We love trucks. And we love yummy food. So it was really only a matter of time until Telstar Logistics turned our gaze toward the gourmet food truck phenomenon that's captivated foodies in major cities across America.
In an article in today's New York Times, Telstar Logistics Fleet Management Officer Todd Lappin described the transformation that is taking place among catering truck manufacturers as their traditional clientele of taco and hamburger vendors expands to include gourmet chefs who seek to serve exotic curbside cusine.
Chef Hugh Schick has cooked in some of the finest kitchens in the land. He took classes at the Culinary Institute of America, studied under Italian food expert Marcella Hazan and served as a private chef for the likes of the writer Christopher Hitchens and the venture capitalist David Cowan.
But when Mr. Schick and his business partner, Blake Tally, decided to open Le Truc, a San Francisco “bustaurant,” with a gourmet kitchen and dedicated seating area inside a converted school bus, the two quickly learned that the kitchens in food trucks are very different from their brick-and-mortar equivalents.
“It’s basically like buying a trailer home,” Mr. Schick said. “You get a kitchen that’s not designed by a chef, but by an engineer who’s simply trying to figure out where to make things fit.”
As Mr. Schick and other chefs seek to take more exotic foods like agedashi tofu and foie gras torchon to the streets and sidewalks of San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York, they are demanding a host of upgrades to the traditional catering trucks, from teppanyaki grills to vertical chicken rotisseries.
And those who manufacture catering trucks are rushing to accommodate such special requests, which have rescued their industry from a recession-induced plunge in demand for the more traditional taco and hamburger trucks.
In a flattering twist, the Times opted to purchase the Telstar Logistics Multimedia Package, using our photos to accompany the article. But as a regular reader, you get exclusive access to our Greatest Hits collection of ALL the photos we took during our catering truck factory tours.
Join us for a trip to Los Angeles, where we tour AA Cater Truck, which built San Francsico's popular Chairman Bao food truck. We also explore Armenco, which built the innovative Le Truc "bustaurant." It's an interesting business that combines custom fabrication with killer cuisine -- and the results are delicious.
Salivate and enjoy:
Photos by Telstar Logistics
Comments