The ups and downs of making meals on wheels for food truck owners
San Diego food entrepreneurs share their experiences owning their food truck businesses
Across San Diego, various food trucks roam around the streets to find the perfect spot for their business. Some trucks stop at local breweries, others near popular street corners and office buildings to curate and sell their dishes.
Many food entrepreneurs start their businesses to get their foot in the food industry’s door and have succeeded. Now, having a food truck has become widely popular for being easily accessible for both the customers and the owners, which has caused the food truck scene to grow in San Diego.
Evolution of the food truck scene
According to owner Alan Scholer, the growth of the food truck industry started between 2010 and 2014, when many restaurants were shutting down due to the recession. This caused many restaurant workers to start their own food truck businesses after realizing that they could sell gourmet food from mobile vehicles.
Scholer gave an example with a pizza business.
“All of a sudden, there were these talented people that didn’t have brick and mortar that were like, ‘Hey, we’re selling these Neapolitan pizzas, and we literally moved our pizza oven from the restaurant to our trucks, check it out,’” Scholer said. “People were like, ‘Oh wow, this is actually really good.’”
The food truck industry has had a similar boom in recent years because of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a report by , the food truck industry in the U.S. grew 4.9% between 2018 and 2023. It will likely continue to grow in the upcoming years.
Eddie Tamayo, the owner of , is one of those food entrepreneurs who started their food truck business during the pandemic.
Food truck owners’ experiences
Tamayo worked in the restaurant industry for 10-plus years, cooking a variety of different cooking styles from local restaurants to food chains and fine dining, hoping to start his own food business inspired by his Mexican heritage.
And that dream became a reality.
Tamayo got the keys to his food truck in 2020 and has been a successful food entrepreneur since.
“It has been a very long time that I’ve been wanting to get a food truck,” said Tamayo. “The first time I went into a food truck, I was thinking, ‘This is it.”
But The Craft Taco Truck is not “your average food truck,” as Tamayo calls it. He tries to elevate his food truck by bringing a restaurant’s hospitality and food to customers throughout their stay.
“It almost feels like you have a waiter come outside and explain the menu to you, take down your order,” Tamayo said. “And when you get the food, the presentation is completely opposite of what you expect for a food truck and the quality of the food is the complete opposite. We put on a show.”
His success in the food truck industry has allowed him to expand his business as a restaurant. In April, Tamayo opened his restaurant named after his food truck.
Like Tamayo’s start as a food truck owner, Carlos Ortega from also started his food truck business during the pandemic.
He originally was a fine dining chef, but in 2012, Ortega decided to formally pursue his passion for cooking authentic Mexican food by starting a catering business, Artesano Taco.
Now, his business has expanded to a food truck since 2020, selling his signature taco dishes such as desebrada tacos, which is shredded beef mixed with green salsa.
“You learn a lot through the process,” Ortega said, referring to owning a food truck. “Every day is different, and it’s not like you go to a restaurant where you know what to do. All the events are different, and the people are different.”
Scholer had a different story than Ortega and Tamayo. Scholer is closing down his vegan food truck, inspired by Asian cuisine, to go back to cooking in a restaurant and hoping to go into a wholesale business selling products to grocery stores or markets.
To reminisce about his time in the food truck industry, he looked back at the best moments of having his food truck.
“The people. They love the food, and we sell out at any place we’re busy at,” Scholer said. “And I had people hugging me yesterday, crying, and waving away at the food truck while we drove away, and that’s very satisfying.”
Although there are many great moments with owning a food truck, there are also some challenges.
The challenges of owning a food truck
From Scholer’s experience, owning a food truck was becoming costly. He had to pay parking fees for events that he would attend, which was around $200 for each event. On top of the parking fees, he had to keep up with the truck’s maintenance, such as the engine and gas tank.
“We just don’t see it getting a lot busier,” said Scholer. “For us getting a lot busier means we have to work ridiculous hours, like 60 to 70 hours a week, to break-even.”
Ortega shared a different perspective where the challenging part for him was having a small staff because running the food truck alone is difficult.
“It’s hard, especially if someone calls out the day of an event because I don’t know what to do,” Ortega said. “I have to cancel that event or not open the truck at all that day.”
Tamayo’s experience running a food truck has not been easy, either.
“Owning a food truck is probably the hardest thing I’ve done, and there’s a lot more to it than what meets the eye,” Tamayo said. “The obstacles you have from finding a good power source to your engine breaking down to your tires popping. It’s been the biggest challenge in life, but it’s been very rewarding.”
This project was produced by as a published learning experience in JMS 550 Digital Journalism, part of the at San Diego State University.
