Jerry Moffett is a talented artist, fashion designer, sneakerhead and creator of Lunchtime Café, a clothing brand on the rise.
Moffett, who refers to himself as “just regular country dude” from Columbus, Georgia, began drawing in the first grade and knew he would do something in the art field years before moving to Atlanta in 2005 to attend college.
The idea for Lunchtime Café began with a class project in 2009 while he was attending American Intercontinental University. He designed a shirt featuring a little guy sporting a mohawk, wearing an apron and holding a sneaker on a serving tray.
“It was a caricature of me. I’m a fat kid that likes food and fashion,” Moffett explains. “I wanted to come up with something that could be a combination of those two. My favorite time of the day is lunchtime, so I added café, which is why I added an apron to the character. I used to have a mohawk, so I gave him one, plus big eyes and dope sneakers.”
Moffett’s love of iconic movies and musicians from the ’80s and ’90s inspires his designs. After he started wearing his original T-shirt design around town, friends and admirers took notice. “I just thought it was cool, but I got a reaction,” he recalls.
That reaction launched his entrepreneurial endeavors. “In 2010, I made my first T-shirt. I sold a few to some friends. I started selling them on a continuous basis in 2011,” he said.
Initially, he painted the T-shirts by hand, using brush paint and taking a day one or two to complete orders. After three years, the orders starting piling up, so he decided to invest in a screen-printing machine to speed up the production process.
Today, Lunchtime Café produces several clothing items and accessories, which are sold exclusively on his website. In less than a decade, Lunchtime Café has become so successful that Moffett is considering opening his first brick-and-mortar location in the next couple of years.
“I probably will never be in any stores until I open my own” Moffett said. “All Lunchtime Café product and merchandise will be sold at Ltcatl.com for now. I have a certain look that goes with my product, so I just want to make sure it has that look all the time.”
Now Lunchtime Café’s clothing and accessories are worn by individuals across the United States and all around the world, including in London, Germany and parts of Asia.
Moffett also sells his gear at trade shows like Pancakes and Booze and events like Dragon Con. He will be attending ComplexCon 2018, a convention highlighting fashion, art and music, happening Nov. 3-4 in Long Beach, California.
You can check out Lunchtime Café on Moffett’s website, Ltcatl.com, or @Lunchtimecafe on Facebook and Instagram.
