Orange County Register

The Redskins will be first try Johnny Rockets on wheels.

In 2008, we had the Year of the Froyo. Now, it looks as if 2009 will go down as the Year of the Meals on Wheels.

Savvy restaurant entrepreneurs are delivering Korean-Mexican tacos, gourmet ice cream and fancy cupcakes in mobile food trucks.

Now, joining the roach coach bandwagon — Johnny Rockets.

The Lake Forest-based chain announced plans this week to build and sell mobile restaurant units. The first Johnny Rockets food truck will debut July 30 at the training camp for the Washington Redskins football team. The organization’s owner, RedZone Capital, is also the parent company of Johnny Rockets.

The truck is Johnny Rockets’ way of “thinking outside the box” when it comes to building the chain’s brand,  company spokeswoman Cozette Phifer said.

Each mini-burger truck will have a 22 foot kitchen and a 14 foot trailer. Each is designed to provide a condensed Johnny Rockets menu consisting of hamburgers, shakes, fries, hot dogs, chicken tenders and maybe even onion rings.

Phifer said a second mobile truck will launch soon in the Middle East. The plan is to eventually sell franchise rights for more “roaming” trucks, especially in California.

“We see this truck as being able to go anywhere, especially in Los Angeles,” Phifer said.

Although no deals have been signed yet in California, Phifer said local Johnny Rockets operators are showing interest in running a mobile burger van.  The chain is also considering using the vans for special events — similar to catering trucks operated by Original Tommy’s Hamburgers, In-N-Out Burger and Carl’s Jr.

“There’s endless possibilities.”

Once more get off the ground, the trucks will use social media platforms such as Facebook to let diners know where to find them.

With a passion for classic American fare, Ronn Teitelbaum invested $380,000 in the first Johnny Rockets diner in 1986 in Los Angeles. The eatery opened to snaking lines on Melrose Avenue and eventually became a cult hit with celebrities such as Bob Hope and Elizabeth Taylor.

Diners feature jukeboxes, red-vinyl booths and chrome counters. Servers sing or hum songs as they work and pour ketchup in the form of smiley faces.

(By Miki Fujiwara and Nancy Luna/Staff writers)

Related stories:

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.