Any of you guys thought about starting a food trailer with some eggs?

golfguyjosh

So i have always been a pretty solid cook. Not going to say the egg has made me better but for damn sure it has not made me worse lol. I got asked tonight after bringing some chicken wings over to my neighbors if i thought about building a food trailer and cooking. I have thought about it before and it seriously intrigues me. I truly think i could do well with what i love to cook. Tho i am still a rookie on the egg as i have only had it 2 months i feel i cant go wrong on it. If i did a trailer there would be THREE eggs. Ohh and i will post up some of the chicken i did tonight. Any ideas from you guys? All opinions are welcome thanks

golfguyjosh

Here is  the chicken with a homemade glaze I came up with. 

nolaegghead

Great looking chicken!

That's been talked about a lot.  There have been some uses of it on food trucks.  Main problem is they're fragile and have limited grill space for the space they take up and the lifetime warranty is void if they're used commercially.

The egg is a great tool.  It's a "Swiss Army Knife" of grill/smokers.  It's efficient.  But it's not the best at any one thing.  It's good, but there are charcoal grills that instantly adjust grate height, have huge areas for cooking and are easily cleaned.  There are smokers that are even more efficient and have much higher capacities with not much more of a footprint than an XL (think reverse flow vertical). 

I'm not trying to talk you out of it, but the end result is what matters, and costs are important to profit, and giving good value.

I encourage you to take your passion and run with it, but consider all aspects of the tool side to the equation.

SMITTYtheSMOKER

Go for it.  3 Eggs in a truck on a hot summer day may be a bit warm?  

Scottborasjr

That looks great, damn fine looking chicken. I've had people ask me why I don't try to sell the food before regardless of method.  I guess I haven't looked into it to much because if I was cooking for the general public for profit I'd actually have to concentrate and not time my cooks by beer intake. 

In all seriousness, I would need to take out a significant loan to get started around my neck of the woods and with a couple of kids I'm trying to build their college fund then living out my dream right now.  I probably need to grow a pair and go for it. 

I'm also terrible at plating which is key in the making money food game. 

golfguyjosh

That was my other thing.... I dont mind breaking down the egg when transporting it ie pulling everything out and stowing it but how much can the ceramic actually handle is a good question. To the food getting cooked I mean i will stick to the two things that are really hard to screw up lol. Chicken and tritip. The warranties are nice but ehhh not a big issue. I think there is a ton of profit in those two areas on a food truck. Tritip sandwiches are amazing and easy. I will talk you that the egg so far has been able to cover a very big area while cooking with adding a little smoke to a ton of smoke. 

It is a idea i have been tossing around. How I would set it up is another big gray area. I would love to do some cooking competitions with it also. I need to do more food on it then my comfort zone is too. 

golfguyjosh

I am a fatish  guy so it will get a bit toasty lol. I am single no kids but a dog that is 140 pounds at a year and 3 months old. I think i am going to check into what is needed by the state to run one/own one and yea. Three eggs are needed because what i have found out is the smoke is good on most things but peach cobbler needs to be a cleaner taste, chicken and beef run different smoke too. 

Scottborasjr

Permits are a big thing in certain places. I'm not trying to talk you out of it, just trying to present as many angles as possible. Some places have regulations on trucks/mobile cooking units. Others don't. 

golfguyjosh

I run/own a construction company so i know all about permits and dealing with the city/state lol

Grillin_beers

When I first got my egg I had the same thought.  I could quit my high stress job and cook all day.  It sounded perfect.  I went as far as pricing out building a custom trailer.  With the money you would spend on a trailer and three eggs,  you could by a Jambo and be able to handle much larger loads.  Just a thought.  

Scottborasjr

Good on you owning your own stuff, so you already know that it depends on the examiner if you will pass you or not. If it's something you are completely serious about go for it man. Just make sure you know and research everything before you put too much money in to it. I don't have the cajones to do it myself, but if you are already a independent contractor you know the in's and out's already. 

Toxarch

I've got a brother wanting to start a BBQ truck and I have a friend that used to have a food truck.

My understanding is that around big cities, at least in Texas, you have to do all your cooking in a commercial kitchen before it goes on the food truck. So you wouldn't even be able to cook the food on an egg. The food truck just keeps the food warm until you serve it. I know some trucks are lucky to make $100 profit in a day. Not sure how they pay their truck bills and survive like that. Other trucks just hit big events like school carnivals and make a lot of money and then give a kickback toward whatever the carnival was being held for. On a really good day, those trucks can make thousands. But you have to know people and get in really good with organizations to be able to do that. If you want to make a bunch of money for low overhead, tacos are the way to go. Even simple "gourmet" tacos will work. Low cost, easy to make, easy to sell.

What are you trying to sell, where are you going to sell it, who are you trying to target? Most think lunch and the bar crowds. When you hit the bars, what do you usually want to eat at 9pm or 2am? Most aren't looking for bbq. Are you ready to work until 4am for that bar crowd? What are you going to do when you have a bunch of leftovers and your operating costs beat your sales for a month? My friend said it doesn't even have to be awesome food. It's all what you are selling. And if it's not ready right away in a food truck, get ready for angry people.

Oh, and you will want 2 people working all the time and you need a 2nd vehicle there all the time. 2 people make the work a ton easier and the 2nd vehicle is your emergency gopher vehicle when you need something or are running low on something. Easier to run to the store in a car rather than secure the truck and leave and then lose your spot.

