA. And you went into real estate and you end up having to file a personal bankruptcy after this. So this is setback number one. There’ll be others later. Don’t don’t worry. We’ll get to them. But what happened there? How did you get overextended? Daniel Shemtob: 10:14 Yeah. You know, it was actually I think it was less market related and more personal, which was that I had no passion in what I was doing. So I think what happens, too, is when you drink from the fire hose, you know, where I saw all these guys making crazy amounts of money in real estate at a young age. I went into it thinking that that’s what it is, and I remember having a talk with a mentor at the time, and I had always been in love with fashion. That was where I wanted to do since I was a little kid and I was working in the coolest fashion store in Orange County, and I was making nothing and I was having a great time. And I talked to him and I said, hey, this guy offered me a job in real estate, and I really think that I have a future in fashion. And he was like, you can always buy clothes. Go work in real estate. And I think it was good advice in the sense that it was bad advice. And I was so young that I needed to learn it. But I remember at 20 years old, I didn’t want to go into the office. I was phoning it in. And if you’re phoning it in because you. John Corcoran: 11:13 Didn’t, because you didn’t like it, because you didn’t like the life you were living at that time. Daniel Shemtob: 11:16 I didn’t care about the work I was doing. I didn’t like the life that I was living. I didn’t feel passionate. I think I like growing things. That’s kind of a core value in a lot of ways. So that part felt really good. But, you know, there’s no such thing as linear growth in a business. And so you have to be passionate to get through the downs. And so that was really clear. And when I hit my first down I was over it right away. And that’s kind of how we got here. And so it was an early lesson. Then seeing that exposure made me want to go after it. But then calibrating and realizing that, hey, it’s not all about the money. You have to be passionate and love what you do. And so I think the real estate market, the time of the real estate market wasn’t great. I did go into the wrong industry at the wrong time, but I actually think that if I had stuck with it, I would have been fine. It was more so. I just didn’t like what I was doing. And that was like the first lesson I learned in my life in my business life. John Corcoran: 12:08 Do you like fashion? You end up in real estate chasing the money that doesn’t work out. You eventually come back to fashion, which is where you are today. But in the meantime, you get the food truck. So how did you get to food trucks from real estate?
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