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More gourmet food trucks coming to O.C.
November 9th, 2009, 6:12 am · 17 Comments · posted by Nancy Luna, Staff Writer
The food truck company that helped put Kogi Korean BBQ on the map is in talks with several Orange County operators who want to join the gourmet-food-on-wheels trend.
“Orange County is the next frontier,” said Morris Appel, co-founder of roadstoves.com, which leases food trucks to restaurateurs joining the mobile food craze.
Appel, and his partner Josh Hiller, say they are working with a few different restaurants in Orange County who have expressed interest in starting a meals-on-wheels program.
He declined to give specific names, but assured me that locals will soon see more foodie-friendly trucks in O.C.
“Our trucks will be in O.C. It’s going to happen.”
By the way, don’t call the trucks roach coaches.
“We’re road stoves,” Morris says.
The company name plays up the fact that gourmet chefs are finding an audience for their food on the streets. Last year, Road Stoves helped Kogi BBQ get started by providing them with their first truck.
And, we all know how that turned out.
Kogi now operates three trucks in Los Angeles and Orange counties. Its success has triggered an explosion of new food-on-wheels concepts, including Calbi fusion tacos, Coolhaus, Dogtown Dogs and The Grilled Cheese Truck. The latter two lease trucks from Road Stoves.
Southern California can expect more trucks to hit the streets, especially in this economy.
“It’s very inexpensive to start a restaurant truck, ” said Appel, who has been in the mobile truck catering business for 15 years. “That’s why most people are jumping on it.”
Tell us: What restaurant in O.C. would you love to see serve food in a truck? Personally, I’d love to see a Wahoo’s on Wheels!
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A food truck, “gourmet”? “The term and its associated practices are usually used positively to describe people of refined taste and passion.” BWAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
You don’t have to go to them if you don’t want to. You don’t need to think you are the first person ever who has noticed some possible irony in the term “gourmet food truck.”
I believe in this instance the term is relative, referring to the new wave of food trucks that serve food that is at least more “gourmet” then what people are used to getting from a food truck.
A lot of the places I hear of that drive around LA should come to OC, like Coolhaus, Border Grill, Grilled Cheese Truck, etc.
How about a COCO’S food truck?
Gourmet and specialty food trucks have been around long before Kogi was born. I cringe at the idea of it becoming a ‘craze.’
I would LOVE to see a Rubios, Baja Fresh or Popeyes Chicken have a food truck and come near where I work in Yorba Linda. I’ve had the same 3 choices of McDonalds, Taco Bell or KFC for 8 years now. Yuck….. Now they are turning the KFC into a Chick Filet for even less choices to eat.
Chick-Fil-A’s not so bad.
These fast food maven articles have turned into fronts for Kogi ads.
ENOUGH already!
Is that you, Steve?
No wonder everyone in the US is getting fat. In many other countries people have to walk to get something to eat. Here you hop in your car and go to the drive through. Now the food trucks are coming to you. So you end up taking 5 steps and that’s your excercise for the whole day. The obesity epidemic is what is driving up health care costs more than anything else, and there is no indication that this aspect is getting any better.
So I’m going to walk to Del taco for lunch.
Don’t you know that they have had food vans in England for years and years? I guess maybe they park the vans far away for the people had to walk so they don’t get fat??
First of all, you say everyone. Are you saying that people in rural America in the midwest and such are fat because of taco trucks?
Secondly, in metropolitan Japanese cities for example, people have fast food, convenience stores, and restaurants located in the same apartment building just a few floors below them (a 30 second walk). Way closer than a taco truck’s distance from one’s home or workplace. The Japanese folks aren’t as fat as American though so your statement is flawed.
If anything, the bigger problem would be home delivery of pizzas and other takeaway foods. Now THAT makes somebody completely lazy and fat, not taco trucks!
Another “Me Too” fad for SoCal.
Like the expanding Calbri Korean taco copycat of Kogi, I give this a year or 2.
Not likely profitable for the operators to make a real living off.
Possibly limited success at venues and office parks, a real nuisance to neighborhoods and food safety is questionable, to say the least.
As soon as cities start taxing these taco trucks properly (ie. collecting the same taxes that owners of regular restaurants have to pay regularly), these things’ll all disappear and be a thing of the past.
You are absolutely correct, issues like sanitation, neighborhood disturbances, and in my opinion, them cheating and not paying full taxes make me not visit these roach coaches… i mean road stoves.
Originally from OC, but currently living in LA… Have tried many of the food trucks and am excited reading this article. However, what I think is so unique about many of the food trucks out in LA are their unique offerings. Pick your own ice cream sandwiches, Hawaiian shaved ice, korean BBQ tacos, grilled cheese on wheels… I would much rather see specialty trucks that offer food you may not see in your typical restaurant come to OC than contracting restaurants to make their food available on trucks when we can just go to those physical locations.
I would like to see a Carl’s Jr/ Green Burritos truck on wheels. Though I wouldn’t mind a truck that is a clash between Quizno’s and Subway either!