With food truck dining now the latest rage with Tapatio diners, it’s no surprise that the January 24 Verbena Food Fest attracted a huge crowd of hungry customers flocking in from both local lairs and the nearby metro area.
According to event organizers, more than 3,000 visitors came through gates to circle around the 30-odd cooking stalls, food trucks and sales booths wrapped around the tented seating area. The huge crowd gobbled down a wide assortment of tasty treats ranging from BBQ ribs, suckling pig sliders, gourmet burgers and sandwiches to sushi rolls, charcoal-grilled oysters on the half shell and other seafood dishes, along with to flavored popcorn, made-to-order ice cream rolls and myriad hot and cold drinks, just to mention a few of the tempting palate-pleasers.
Following the fad that first arose in Europe and the United States, the food truck industry is now booming in Guadalajara and other major Mexican cities where street food has always been a part of popular culture. It’s the new twist on specializing in gourmet dishes and ethnic cuisine that is taking Mexican foodies by storm.
The lakeside food fest showed off an astonishing array of vehicles that have been retooled to serve meals on wheels: a vintage Italian motorcycle turned into a lunch wagon, a classic Jeep made into a coffee shop, a VW bus pimped out with a checkerboard paint job to serve as an ice cream stand, and all kinds of delivery trucks outfitted with basic and even cutting-edge kitchen equipment.
It’s no bargain getting into the business. Owners mention investing anywhere from 70,000 to 300,000 pesos to modify their vehicles and establish a unique brand. But most are seeing a pay-off from getting in on the ground floor of new trend in a promising niche market.
Three months ago Salvador Pérez hit the streets with GreCo, a rolling restaurant specializing in Mediterranean cuisine such as Greek salads, hummus, and mouthwatering roasted meat and vegetarian gyros. He spent several months and about 230,000 pesos to purchase and convert a second-hand beer delivery truck into a new enterprise.
Ricardo Herr, a partner in Lunch Station, refers to sinking 300,000 into the transformation of an abandoned delivery vans riddled with dents and bullet holes into the now popular curbside outlet for smoked beef sandwiches and designer burgers.
Some Guadalajara foodtruckers park at regular locations. Others circulate around different parts of the city. In recent months many have ganged up for big events like the Verbena Food Fest, rated so successful that a repeat is now in the works, tentatively planned for April in Jocotepec.