Welcome to Sundays with the Lechlers. This blog shares recipes and events in our lives. It's written for family and friends and people who like to cook and read about good food. We all live busy lives, so we set aside Sundays to rekindle.
Since the beginning of the show Food Truck Race on TV I have said that young people looking for a way to make money that does not tie them to a specific place and time should look into the food truck business. Now Columbus alone has 70 different food truck jamming the city...that is not counting the Mexican trailers parked in parking lots and at stations like that. These are grand scale and grand named luxury trucks with colorful paintings and names such as: The Hungry Monkey serving fun burgers with amazing taste, Tatoheads paying homage to the potato, Per Zoot old-school Italian flavors and New World style, The Pickled Swine featuring European-style deli, The Green Meanie serving eclectic street food, and Sophie's Gourmet Pirogi, to name but a few. I still think it is not too late to choose something you are good at making and go into business. I always say if you don't like the customer's attitude, drive away, something you cannot do in a restaurant. One vendor says a bad day is around 20 orders and a good day is 50 orders or more. Some places charge a collecting fee for parking. One truck owner says she stops around 2:30 to scrub and restock and to prepare for the next day. She starts cooking about 8:30 in the morning which begins her day. I think it is an exciting way to make a living, but then for the last ten years of my 30 year teaching career, I taught from a reading van that was equipped like a luxury class room and I drove that huge vehicle with ease. Most mobile entrepreneurs use social media to inform diners about menus, hours and locations. Like anything else, dedication and homework would be the keys to success. It might be a good idea to rent the truck for a year (too) to try out the business to see if it suits you; or work in one for a year to see how it is run and how much money comes in. It's an idea.
Paris has another idea and it will be a hit I am sure.
Paris gets its first 24-hour baguette dispenser – feel le
pain
Bread is partially cooked
before being put in the machine, then finished off when ordered and delivered
crisp and hot – for one euro.
French baker Jean-Louis Hecht stands next to his baguette
dispenser in Paris. "My business is answering a real need," he said. Photograph:
Michel Euler/AP