A food truck can definitely make money. But you have to know what you are doing. And if the name is "Big Carl's Pizza", people always want to see a Big Carl taking their order or making their food. Don't leave Little Alice in the truck alone.

gerhardk

There are areas where food trucks make plenty of money.  We where in Portland Oregon earlier this month and near our hotel there was a parking lot that was the size of a city block, the whole perimeter had food trucks parked on it and the lines did not end till late in the evening.  When we where in San Francisco there was a food truck gathering by the city hall that seemed to attract quite a crowd but it wasn't a permanent location like Portland.

On the topic of eggs and food trucks I think the biggest issue is the volume of food that an egg can make.  If you are making wings for at home it isn't an issue that you can only make a batch every 45 minutes or so but if you are trying to make a living at it a deep fryer's speed is your friend.  

Gerhard

fishlessman

this guy seemed to do well but neighbor complaints and other venders wanting the spot and complaining to the city eventually took a toll, he may be back now, dont know. he was setup really close to a town beach, open short hours, seasonal, and when it was nice out people look to facebook to see if they can get a dog today or not, has some of the best dogs out there. his trailer folds open, egg slides back, and theres a foot operated pulley system for hands free dome opening

http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/freds-franks-wakefield#cHAnkE7-bYETfCBy9qozJw

SmokeyPitt

Thiis place has one egg on their truck. 
http://www.happybellytruck.com

Check out the slide show:
http://www.happybellytruck.com/tour.html

SmokeyPitt

That place looks pretty good. I might have to check it out sometime.  Their prices seem really good too. Brisket and short rib burger is $8. 

Thatgrimguy

Green Eggs aren't NSF and will have a hard time being approved by a health department. I think the only approved smoker for inside use in a food truck is the FEC100 and 120. I'm sure there are others but that is far and away the most popular choice.

henapple

Talk to @SGH and @cazzy about their vaults. 

MJG

There is a hot dog type stand not far from my house. The guy uses 2 XL's and has about 4 large Yeti's. Does a spectacular job!  

http://m.yelp.com/biz/freds-franks-wakefield

Grillin_beers

@badinfluence runs a BBQ food truck.  You could probably get a wealth of advice from him. 

THEBuckeye

SmokeyPitt said:

Thiis place has one egg on their truck. 
http://www.happybellytruck.com

Check out the slide show:
http://www.happybellytruck.com/tour.html

I chatted with the owner of the last Eggtoberfest. If I recall correctly, he has approx $135K in the truck. 

SmokeyPitt

@THEBuckeye wow!  It definitely looks expensive.  I guess if you compare that to what you pay for retail space it might not be so bad.  As I said before I think their prices seem great. If I were to go buy grasses brisket and short rib buns from a local baker I think I would spend more than $8 per burger. 

BYS1981

Personally,  I like my day job too much to leave it. I have been asked the same question and I think I want to keep my hobby separate from my income. 

RRP

fishlessman said:

this guy seemed to do well but neighbor complaints and other venders wanting the spot and complaining to the city eventually took a toll, he may be back now, dont know. he was setup really close to a town beach, open short hours, seasonal, and when it was nice out people look to facebook to see if they can get a dog today or not, has some of the best dogs out there. his trailer folds open, egg slides back, and theres a foot operated pulley system for hands free dome opening

http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/freds-franks-wakefield#cHAnkE7-bYETfCBy9qozJw

I take it that you, stike & Bob haven't met up there now in years?

Thatgrimguy

@NPHuskerFL You disagree? Eggs are absolutely not NSF rated. What do you disagree about? You can go to the lengths to get one approved and every city is different. But it's definitely not easy. My city shut down a restaurant for using them.

theyolksonyou

BYS1981 said:

Personally,  I like my day job too much to leave it. I have been asked the same question and I think I want to keep my hobby separate from my income. 

Good for you!  Not a lot of folks can say the same. 

THEBuckeye

While an Egg truck seems appealing to some, spending time inside the truck is not eggactly a glamorous surrounding - not to mention a lack of air conditioning.  It's rather institutional stainless steel chic. 

DoubleEgger

Seems like a hard way to make a buck. Egging as a job would suck all of the fun out of it. 

theyolksonyou

THEBuckeye said:

While an Egg truck seems appealing to some, spending time inside the truck is not eggactly a glamorous surrounding - not to mention a lack of air conditioning.  It's rather institutional stainless steel chic. 

I agree. My brother has been in restaurant mgt for many years. Granted he works for THE MAN, but he works his ass off. Odd hours, regulations, people issues, inventories...

sounds good in theory, but it's a lot of work. OTOH, if it's work you enjoy, and you have the drive, go for it!

fishlessman

RRP said:

fishlessman said:

this guy seemed to do well but neighbor complaints and other venders wanting the spot and complaining to the city eventually took a toll, he may be back now, dont know. he was setup really close to a town beach, open short hours, seasonal, and when it was nice out people look to facebook to see if they can get a dog today or not, has some of the best dogs out there. his trailer folds open, egg slides back, and theres a foot operated pulley system for hands free dome opening

http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/freds-franks-wakefield#cHAnkE7-bYETfCBy9qozJw

I take it that you, stike & Bob haven't met up there now in years?

havent been that far south in a long time, it might be back in wakefield, i heard a different town for a while but that spot was really nice, good parking, lots of people walking around the lake. its pretty difficult for me to leave work so i dont get down there much

fishlessman

this thread has me thinking, put eggs on the boat and sell hotdogs, lobster rolls, chili. i thing i could do it while fishing i can just see the loud speaker, HOT DOGS...LOBSTER ROLLS....FISH ON