ROCHESTER – Food trucks from all over Minnesota have flocked to Rochester in years.
As of May 14, 2024, 54 cellular food unit businesses have been authorized in Olmsted County for the 2023-2024 season. With the influx of food trucks, the domain has also amassed a wide variety of cuisines. There are a multitude of Mexican foods and taco food trucks, but there are also Mediterranean, Japanese, American, and many more food trucks. There are also chain restaurants with food trucks like the Chick-fil-A Tri-State Food Truck, founded by Rochester, which runs through Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa. .
Most of those trucks are from Rochester, there are vendors from Byron, Eyota, Lake City, and more.
Some food trucks even from the Twin Cities metropolitan domain to southeastern Minnesota.
For example, Brick Oven Bus is a food truck in Eagan that committed a full truckload to serve southeastern Minnesota.
Why did Paris Rosen, owner of the Brick Oven Bus, have to move to the Rochester area?The city’s beer scene, Rosen said. Breweries give food trucks the ability to meet a new audience in an available way and turn that audience into something more.
“We’re just going to start that path by planting our roots in Rochester,” Rosen said, adding that this may include preparing for other advertising functions, business parties and more. “It takes time to expand that audience and our presence there. . . (And) get everyone’s attention first.
Rosen said business has been going well since he arrived in the area in early May. He said the market has similarities to the Twin Cities, but with new places and new faces. The company prides itself on offering food to its consumers, but most importantly: an experience.
“The other people are wonderful, similar to the Twin Cities, but not identical,” Rosen said. “It’s an attractive organization of other people in Rochester and we’re enjoying it so far. They are pleased to have us there. The reaction we have had from almost everyone has been wonderful and we are delighted.
The food truck landscape has been changing over time.
Prior to 2022, when food trucks were required to be licensed through the state of Minnesota, Olmsted County did require county-specific documentation to sell food.
But after COVID, the number of food trucks continued to rise, according to Cody Miller, environmental fitness manager for Olmsted County Public Health.
“The biggest challenge is that we can’t enforce the law if we don’t have the license,” he said. “So we deserve to essentially say you have all of those challenges and send them to the state to be resolved. “
To cope with this growing number, the county has created its own license.
Food trucks can get a license for a single day or up to 10 days. After the 10-day leave, the time is 120 days of service.
Licenses are annual and must be renewed annually. An annual inspection is also required to make sure that regulations and regulations are strictly followed.
“It gives us the opportunity to track and encourage, inspect and enforce mandatory measures and essentially track and be vigilant about what’s going on. Our purpose is to protect public health,” Miller said. He added that before the county had its own license, it may simply not enforce any regulations. So if a food truck arrives with something to fix or clean, county workers can’t do anything.
In addition to solving regulatory issues, other things have been replaced over time, Miller said food trucks aren’t a popular idea, especially at traditional downtown restaurants. To accomplish this, the city has created its own ordinance that indicates when and where food trucks can be set up downtown.
“When they first came to town, there were difficulties with brick-and-mortar businesses because brick-and-mortar businesses were paying taxes and all the other fees that local food establishments weren’t paying,” Miller said.
But what does it mean to have a food truck and how is it different from a physical store?
One of the biggest benefits of running a food truck is the ability to relocate, say food truck owners in the area. They can succeed in a wider audience through constant movement. Food trucks like the Chick-Fil-A Tri-State Food Truck have been so lucky to be in a different place every day.
“It’s been an enticing pleasure to do something unique,” Matt Stockdale, owner and operator of Chick-fil-A Ear of Corn, told the Post Bulletin last year at 1201 S. Broadway Ave. Rochester’s food lunch place has 30 food trucks across the country, plus one founded in Rochester that runs through the tri-state area. . . . We can serve a giant number of consumers in 3 other states. Our team has done an exceptional job and we love the opportunity to do so.
WinCity Wings, which sells Chicago-inspired food, has noticed good luck after moving from the city’s southeast to Elton Hills Drive. High foot traffic encourages more business.
“We took a year off and now we have a new location,” Gaston said. “I liked this stand basically because we had 3 (other) food trucks there. So I thought it would be a smart choice for us to review and put our feet under us.
While the freedom to move from one position to another helps a company expand its reach, it can also lead to wear and tear on the food truck itself, and truck maintenance can be expensive or inconvenient. Concern about a breakdown during the trip.
For example, Rosen said he once had to replace the starter motor at a fuel station and that there were a lot of things they had to do to keep the trucks running.
“We don’t let people down,” he said. What’s vital to me is to never let someone down when they expect our truck to be there. “
Food trucks like Rosen also know the importance of balancing the food business with the vehicle business. He sees your business
“We’re a 50% food company and the other 50% is a trucking company, and that’s one of the wonderful things we’re proud of,” Rosen said. “We’re very smart about managing a fleet of trucks and making sure that the truck with the shipment arrives on time every time. We are like couriers, and if it snows, if it rains, if it is hot, if it is very cold, we will be there.
Job preparation is also vital for food trucks. Once the truck is on site, it is highly unlikely that it will find what was left behind.
“You want to make sure you have everything on board before you leave your home port so that there won’t be any problems if you travel for one occasion somewhere and suddenly realize that you’ve forgotten your cheese, and you can do it. “Not making pizza, that would be a big problem,” said Stephan Jennebach, owner of Firebrick Bread Wood-Fired Pizza.
For wood-fired pizza with ovenproof bread, the preparation work is especially important. The food truck has a certain number of “dumplings” prepared in advance to serve as the base for the pizzas. These dumplings are made the morning before an occasion. and ferment in the refrigerator for at least 30 hours before baking. When they run out of dough, they finish serving themselves for the day. On a typical day at a brewery, Jennebach and his team can handle between 80 and 120 balls. of dough, but that number increases to 160 or more when you’re at the farmer’s market.
The main uncontrollable factor of food trucks is the weather. This can affect travel, profits, and even the number of people who stop during the day.
“The weather is incredibly unpredictable and you have to fight it as best you can,” says Zach Welle, director of the Duck Truck. “If it rains, there may be no one, so you have to hide the menu so you don’t have to do it again and when the sun comes up, you open again. “
The trucks start their season when the weather warms up and continue until the onset of winter. Minnesota’s harsh winters can make it difficult to do business in the colder months.
Some food trucks won’t pass out if the weather is bad, but other trucks, like Firebrick Bread Wood-Fired Pizza, will host events and will pass out in any weather. They adapted and facilitated the development of events in adverse weather conditions.
“You have to be very careful with the weather, catering events are brought forward in any case, rain or shine, unless the consumer decides to cancel or postpone the event to another date,” Jennebach said. . . . If there’s a warning of a storm, a tornado or whatever, we’d pass out and sell at a brewery where we know there seem to be other people sitting inside. “