The Food Truck - 7. Chapter 7

Our first challenge came at Thanksgiving. Many of the businesses at the Park closed for the holiday. So we had requests to cater Thanksgiving and parties over the four day break. I promised my baker friend I’d provide his Thanksgiving Turkey and trimmings if he allowed me to use his ovens. Mom told me if I packed the roasted turkey in aluminum foil, it would stay warm. Side dishes could be packed in my paper cartons and reheated at the home, I planned a limited number of sides and for dessert, the bakery would provide pies.

Originally, I thought I’d charge twice the price of the food. I checked with a few stores that offered a twelve pound turkey with stuffing and two sides plus one pie for sixty-nine dollars. I knew I could provide a better dinner but that meant I’d have to charge seventy-five dollars, I’d shop at Restaurant Supply. Based on my experiences, my food cost would run between thirty and thirty-five dollars.

The boys and I had ten orders for that day, so we thought. When people found out what we were charging plus extras, we called a halt at fifteen orders. This meant that we’d need seventeen turkeys, one for the baker and one for mom and dad.

In all, we made seventeen turkey dinners, I couldn’t have done that without the boys. I collected some cardboard boxes, packed each order into a box, labeled with name and address and attached an invoice for seventy-five dollars. We started delivery at two in the afternoon of Thanksgiving. By three, all the dinners were delivered, the last being mom and dad’s. Dad had bought a bottle of wine to toast my first catered Thanksgiving dinner. Sitting around the table I gave thanks for Mom and Dad and for my three boys who worked very hard providing the catered dinners. Dad offered a toast to our success and our future success with the food truck.

Monday morning we were back at work at the Industrial Park. I made sure that sandwiches did not contain turkey or chicken. I figured that with all the turkey this past weekend, no one would want a turkey sandwich. I also did not serve chicken or turkey for dinner, meat loaf was on the menu. Routine was quickly established. The boys did have hot turkey sandwiches for dinner that night, by their request.

After lunch was served, Donnie was standing in front of the window eating a piece of pie. One of the men, who came to buy their supper, saw the pie and wanted to know if he could buy a piece. Donnie looked and saw there was a piece left and sold it to him. “Jim, I sold that piece of pie that was left for two fifty.”

“Good for you, maybe we should offer pie as a desert for the dinner crew. I saw pies at Restaurant Supply and I'm sure they have cakes as well.”

“I think we should ask our baker for a price on pies and maybe small cakes.”

“I remember back home you could buy a small pie at the grocery store. It was just big enough for one person. There were cakes also, but I never bought one.”

“That's a good idea Denny. We can go to the baker and see what he can produce for us at reasonable price.”

Breakfast and dinner business was picking up but lunch was still the mainstay of the business. Jim started offering chili for lunch. He sold an eight oz container and twelve oz container. One thing about chili, its always better the second day.

By now Jim had a good idea what his cost were and how much of a markup he needed to cover his costs plus his return on his investment. Jim may not have done well in mathematics in school, but it didn’t take him long to learn about profit and loss in a business. Normally menus that never change can become boring, not only to Jim and his crew but also the customers. Always looking for new ideas, Jim and the boys introduced pot pies for lunch and dinner.

Jim started to subscribe to food magazines that specialized in cuisines from other countries. He and the boys would look through these magazines highlighting foods that they thought could be produced in the food truck, offering a variety. Jim was mindful that the price he’d have to charge, had to be in the neighborhood of his current pricing.

With the success of his Thanksgiving catering, he began to think about catering for Christmas. He could offer ham as well as turkey. “How about roast beef?”

“I don't know about roast beef. We never had roast beef. We have had ham and turkey. I guess we could offer roast beef, we’d need to use more ovens at the bakers.”

Jim thought he would consult with his mom and dad about the menu choices. In the meantime, he listed each meat and then, with the boys help, listed the sides to go with each meat. Over the next few weeks Jim ran a cost analysis for each menu. He included rolls and pies bought at the bakery. The boys pitched in creating the side dishes, based on the food they liked. Dennis made a cost sheet for each meat. The sheet included the cost of the meat and sides, including rolls and pies. Jim and the boys took the sheets with them when they went to Restaurant Supply.

Jim gave each boy a sheet and told them to check the prices on the items listed as well as the quantity. He explained that a box of frozen vegetable could be used on more than one menu. Jim look over the completed menus, he noticed that the quantity of food per item would depend on the number of people per order. He also needed to stop at the bakery to check on the prices of rolls and pies.

Jim posted a sign on his lunch wagon advertising Christmas catering. Dennis made up menus for each meal including a column to indicate the number of people. Jim calculated the cost per dinner for four people. He would have to adjust for any number greater than four.

As the forms were completed and given to Jim, he passed them to Dennis to calculate the cost and the mark up. With the final cost, Jim called each of the potential clients and quoted his price. He wasn't surprised when some declined after they heard the price. This didn’t bother Jim since his acceptance rate was at sixty percent. This meant they definitely needed the bakers ovens. As with Thanksgiving, he offered the baker a dinner of his choice for the use of his ovens.

