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Just curious.. If you live/work in an area with lots of lunch trucks around, do you like getting your food from em? what kinda food would you want to see in one, or what's your favorite kind to order from?

I don't mean the cheapy/stinky old hot dog carts, but more like the "gourmet" kind. Been kinda in the back of my head, was planning a burger place at one point, but lately I've been thinking a food truck might be better (and cheaper), prolly based around kabobs since they'd be simple to do and you can do so much with em.

Oh God.
On military installations we have these things we call "gut trucks". They are owned by the Wal-Mart-esque company known as AAFES (Army/Air Force Exchange Service). The funny thing about them is that you could give them an 8 digit grid on a map and they will come out to your exact location or as close as possible, even if you are out in the middle of nowhere.

I usually just bought cigarettes and a drink to store away for whatever field training we did.

At the flea markets we have those and they have legit Mexican food. Chorizo, lengua, all the nasty stuff I also make it a habit to stop at every hotdog cart with a brats, grilled onions and peppers.

I thought about homemade hot dogs, like the kind that doesn't include pig noses, but real normal meat that I'd grind up myself, but that seemed like it would be a huge hassle to learn to make right. Plus I just can't stand the smell of sourkraut and that's a topping that's kinda expected if you do hot dogs.

I was thinking marinated chicken & beef kabobs, served just regular if you wanna walk around with meat on a stick, or sandwich style on a warm pita with veggies, and 5 or 6 different homemade sauces to choose from. And then I'd sell small bags of chips for sides and cans of soda, all stuff I can just get at Costco or similar kinda stores.

I don't want a roach coach it'll be a nice truck, I'd get it all painted up cool and have it be a high end kinda thing, but I would probably start out just doing weekend fairs and stuff like that. My biggest fear is I know nothing about fixing cars and if the truck dies, I'm outta work till it's fixed :(

What about donner meat? They look absolutely grotesque on the rotissary thing, like a grey slab of sweaty thigh covered in cellulite. Oddly appealing though and clearly something you Americans aren't familiar with. My mate swears by donner meat pizzas.

I think you could do falafel and kebab in pitta, that way you got both markets covered. Oh and have a pot of something like special sauce or beans, people could order as a side dish. Oh and IMO dont go crazy on the drinks in my experience people just want a cola or bottled water with lunch.

That's what I was thinking for drinks, just cans of soda and bottled water.

What is donner meat? is that like greek Gyro meat? I thought of that but I was afraid it would be too expensive to get the rotiserie thingy installed. I'd want to keep costs as low as possible. Plus I've never done that before so it would be new to me.

For sides though, I wouldn't want something that's too messy or easily spilled, I want to keep it simple for people who want to munch while they walk Though I was thinking of pulled pork also, but I'm afraid people will want it to be more like authentic bbq and I don't have a smoker or anything like that. I'd rather expand later into other grilled foods, I could do grilled hot dogs eventually so the homemade hot dog idea isn't totally gone. Or grilled chicken wings could work, but they might take a while to cook and if I cook them all in advance they might dry out too much.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%B6ner_kebab

ah, that's what I thought. Ate that a lot when I was in Greece Something I could maybe expand to but I think I'd wanna stick with regular grilled stuff at first till I know what I'm doing.

I'd say focus on taste too, not just diversity. What are you really good at making? What is someone going to want to go out of their way to taste again that you would make? It's all about repeat customers.

Yeah that's the reason I'd want to stick to easy and quick grilled stuff, like kabobs. They cook up quick so the folks aren't getting something that was sitting and dried out. The meat bitz would be smaller so they cook faster, and I'd just give folks 2 skewers instead of 1 that has big chunks. Or I'd just use my own metal skewers and take the meat off before serving, so no one at the fair gets stabbed in the eye with one of my sticks.

So I'd offer marinated chicken & beef, served on a pita or small hoagie/sub roll, with shredded lettuce, tomatoes & onions on the side. And then you pick your special sauce.. greek tzaziki, bbq, chipoltle mayo, satay and then maybe ranch and something else.. all homemade of course and then see where it goes from there and what else I'd want to add after I know what I'm doing.

Sounds good! :yummy: ..... Oh there's no orkmoticon for that..... will have to do

I agree with Cannerus. You'll be aiming for repeat customers so a large range of food isn't really neccessary. Good taste and reliability are more important.

I would reiterate focusing on something specific and having a few variations. In your case have 3 or 4 kabobs and some drinks. You want to keep it simple and to keep it quick. Someone walks up and they say 2 steak, 1 chicken and you are ready to pop those bad boys out and move on to the next customer.

I've never really had an experience with lunch trucks. I work in a kitchen, so I just make my own lunch /dinner / meal while I'm at work.

All I can say is nomnomnom, I would buy my meals from you if you set up shop overseas

if they build a bridge across the ocean, i'll drive over

fast & fresh is what it has to be all about. Some trucks take your order and make you wait like a restaurant, but I wanna have stuff ready to go so there'll always be meat on the grill. That'll work for a festival where there's always people around but rolling up to a corner in the city at lunch time might be a little riskier. I'd probably start out with a trailer that's better for festivals and do it as a weekend side gig, and if it takes off I'd look into a daily lunch wagon later on.

4M2A wrote:I agree with Cannerus. You'll be aiming for repeat customers so a large range of food isn't really neccessary. Good taste and reliability are more important.

Exactly, though not a "lunch truck", there is a small ( as in the size of a garage) place near me called "The Red Eye'd Mule"...all they do is biscut sandwiches for breakfast and four types of burgers for lunch...they are always crowded and their food is fantastic.

Ah the wonderful roach coach as we called them when I was in the Army.
Portland OR has quite a few and you can get anything from ordinary hotdogs to Greek, Mexican, Russian and any Oriental flavor you want.
My personal favorites are Wiffies, they make fried pies. Anything will go into a pie depending on the day. Berry pies, banana and chocolate pies, bbq, chicken ala king. All have been delicious.
Then there's Potato Champion. French fries in so many different ways. Brown gravy, chili and cheese and they even make a good poutine.
And finally is the simple Weiner wagon that has been on the same corner downtown since I was a kid. Nothing fancy, just tasty dogs on the cheap.

DickBandit wrote:Oh God.
On military installations we have these things we call "gut trucks". They are owned by the Wal-Mart-esque company known as AAFES (Army/Air Force Exchange Service). The funny thing about them is that you could give them an 8 digit grid on a map and they will come out to your exact location or as close as possible, even if you are out in the middle of nowhere.

I usually just bought cigarettes and a drink to store away for whatever field training we did.

Don't you mean roach coaches?

remilia_scarlet wrote:

DickBandit wrote:Oh God.
On military installations we have these things we call "gut trucks". They are owned by the Wal-Mart-esque company known as AAFES (Army/Air Force Exchange Service). The funny thing about them is that you could give them an 8 digit grid on a map and they will come out to your exact location or as close as possible, even if you are out in the middle of nowhere.

I usually just bought cigarettes and a drink to store away for whatever field training we did.

Don't you mean roach coaches?

No, He means Gut Trucks. That's what they were called when I was in as well.

I've only heard them called roach coach or lunch truck before These days though the board of health has to inspect everything if you want to sell food so hopefully roaches aren't as common.