Costco Connection - July 2012

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Costco members pave the way for success with gourmet food trucks

By Teri Cettina

IN MANY CITIES today, the best new restaurant in town may actually be on wheels.

Food trucks—mobile kitchens run by creative entrepreneurs—are bringing lunch, dinner and, of course, cupcakes to hungry patrons looking for something a little fun and different. Looking for kimchi quesadillas? That truck just pulled up. Vietnamese banh mi sandwiches? Parked around the corner. Red velvet cupcakes? Check your favorite bakery’s Twitter feed to see where its truck is headed today.

Even Hollywood knows food trucks are hipster cool right now. In the new romantic comedy The Five-Year Engagement, actor Jason Segel’s character turns an old ambulance into a funky taco truck dubbed Taco-Mergency. Food trucks have popped up in several weekly TV shows. And real food trucks and their owners are now stars of the Cooking Channel’s Eat St. and The Great Food Truck Race on Food Network.

STEPH HARDING PHOTOGRAPHY

Food trucks appear to be more than just a passing fad. “I believe they’re here to stay and will keep growing in the years ahead,” says Annika Stensson, spokesperson for the National Restaurant Association. In a 2011 survey by the trade association, almost six out of 10 respondents ( 59 percent) said they would be likely to visit a food truck if a favorite restaurant offered one, up from 47 percent a year ago.

Gone is the “roach coach” reputa-
tion of the old taco trucks and dingy
hot dog carts. Instead, today’s food
trucks range from retro kitschy to
upscale gourmet. Many focus on
unusual ethnic or locally sourced
ingredients. In cities such as Seattle,
Portland, Boston, Austin and
Philadelphia, as well as the areas that
popularized food trucks to begin
with—New York and Los Angeles—
food reviewers now include trucks in
their restaurant roundups. And
around the country, food truck rallies
are organized solely to introduce cus-
tomers to mobile food offerings.

Tough economy spurs creative business plans

Why the boom? Thank the recession. Underemployed chefs and spunky small-business owners have realized that food trucks are an ideal first business—even in tough economic times. At $50,000 to $100,000, their start-up costs are about a tenth of what it might cost to open a bricks-and-mortar restaurant in high-rent cities, says Matt Geller, CEO of the Southern California Mobile Food Vendors Association (SoCalMFVA), one of the first trade associations organized for food truck owners.

Trucks are also incredibly flexible.
“They let owners test out their name
and brand, the dishes they’ll serve and
many different geographic locations
before they completely commit,”
Geller explains. “They’re like kitchen
boot camp for a food business.”
And low owner overhead means
economical food prices for reces-
sion-weary customers: “For $3 you
can get an amazing handmade waffle
or an Asian-Mexican fusion taco
instead of something mass-produced
at a fast-food [establishment],” says
David Weber, founder and president
of the NYC Food Truck Association

CONTINUED ON PAGE 26

Food truck fare
Portuguese
Doughnuts, or
Filhoses pronounced (fee-loge )

CHARLES SHAPIRO

Kunfusion Costco member Lori Nunes Kunfusion Pismo Beach, CA

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon
active dry yeast
½ cup lukewarm water

6 eggs ;;; cup sugar ¼ cup butter, melted

1 teaspoon lemon zest

1 teaspoon whiskey (preferably Jack Daniel’s) Pinch of salt

3 to 4 cups all-purpose flour Oil for frying

Directions:

Dissolve yeast in water. In a separate bowl, beat eggs well and add sugar and butter. Add yeast mixture, lemon zest, whiskey and salt. Whisk until well combined.

Add flour a cup at a time to wet mixture until it pulls away from sides of bowl. Remove to a floured surface. Knead approximately 5 minutes or until dough is smooth. Dough should be soft and workable; add additional flour and/ or water as necessary. Place dough in a bowl, cover with a damp cloth or cling wrap and let rise until doubled in size, 30 to 45 minutes.

Heat oil to 350 F. With a large spoon, pull scoops of dough (about ¼ cup each) up the sides of the bowl. Pull one end of the dough off the spoon to lengthen it and drop it into the oil. Fry 3 or 4 doughnuts at a time for 1 to 2 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Remove from oil and dry on paper towel.