The Food Truck - 6. Chapter 6

With the three boys working the food truck, I thought it’d be time to launch my catering business. I told dad that I was going to begin catering and the business will be called Catering by Food Truck.

“How can you manage? You’re serving breakfast and lunch and I even heard people from the second shift who start at four o’clock coming by the truck to pick up lunches.”

“That’s true, but most of the catering is in the evening and on weekends and the truck is closed. If it gets too much, then I’ll be more selective in my catering activities. This week my local high school called in some orders, they had someone come over and pick them up. I was wondering if there are opportunities here that I’m missing. Maybe I should hire a runner and expand into some of the other schools as well as businesses what do you think?”

“Don’t most of the schools have a cafeteria?”

“Yes, but normally the staff doesn’t eat in the cafeteria.”

“Do any of your boys have a drivers license?”

“I don't think so. I don't think any of them are old enough except maybe Donnie. I could always buy one of those scooters and attach an ice chest to it for sandwiches. I’d definitely have to limit my menu for deliveries. I'll check with Donnie and see how old he is. He might be able to get a drivers license.”

Jim found that Donnie is old enough to obtain a restricted license. He’d be allowed to drive between eight in the morning and six in the evening. Jim told the boys what he had in mind about taking orders and delivering them in town. “Jim, if we did that we’d need another person. One to fill the orders and the other to handle the business here that we’re dealing with now.”

Jim thought over the boys comments. “You’re right, I’d need another guy. I need to think this over a little more.” As the week progressed, Jim saw a pick up in orders between three o'clock and four o’clock.

“Guys, have you noticed the increase in orders late in the afternoon?”

“Yes, one of the guys said that he preferred to have one of our meals rather than pack a lunch box.”

Jim thought about that and wondered if he could provide a dinner menu. “Donnie, the next time someone comes for food between three and four o'clock find out if they have access to a microwave. Maybe we can develop a dinner menu that they can reheat.”

Jim kept his eyes open on Friday evening. He noted that Donnie was selling several lunches. When they closed the food truck, Donnie told Jim that one of the guys said they have access to a microwave.

That evening, Jim mentioned to his dad about people working the four to twelve shift buying lunches. “I was wondering if I could provide a hot dinner for them in place of our lunches.”

“You might need a different packaging. Using those paper plates might not be microwavable.”

Jim thought about that and decided he would check and make sure that they either were or weren’t able to be microwavable.

Saturday while at Restaurant Supply, Jim checked out other environmentally acceptable packaging. He found several wooden plates but he knew they would be expensive. Prior to entering the store, he gave each boy a list of items. This allowed Jim to search for an acceptable plate. Meeting at the front of the store, Jim checked the boy’s list against the items on the carts. While he was doing this, Donnie asked him if he found any plates. “I found a wooden plate, but they are very expensive.”

“Maybe, we should talk to the men and tell them if they bring a plate, we could offer a better meal than the sandwiches. All we would need to do is to cover the plate.”

Jim thought that might be a good idea. “Yes, we could use aluminum foil or maybe even wax paper. They could transfer the food to a plate and use the microwave that way. I’m not sure I’d want to be responsible for anything that could cause a problem if their plate isn’t cleaned properly.” So that was the plan.

Monday night as the men came for their sandwiches Donnie told them about providing a better dinner if they had their own plate. Donnie explained they would need to transfer the food to their plate and use the microwave to reheat it. When Jim ask Donnie what their reaction was, Donnie indicated that they made no comment. For the rest of the week, the men came for their sandwiches.

On Monday after the lunch sales were over, Jim prepared a dinner for him and the boys. He made mash potatoes, a vegetable and fried chicken. It was obvious if you stood at the window you could smell the food. One of the men asked if he could have a dinner like the one Donnie was eating. Jim had prepared for this. He already calculated his price but again he had no container that would hold the food hot or allow it to be heated in the microwave. Jim went to the window and told the guy what his problem was. “If you had a plate, you could transfer the dinner which will allow you to reheat it in the microwave when you’re ready to eat.” Just to seal the deal Jim gave the guy a piece of the fried chicken.

On Tuesday Jim was prepared, he had a meatloaf, mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables. He made gravy for the mash potatoes and put it in one of his coffee cups. Later that afternoon, five guys showed up for dinner. Jim chuckled as he filled their order, passed it to Paul who put a cover over it and filled a coffee cup with gravy. Jim told Paul the price. Paul watched them smile as they walked in front of all the others who are buying the lunches.