Dennis gave Jim the totals for each meal. Jim was surprised that there was a minimum of eight people and a maximum of twelve people per delivery. Jim calculated one third pound of meat per person. He rounded up to the nearest pound.

On Christmas Eve, the businesses at the Park closed at noon. This gave Jim the opportunity to start preparing meals to deliver on Christmas. The prior weekend, he went to a discount store and picked up Christmas boxes to pack his food.

He conned his mother to help him and the boys on Christmas morning. She packed the boxes as the boys handed her the food. Denny gave her the list for each box. All she had to do was to mark off the list as the food went into the box. At two o'clock Jim and the boys begin to deliver the food. At four, their last delivery was at Jim's home. He cheated a little by packing ham and roast beef in his box. The meal at Jim's house for the boys was a somber affair. Donnie and Denny thought about past Christmas and Paul thought about his mom. Jim’s dad couldn’t do anything for Donnie and Dennis but he did give Paul a plane ticket to go and see his mom. There were tears in his eyes when he realized that he would be spending sometime with his mom. Jim’s dad opened a college fund for Donnie and Dennis. The boys were surprise to see a balance of a thousand dollars. Jim had contributed half and his dad matched the other half.

For New Year’s, Jim and the boys came up with what he called an International New Year's meal. They went through the magazines and picked out typical New Year's food from several countries. Jim thought that they should offer two menus, one International and one typical American. “What would be a typical New Years meal for America? Most people don’t have a special meal like they do with Thanksgiving and Christmas.”

“I’ll have to do some research to determine what most Americans have for New Year's dinner. I'll ask Mom what she thinks as well. I remember in school a lot of kids said that the holidays were foods that their parents and grandparents made or brought with them from Europe.”

“We could offer roast beef, lamb, roast pork or roast goose. That would cover Australia and France. Roast beef and roast pork we could claim to be American. For vegetables we can offer beans, rice and lentils, baked or mashed potatoes and Soba noodles. For desserts we can offer pies, rice pudding with almonds, a small cone shaped wreathe cake or Oliebollen. That we'll take care of India, Norway or Denmark, Argentina, Japan, Sweden and Holland.”

“What do you think?”

“I Think you need to add black eyed peas for the South.”

“Jim, that’s a lot of cooking, why don't we make up a menu that would contain a little bit of everything and call it our International New Year’s dinner?”

Jim thought about the idea and decided that it made a lot of sense. He knew that no restaurant could compete with this inclusive menu. Now he had to think about advertising and then purchasing the food and proper containers. He also realized that he needed additional kitchen equipment.

“How do you boys feel about giving up your study room? We could move your desks and equipment into my office. Then we can use that room to install ovens and work tables to allow us to make not only New Year’s dinners, but also any special dinners celebrating all of the holidays.”

The boys thought it was great idea. Dennis was assigned the job of searching for commercial ovens. When they went shopping at Restaurant Supply, they took the opportunity to check out what they offered in commercial ovens, work tables and restaurant equipment needed to prepare dinners on large scale. Denny also was given the responsibility, a long with Donnie and Paul, to print the food trucks New Year’s dinner menu.

Jim was responsible for creating the cooking instructions for all on these special foods. “Before we post our New Year’s menu, we need to be sure we can obtain the equipment. So Denny you need to get your internet search done within the next few days. We know we can get some of the equipment at Restaurant Supply, but it’s a good idea to compare costs.” By morning the boys relocated all of their equipment for the room next to the office. Jim was surprised how fast they moved.

Doing the day as customers came to the food truck for their breakfast or lunch they asked the boys if a special dinner was going to be offered for New Year’s. “Jim, what are we to tell them since we cannot offer our International dinner until after the equipment is bought and set up.”

“You’re right, I think we’ll offer either a ham dinner or a roast goose dinner. We’ll have to impose on our good friend the baker to use his ovens one more time. Keep the menus and we’ll practice doing the year to produce those items and also provide a taste panel to evaluate whether we want to include them or not.” That seem to make a lot of sense. The boys smile knowing that they now have an answer about New Year's dinner.

As in the past, the baker was glad to let the boys use his ovens. What Jim didn't realize, he was creating a competitor. Jim knew he had one trick up his sleeve to prevent competition, they didn’t have his recipes. New Year’s dinners were well received, again Jim noted an increase in the number of dinners he sold. He and the boys were please with the business the food truck was doing. Jim knew that the business would continue to grow, especially with his catering for the holidays and sporadic parties.

Jim had to contact Dominic again for the installation of the ovens with ventilators over the ovens, otherwise the room would become too hot. He also needed a large propane tank installed for the ovens. They ended up with three ovens, a center table and a walk in meat freezer with a cold box in front. Now Jim could take advantage of quantity discounts.