Fellow foodies will understand when I say I have an almost Pavlovian reaction to the phrase “food trucks.” Yes, they’ve been around for a handful of years now, but they’re still new enough—and varied enough—to make me perk up and pay attention. Serving up everything from soup to Korean tacos to macaroni and cheese to banh mi and so much more, these deliciousness-delivering trucks seem like a food entrepreneur’s dream. After all, they operate free of a brick and mortar space, allow for transition between roving meal hotspot and traveling catering truck, and let chefs focus on creating just a handful of menu items really, really well rather than building a full-blown selection.
Sounds like a dream job, doesn’t it? And it is, for many, but doesn’t come without some blood, sweat and tears, like any good start-up.
“People think that the open road and getting out and being with the people is going to be this dreamy life, but food service in general is tough, and a food truck is a restaurant that has to find a new location every day,” Ross Resnick pointed out.
And he should know. Resnick is the CEO of a Los Angeles-based company called Roaming Hunger, a company that works as an advocate for all things food truck. Roaming Hunger keeps a database of street food vendors and help spread the word about them to hungry foodies across the country. Resnick and his fellow Roaming Hunger-ites have been tracking the food truck world since 2009, documenting its growth from a mere 250 trucks in 2009 to upwards of 6,300 trucks today.
Resnick credits the Internet with the quick growth of food trucks. Though the trend started taking off in larger cities (such as Portland, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and Austin) people in secondary markets were able to follow along via social media and other online outlets. So when trucks opened in these smaller cities, their populations were already in the loop, as far as how the food truck culture worked. Not only that—they were thrilled to have food truck options in their own towns. As a result, food trucks have flourished in markets like Indianapolis, Nashville and San Jose.
And what exactly is the most important trait for a food truck owner to possess? According to Resnick, “First and foremost, you have to be a hustler.”
What with the long hours required, the marketing chops needed to uncover opportunities and the responsive, community-building skillset that’s a mandatory, this is no easy gig.
To learn more about the process of getting a food truck off the ground, Paste chatted with Mikiel Arnold, owner and chef of an Atlanta-based food truck called The Freakin’ Incan, about his experience getting his business underway. His food truck, which serves Peruvian offerings, opened in 2014, and serves the city of Atlanta and its Northern suburbs.
Paste: Where did your love of food begin?
Mikiel Arnold: I was born in Truijillo, Peru, to a Peruvian mother and American father. I have vivid memories of my grandmother wearing her apron and orchestrating help in the kitchen. She was an artist in the kitchen and I quickly fell in love with the cuisine. My family moved to the States when I was six, leaving our extended family in Peru, but we would return to visit every summer. It was so exciting to return to Peru every year and eat the foods and fruits that I had missed. I loved food—especially Peruvian food—but I wouldn’t decide to make a career out of it until 2007.
In 2007 I decided to enroll into culinary school and would graduate two years later. Before graduating I was required to finish a three-month-long externship in a restaurant of my choice. I decided to return to Peru and complete my externship in Lima, at Astrid y Gaston, working for Chef Gaston Acurio. The experience there was something I will never forget, and it furthered my interest in the cuisine.
Paste: What made you want to start a food truck?
MA: The inspiration for starting a food truck came from the desire to get my food out to the public in an inexpensive way. I had worked in several restaurants around town and in many different positions in the kitchen. I even had the opportunity to help my family start a burger joint out in Tucker [Georgia] called The Local No.7. This experience showed me exactly how much work went into opening your own place. I have always had the desire to work for myself and finally decided it was time to do so in early 2014. I had taken a food truck course called Food Truck 101 that was given by Greg Smith of the Atlanta Street Food Coalition a few years back. This class taught the ins and outs of how to run a food truck business and got me thinking about my concept.