Jim was excited about making and the acceptance of his dinner. That evening he told his dad what happened. His dad just smiled looking at his mother. “If the supper crowd turns out to be significant, I don't think I’ll have the time or the people to offer deliveries in town.” Again his dad smiled and nodded.

Jim's food truck was doing very well. On occasion, he checked his prices against some of the diners in town. He was not only interested in the price, but also the quantity. One Saturday after shopping, the boys and Jim went to a restaurant that had just opened. The boys look over the menu, ordered the same lunch components that they sold at the food truck. Jim ordered one of their hot meat loaf meals. When the food came the boys took out a pad and wrote down their comment. Jim took his meat loaf, divided into four sections. He gave a section to each of the boys. He notice that they tasted the meat loaf as if they were a food critic.

That evening, Jim had a meeting. First each of the boys gave their comment about their lunch. The boys were very critical. They compared everything on their plates with the lunches that they were served. All of them noted that the bread the sandwiches were made from, was store bought bread, whereas our sandwiches used fresh baked bread. They also noted that's the amount of meat and cheese where about two thirds of what we serve. Denny noted that they only had one piece of lettuce and no pickle. When they had finished critiquing their sandwiches, Jim ask them what they thought about the meatloaf.

Denny noted that the gravy was a purchased mix, “I saw cans of gravy at Restaurant Supply. I'll bet that was where they got their gravy.”

The boys agreed with Denny about the gravy. Donnie mentioned the meat loaf didn't have the same taste as ours, “Which I prefer over what they serve.”

The conclusion of the taste study was, food truck one and the restaurant zero. Denny thought we should do this each weekend keeping track of the restaurant and our comments. Jim and the boys thought Denny’s idea was a good one. Since it was Denny's idea, he was assigned the duty of creating the book of comments.

The following week, Jim noted that more and more dinners were being served. Now he had to develop menus for each night.

Saturday afternoon, after shopping, while doing another taste test, Jim had a meeting with the boys. “I’d like to develop a five day dinner menu. I want your ideas.”

Donnie thought that the chicken dinner was well receive. Denny thought that meat loaf should definitely be on the menu. Paul thought maybe ham might be good.

“How about roast beef?” The boys nodded yes.

“And maybe fish fry on Fridays.” “

We could vary how these dishes are prepared,”

“Yes, we should try not to offer a lot of deep fried foods. Do you think we could have an oven or maybe a convection oven.” Jim promise to look into what Restaurant Supply could provide.

“We’re a little limited on space.”

“Maybe we could put a cover over the sink where we wash our equipment. We’ll still have the smallest sink for washing our hands.” Jim thought that was a good idea.

“I'll bring a tape tomorrow to measure that area.” As it turned out a board could be placed over two sections of the three section sink.

On Saturday at Restaurant Supply, Donnie found a perfect size oven that combined a convection oven and microwave into one unit. Jim smiled as he nodded yes to Donnie. Loading everything into the car, the boys headed to another restaurant.

Sunday was cleaning day, Jim and the boys gave the food truck a thorough cleaning. Dennis typed up the menu for the dinners, similar to the menus for lunch. Even though Jim was offering dinner, he maintained lunch menus for the evening crew. As the weather became cooler, Jim offered larger sizes of soup and chili.

Jim began teaching the boys how to cook and specifically prepare his food truck menus. If he wasn’t able to work, he wanted the boys to be able to carry on. Paul’s school performance was short of a miracle. Without the worry of his mother, or living where he lived, he was able to devote his time to his study. An off shoot, Donnie and Denny went back to school, via the computer. My dad was proud of them and I think he was proud of me as well.

With the addition of the convection oven, we were able to offer more selections for dinner. We even stayed open until eight during weekdays, our dinners were not only bought by the men working, but people where buying them to take home. This meant we had to look and buy packaging for take outs, which were a lot easier to find. At home they could transfer the meals to microwaveable dishes.

One of our big hits was fried fish sandwiches served with fries. I had the baker make a special size bun for the fish sandwiches. I think I was becoming one of his favorite customers.

Sunday dinners became a ritual, Mom was chased from the kitchen as the boys and I took over. It provided me with a great opportunity to not only teach the boys, but to also experiment a little. I think over the next few months we made dinners to cover every holiday. I kept track of these costs, they were classified as prep costs.