Mobile Cooling Station: The Polar Pod in Jacksonville, FL
At M&R Specialty Trailers and Trucks there's a saying we use to describe our custom builds: If you can dream it, we can build it. This statement certainly applies to Steve Perry's mobile cooling station called The Polar Pod based out of Jacksonville, Florida. As seen in the video below, Steve shares how he came up with the idea for his mobile cooling concept: During a hot day of biking on the beach with some friends, Steve became overheated. After a while, Steve thought something could be medically wrong as he couldn't seem to cool down enough. So Steve asked [...]
Rusty Thompson's Lobster Concession at Sturgis, SD
Today in the Ask Bob series, Bob Pierson is in South Dakota for the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. This annual event brings motorcycle enthusiasts together from across the United States (and even a few folks from around the globe) to Sturgis, a town with a population of under 7,000 people normally. During the weeklong event that number swells to tens of thousands of tattooed, Harley Davidson loving visitors. In the summer of 2014, Bob Pierson had the opportunity to attend the event where Rusty Thompson was serving lobster rolls from his new concession trailer built by M&R Specialty Trailers and [...]
Happy Place Food Trailer – $39,000
Happy Place Food Trailer Happy Place is located in Lake City FL and is a 8.5 x 16 trailer. Cost is around $39K which includes a Honda 10k generator.
How to Start a Food Truck in Huntsville, AL
Summer 2013, officials in Huntsville, Alabama released an ordinance allowing Food Trucks to park in certain areas downtown. Initial regulations, though great to introduce the street food scene possibility, forced the Trucks to only open between 9pm and 2am, so as to thus avoid ‘upsetting’ local restaurants. As such, one could imagine survival worries; would the scene actually kick off? Luckily for us, a year later Downtown Huntsville Inc, an organization focused on revitalizing the area, stepped in to start promoting these mobile businesspeople. With a plan to increase interest through a set of 6 Food Truck events during the [...]
How to Start a Food Truck in Orlando, FL
It’s hard to think of Florida without imagining the cultural and tourist center of Orlando, that city of bright lights, palm trees, and I’m sure many residents who’d like us to stop the annoying idealizing of the city and stay home for once! Or at least, that’s what I imagine them to think… I certainly wouldn’t blame them, wanting to keep the city to themselves, especially with the particular year-long climate (not counting rainy season and Polar Vortex irregularities. Hah, suffer you spoiled gulf coast sun-warmers!). And the food truck owners seem to agree; around 2010/11, the new fad business [...]
The Gourmet Aviator Concession Truck Flying High in Jacksonville
The Gourmet Aviator is a food truck that received high praise for it's design when it was built in 2012. The truck was even featured on the cover of ADVANTAGE Business Magazine (cover image shown to the right) that same year. Fast forward two years, the Gourmet Aviator continues to receive recognition for their food. Not only has the truck become a familiar staple of the Jacksonville food truck scene, but Alex Montanez of the Grilled Aviator competed on and won a cooking competition on the program American Grilled on the Travel Channel. The video below is a teaser to [...]
A Closer Look at Orlando’s Bem-Bom Concession Truck
Bem-Bom is a truly unique food truck serving up Portuguese and Tex-Mex inspired dishes to residents of the Orlando area. In many cases, Bem-Bom serves meals you simply can’t find anywhere else. A couple examples from the menu include Piri-Piri Chicken Prego and The Running Duck, a duck confit sautéed with chilies and Thai basil that received two thumbs up from Bob. Bem-Bom is owned and operated by Francisco Mendonca whose customers often refer to him as “Chef Chico” for short. In today’s video, we learn more about Chef Chico, Bem-Bom, and the concession truck used to operate his business. [...]
How to Start a Food Truck in Jacksonville, FL
Jacksonville has grown fast and strong as one of Florida’s central street food cities, building its ranks with a solid lineup of owners peddling their delicious offerings. The city itself plays home to a couple of the state’s Truck Associations, showing its mobile use and relations with the nearby regions. For anyone going into the mobile vending business nearby, Jacksonville is THE place to aim for. Only just a month ago the city set up a new food truck court near Beach Boulevard and Carmichael, where at least 25 businesses will set up on a regular basis, just to show [...]
How to Start a Food Truck in Savannah, GA
The advent of Food Trucks and their culture throughout the US has proved a miraculous thing; excitement and creativity in the culinary industry has never been higher, burgeoning entrepreneurs have found a new means to express themselves, and many a city has found great benefit in working alongside these mobile dishers of flavor! Hell, even local restaurants in some of the more well-known cities for this, such as Portland, have developed strong and friendly ties with their wheeled counterparts, working alongside one another to further both businesses’ goals. Many cities have embraced this world, and through much hard work have [...]
How to Start a Food Truck in Tallahassee, FL
It's no secret that the Food Truck scene in Florida is as hot and kicking as the state itself; its cities were some of the first to turn frontrunners as US mobile cuisine headquarters, and they still keep turning out new businesses every year. Only a few years back, Truck growth outstripped restaurant growth by almost 10x the annual rate, showcasing the growing need and accessibility of the market. As such, it feels only fitting we start our "How to Start a Food Truck" series in the hot SE, featuring the cities that many of you upcoming business owners may be setting your sights [...]