For Dawon Matthews, entrepreneurship wasn’t just a choice—it was a necessity. After being charged with a felony at 19, companies rejected him, prompting him to forge his own career path. Now 32, Matthews is a successful business owner with five companies under his belt, most notably Goodies Soul Kitchen, a thriving food truck in Houston, Texas.
Matthews, a Philadelphia native, described having a difficult childhood before his family relocated to Norristown.
He told CNBC, “Growing up, I didn’t have any mentors or anyone I wanted to be like. I just had a bunch of people that I didn’t want to be like.”
Although he was a successful high school student, Matthews encountered legal issues during his college years. Matthews’ legal troubles began as a freshman when he was expelled from school and served six months in jail for aggravated assault following a party brawl. While still on probation, he was later charged with a DUI, which, as Matthews recalled, “just led to me going down a hole of just going in and out of the system.”
Despite earning an associate’s degree from Manor College and a B.A. in business from La Salle University, Matthews faced significant difficulty in finding employment. He applied for over 200 jobs in two months without success, leading him to launch his first company.
“Once they see a felony behind a person, they don’t even care about what credentials you got. You’re just not accepted in that society,” Matthews stated.
Today, his companies bring in over $1 million in net revenue annually.
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Matthews and his childhood friend, Darnell Hinton, entered the business world in 2017 by launching Wonderful Cleaning, a cleaning company based in the Philadelphia area. Matthews stated that he chose the cleaning industry due to its low startup costs and lack of background checks required for business owners.
“As long as you can get some bleach and some hot water and some spray bottles and some rags, you can turn this thing into a business,” Matthews said.
Matthews initially earned money by cleaning his brother’s house. However, with the assistance of his high school football coach, he secured more profitable commercial cleaning contracts.
By the second year, his venture, Wonderful Cleaning, was generating approximately $12,000 in monthly revenue. At this point, Matthews shifted his role to that of a “middleman,” contracting out the cleaning jobs to other crews.
Using the earnings from Wonderful Cleaning, Matthews and Hinton acquired a pickup truck and launched a second company, R&R Junk Removal, in 2020. Within a few months, they were able to buy a dump truck. Matthews stated that R&R Junk Removal surpassed $100,000 in revenue in its first year.
Matthews leveraged his income from two businesses to purchase single-family homes. He then refinanced these to acquire duplexes and triplexes. Currently, he possesses 16 properties across the Philadelphia area, generating approximately $11,000 in monthly profit.
In January 2024, Matthews relocated to Houston. “I felt like I reached my success in Philly, so I wanted to get out of there,” he explained.
However, not all his ideas succeeded. Soon after his move to Houston, Matthews sold a few properties to launch a nightclub, a venture that ultimately failed, costing him over $170,000. Following this setback, he chose to enter the restaurant industry.
“I’m always looking for the next thing,” he remarked, “and then that’s when I came up with food.”
Matthews, with a $40,000 loan, launched Goodies Soul Kitchen with partner Jessica Ahwash in August 2024, despite having almost no restaurant experience outside of a brief KFC job in college. He faced significant early challenges, admitting he “didn’t even know how to turn the trailer on.”
When his chef unexpectedly quit a month after the business started, Matthews, who said, “I don’t know nothing about food,” was forced to step in as a chef until he could hire a replacement.
For Matthews, developing Goodies’ business model was paramount.
He was inspired by chains like Chick-Fil-A and Chipotle, noting their success wasn’t due to unique food compared to places like KFC or Popeyes, but superior service.
He noted, “The money isn’t in food… The money is in the service and the quality and the systems that you produce. That’s where you reach your success in the food industry.”
Seeing a gap in Houston’s late-night food scene, Matthews positioned Goodies Soul Kitchen for clubgoers. The truck offers fried fish, lamb chops, chicken wings, and fried chicken, with sides like mac-and-cheese, sweet potato casserole, and fried cabbage. Operating four nights a week (7 p.m. to 3 a.m.) from a fixed downtown location, Matthews employs four staff.
Serving about 300 customers weekly (more on good club nights, less in rain), the profitable truck generated about $20,000 in weekly revenue this summer.
In 2024, Goodies grossed just over $1 million, with 2025 sales on track to exceed that amount, currently over $665,000 as of September. Following this success, Matthews launched a second food truck, Birds and Buns (selling hoagies, tacos, and chicken wings), in March 2025. He intends to sell most of his other companies within the next year to concentrate on the food businesses.
“They say you start to find what you want to do for the rest of your life around this age,” Matthews said. “I think I found my love for entrepreneurship in hospitality.”
Matthews hires recovering addicts and former felons. “Here, you’re not judged by a paper,” he said. “You’re not judged by a record. You’re judged by your skills.” Managing his ventures is tough, but his mantra is “choose your hard.”
“Being poor is hard. Being rich is hard. Being happy is hard. Being sad is hard, right? So it’s the reality of just choosing your ‘hard.’”
Matthews has plans to expand Goodies, preparing to open a brick-and-mortar location that will feature a sports bar and a burger shop. Looking ahead, he expresses his ambitious vision, saying, “Goodies to the moon.”
