Trucks, he said, are a way to establish brands quickly and build communities of fans with fewer costs.įeedback from the hungry is instant and welcome, but mobile operators can face unique logistical problems.

Greg Drescher, the Culinary Institute of America's executive director of strategic initiatives, invited Choi (he's a CIA grad) to cook at a conference last year that focused on the fast-growing street food culture. 'They keep having ideas and keep wanting to test them out. 'They get bored,' Kate Krader, the magazine's restaurant editor, said of the trucks-and-bricks business model. He's doing affordable rice bowls indoors without tampering with the truck menu that earned him a best new chef mention from Food and Wine magazine earlier this year. In west Los Angeles, Chef Roy Choi - a phenom in mobile food - changed concepts altogether from his often-imitated Kogi Korean barbecue taco trucks when he opened his restaurant, Chego, in a strip mall April 7. Inside, floors resemble sidewalks and banquettes look like park benches. The Taco Truck - the restaurant - opened July 9 with the same food, its metal logo out front a profile of their big rolling baby. With no formal background in food, Scott partnered with Le Cordon Bleu-trained Chef Roberto Santibanez, former culinary director of New York City's Rosa Mexicana restaurants, to build an authentic taqueria menu.

'I knew that the truck was going to be the first step to getting a restaurant open.' 'If your biggest dream is to keep a truck out on the road forever, I think that's great, but I knew that we wanted to do this,' said Scott, who left behind a sales job for a fly fishing equipment company.

Food trucks have grown so popular in some areas that a growing number of young operators like Jason Scott in Hoboken are becoming less, er, mobile. Office workers here have been feasting on the truck's Mexican street fare as food on the move has taken off around the country. 'I like being outside, but you've got the AC at the store - oh yeah,' said Michele Ward, a health club fitness director.

Company of heroes trucks wont move