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ORDER UP: Pickles and Buns owner Jessica Oliva prepares a customer's order at Wire Road Brewing Co.
Heather Mosley | SBJ
ORDER UP: Pickles and Buns owner Jessica Oliva prepares a customer's order at Wire Road Brewing Co.

Food trucks keep rolling amid winter challenges

Local operators are filling schedules well into spring

Posted online

As the Ozarks has felt the extreme chill of winter in recent weeks, local food truck owners are eagerly awaiting the arrival of warmer weather to jumpstart their businesses for 2023.

While some of the mobile eateries already are scheduling where they’ll be months in advance, owners of one Branson food truck are counting the days until spring.

Brian and Celeste Stafford, who own Keleke Hawaiian BBQ & Catering LLC, say the double whammy of colder temperatures in January and the annual post-holiday slowdown for visitors to the Taney County town is making things tough for their young venture, which launched in July.

The couple has set a $500 per day sales goal since starting the business – a target they regularly hit over the summer, said Brian Stafford. Keleke Hawaiian BBQ, which is open five days a week in a food truck park at 2166 State Highway 248 in Branson, was earning $11,000-$12,000 in monthly sales in its first couple of months of operation.

“This past week, we hit $1,000. That was it,” he said of the last full week in January, adding there were a couple days they earned under $100.

It’s an example of the seasonal ebbs and flows for those in the food truck industry, owners say.

Making plans
A winter shutdown for Doggy Style Food Truck LLC was in the plans since last summer, said co-owner Jeremy Mathis. That decision was based on devoting attention to the opening of its first brick-and-mortar shop in October at Battlefield Mall. He said the food truck temporarily parked in November as Doggy Style added breakfast items to its mall menu, which features a lineup of over 20 hot dogs, many with unique toppings, such as pulled pork and crab meat.

However, the food truck, which opened in April 2021, will be back on the road in March, Mathis said. He’s lining up lunch and dinner appearances in a variety of spots in and around the Springfield area into the summer. Marshfield, Republic and Willard are among the truck’s prior stops outside the Queen City.

“I have March pretty much already done. I’ve been working on that the last couple of weeks,” he said, adding he’ll largely focus on the mall location while other employees work in the food truck. “All the months are filling up, which is nice. I’m constantly looking on websites and Facebook pages of cities and their events, and then I reach out to them. Fridays and Saturdays, I try to keep open to where if we do have a good-size event, then we’re available for them.”

Jessica Oliva, owner of Pickles and Buns LLC, a food truck specializing in sliders and loaded sides, said she’s also starting to schedule for the spring. She’s cut back on appearances for the mobile eatery over the past couple of months – down to one or two times a week from its normal five days. Oliva said she’s currently only selling food at Wire Road Brewing Co. in southwest Springfield but plans to set up at other locations by March.

“I don’t actually reach out to people; they reach out to me. I’m not trying to sound pompous or anything, but my truck is kind of popular,” she said with a laugh.

While declining to disclose figures, Oliva said 2022 revenue was up about 20% from 2021, her first year in business. A food service veteran, Oliva opened the truck after exiting downtown Springfield restaurant Tinga Tacos, of which she remained a co-owner with Thomas Hong and Clayton and Anne Baker until selling her shares for an undisclosed amount around a year ago.

Outside of winter, Pickles and Buns also works private events and appears at various spots in Springfield during the week, such as Mitchem Tire and Wheel, and Plaza Shopping Center, Oliva said.

Both Oliva and Mathis said their food truck appearances with businesses are all handshake agreements. There are no contracts signed or cash exchanged, the owners say. Mathis said some events require a small fee – typically less than $100 – or take a small percentage of sales to participate. Most of their connections, whether it’s for community events, business parking lots, breweries or private parties, are made through Facebook.

“I take a lot of pride in my work and my word. If I say I’m going to be somewhere, I will be there,” Oliva said. “I don’t mess up my business connections.”

Mathis said the food truck community also is helpful in finding connections.

“I can reach out to Neil [Gomme] at London Calling and ask, ‘Who’s your contact at Price Cutter at Bolivar?’ He’ll give me the name and phone number where I can reach out to them,” Mathis said. “We work well together on that and help each other out.”

Mathis and Oliva consider their peak season to be March into October, as each say they consistently stay busy during that timeframe. Mathis said his truck typically offers lunch and dinner six days a week, while Pickles and Buns works between five and eight events weekly.

Although local mobile eatery operators say their activity largely slows during the winter, the increasing presence of food trucks in the restaurant industry is difficult to ignore. While Missouri data was unavailable from market researchers at IBISWorld, there are over 36,300 active food truck businesses in the U.S., up nearly 7% from 2022, according to data from the firm. That total has grown roughly 10% annually since 2018.

Jumping hurdles
In Branson, the Staffords say their early revenue split has been 70% from the food truck and 30% generated by catering.

“We’d like 50/50,” he said, adding catering for the business has included a pair of events for The Penleigh-Branson Row apartment complex, which opened last year, as well as a Christmas party for the Branson theater production The Duttons.

“It’s getting the word out about us doing catering that’s been the hardest part,” Stafford said, declining to disclose first-year revenue. “If we could do more catering, we’d be able to be just fine during the winter months.”

Startup costs for the venture were $70,000, and the couple isn’t on a lease but pays $500 per month to Branson food truck park owner Chris Carson, according to past Springfield Business Journal reporting.

“It was so quick how things came together,” Stafford said, noting a six-week window from when they bought a food trailer and opened.

A second trailer for catering purposes, as well as corporate and special events, such as weddings and birthday parties, is on the couple’s wish list. However, they don’t expect that expense to be made this year.

Stafford said he’s optimistic of their prospects for a first spring and full summer in operation.

“We can get back up to $800, $900 days for sales,” he said. “We’ve put our heart and soul into this. We’re in this for the long haul.”

Oliva and Mathis both say they’ve run into unexpected hurdles, such as replacing equipment on their trucks over the past couple of years. Mathis has had to buy a new water heater for $200 and replace a couple of flat tires, while Oliva had pipes and a water break after freezing.

“You get it fixed as quick as you can and get on the road to where you need to go,” Mathis said.

Mathis said he’s eyeing additional towns this year for his food truck to visit, such as Bolivar and Fair Grove. He also has a desire to move locations in the mall as early as this fall from Doggy Style’s current spot outside JCPenney.

“If we were in the food court, we’d be a lot busier,” he said, noting mall officials projected Doggy Style could make $225,000 in first-year sales at its current location.

Oliva also is committed to growing her business but admits even with over 20 years of experience in the restaurant industry, she’s still learning.

“I’m never going to say I know everything, because I definitely do not,” she said. “I’m still nervous going into it every day.”

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