Business Spotlight: Food with a Twist

Food Network’s “The Great American Food Truck Race” has a special place in Michael Easley’s heart.

Easley opened Twisted Mike’s food truck in September 2015 after watching the competitive show and believing he could run one of his own. He previously worked for Auntie Anne’s pretzel stores as a multiunit general manager.

Easley invested $42,500 in the Twisted Mike’s truck for unconventional sandwiches, and 15 months later he doubled down and opened a second, this one centered on waffles. In 2016, Twisted Mike’s made $159,000 in revenue. The majority of business comes from the events that the trucks attend, not the stationary time spent in the SGF Mobile Food Park at 836 N. Glenstone Ave.

“I see the food truck industry dying if you expect someone just to come to your truck on a daily basis just to get food,” says Easley, who estimates he attends 30 events each month.

He’s known to cover two events in one day, resulting in some 15-hour workdays. When he first opened Twisted Mike’s, he only had one event booked in the first month.

“I see the food truck industry expanding and getting larger as more events are being accomplished and as more businesses that don’t have food service operations for their staff decide to use more and more food trucks,” he adds.

Twisted Mike’s offers comfort foods with a twist, such as Philly sliders and a general chicken sandwich. Nothing seems it could beat the addictive qualities of “crack” fries – which are double-fried French fries topped with seared steak, mushrooms, bacon, onions, pepper jack cheese, smoked seasonings and a special sauce – or the ultimate steak sandwich, which has all the ingredients of crack fries along with spicy giardiniera and green onions.

“With Twisted Mike’s, we do a lot of unique stuff. So we wanted to do the same thing with waffles,” Easley says. “What can we do that’s unique, that’s different?”

Easley invested $41,500 to open The Waffle Co. truck in December. Both are stationed at Springfield’s food truck park.

Chicken and waffles is the best seller right off the bat, he says, but The Waffle Co. also sells desserts like a lemon cheesecake waffle topped with raspberry sauce.

“The Waffle Truck was actually one of our original ideas to do and when researching trucks, if you went online and saw what wasn’t doing well, there was never a waffle truck,” Easley says. “Waffle trucks have always been successful.”

Easley projects combined revenue of $675,000 in 2017, putting the increase largely on anticipated event volume. For the month of February, he has 34 events on the calendar between the two trucks – and he says they’re usually not that busy in the winter.

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The side burner
Business doesn’t stop there.

Easley is working toward selling some of Twisted Mike’s sauces – crack sauce, fry sauce, poppy seed honey mustard sauce and raspberry poppy seed honey mustard sauce – in supermarkets. By year’s end, he plans to open a third food truck but is keeping the concept under wraps.

“This is going to be something that’s more interactive and customers can be a part of,” he says.

Further in the future, Easley envisions a brick-and-mortar restaurant in 2018 and after that, franchising. His dreams are big and they impact nearly everyone he interacts with. A couple of his employees have caught the bug and plan to open their own food trucks this year.

Phillip Ulesich, 26, has worked with Easley since day one of Twisted Mike’s. Ulesich already wanted to start a food truck when he sat down for his interview.

“The look on his face was that he was really excited about it,” Ulesich recalls when telling Easley of his own ideas during the interview. “He has such a passion for the local food truck industry. Since that day, he’s always wanted me to stick around with him. That way he can help me out through the process, and we can help grow the industry here in Springfield.”

Ulesich’s idea is taking form and in May he plans to open Holy Cow food truck to serve Indian-inspired food. He plans to reach Springfield’s vegans and vegetarians and travel to music festivals for business. Easley has connected Ulesich to food truck events, helped him find a food truck manufacturer and guided him through developing his business plan.

“If it wasn’t for Mike and my experience here, I don’t think that my dreams would ever be fully realized till a much later date,” Ulesich says.

Cooking on the go
Easley considers food quality, uniqueness and customer convenience, as the driving factors in the rise of food trucks. There currently are 73 food trucks permitted in Greene County according to the Springfield-Greene County Health Department.

The mobile kitchens often are seen at community and charitable events, and Twisted Mike’s is no exception. Easley says he’s been to so many in the last year he lost count.

“Michael is really the kind of guy that if you ask him to do something and if he’s available to do it, he’ll do it,” says Amy Temple, project coordinator at Gold Mountain Communications. “On top of offering quality food and great service, he’s also incredibly charitable.”

Gold Mountain has Food Truck Fridays every week, and Temple invites Twisted Mike’s at least once a month. She also volunteers at Courageous Church and has hosted both of Easley’s trucks at events there.

For Easley, he chooses to give back 10 percent of food truck sales to the charity, nonprofit or organization he’s working with that day. Easley estimates he donated $7,500 to various nonprofits and organizations in 2016.

“That’s why when someone asks me to recommend a food truck he’s the first one I recommend,” Temple says. “He’s very passionate about what he does and that just comes through and that absolutely does make a difference.”