Food trucks: Small footprints and big dreams

When Isabel Vanegas was a kid, she used to cook with her grandmother who dreamed of one day opening a restaurant in her native Mexico.

Although her grandmother has passed, Vanegas has fulfilled that dream by using her recipes in her family’s food truck, Taco Amigo, which is based in Columbus.

Food trucks are mobile restaurants that offer a variety of options for adventurous taste buds.

Getting out of the rat race

Schmidt’s and Jiggle’s, based in Eupora and owned by Stephanie Logan, was among the first mobile food units in the Golden Triangle.

Stephanie was a nurse for 15 years before she thought about changing careers.

“I was working in corporate America and really couldn’t help my patients like I wanted to. I felt stuck and needed a change,” she said, as her husband, Anthony Logan, served up a few West Coast Tacos, filled with pulled pork and a crunchy slaw, at a Starkville Sunday Funday in late September.

Anthony Logan, Schmidt’s and Jiggle’s

One night, a little more than two-and-a-half years ago, while Stephanie served up street tacos during family dinner, her husband joked that she should open a taco truck. At the time she said she couldn’t support the family with a food truck.

“I was kind of tired of the same food all the time,” she said of the restaurant scene in Webster County at the time.

The food truck offers what Stephanie refers to as multi-cultural cuisine ranging from tacos to hibachi to sandwiches.

Follow the customers

Larry and Jessica Gilbert own Get Rolled, a mobile food unit that offers rolled ice cream. While it is based in Eupora, the dessert-themed vehicle travels throughout the area, including Columbus, where it appeared at the United Way of Lowndes and Noxubee campaign kick-off in September.

“Rolled ice cream is different from traditional ice cream,” said Larry Gilbert. “It’s a heavy cream-based mix that is homemade.”

The mixture is poured onto a flat surface, like a griddle, that is cooled to negative 20 degrees Fahrenheit. The Gilberts scrape the ice cream off the surface, creating a roll of ice cream that resembles a hollow jelly roll cake. They then top it with various things to make flavors like Pretty ‘N Pink (strawberry and chocolate), strawberry shortcake or Campfire Delight (s’mores).

The kitchen is mobile, allowing owners to go where the money is, Gilbert said.

“Our only issue with a storefront or a brick-and-mortar is we can move around,” he said. “If we have a slow day here tonight, we can pack up and go to a different town and sell again. We also have the opportunity to travel and meet people. We also are able to kind of control what our revenue is.

“If we have a bad day in a store, then it’s just a bad day. If we have a bad morning here, we can go to another town that afternoon.”

The Gilberts said that the first few times Get Rolled went out, business was slow.

“People don’t know what you are,” Larry said. “Most times, they don’t even know you’re there. It just takes a couple of times for you to visit a town before (the food truck) catches on. Overall, it’s been great. My wife and I do this together full time. This is our livelihood.”

More than just a vehicle on wheels

To supply items for Taco Amigo’s menu, Isabel and Randy Vanegas have a prep kitchen and pay rent and city licensing fees. All food trucks are required to adhere to the same fees and regulations, including a health certificate from the state, as a regular restaurant.

“You need to have a physical address for a food-delivery company to bring your products to,” said Isabel. “They can’t bring it to some weird address.”

In Taco Amigo’s kitchen, Isabel and her family members prepare food to get it ready for service. It’s then secured on the truck and driven to that day’s location.

How to find a food truck

Finding local food trucks can seem like a mystery. Luckily, once you find a food truck, you’ll learn how to find them again.

Blue Plate Mafia, which opened in late August, and other mobile food units rely on social media to spread the news of where they’re heading and what’s on the menu. You can even contact a truck to have them cater a private event. Some food trucks have their social media and Internet information near the service window or menu.

Blue Plate Mafia is Starkville-based and is owned by Chris Walker and David Wilkerson. The chefs have a combined 35 years of experience. Their menu ranges from loaded fries to meats to dessert.

Besides serving up food for the communities they visit, Walker recently was recognized for his pastry skills during the Sweetest Chefs of the South, an annual event held in Alabama. This year, he received Most Creative dessert for The Baked Alabama. 

“It’s our twist on a Baked Alaska, we served a meringue cookie (painted to look like an oyster shell), topped with a passionfruit mousse and a Lane Cake crumble,” he said.

Walker has competed in the contest for four years and also received Best Presentation and Most Flavorful in 2018 and 2019, respectively.

STORY BY NICOLE BOWMAN-LAYTON