Gorilla Fabrication specializes in building out Custom Food Trucks. Mobile Eateries, Catering Trucks and Beer Trucks. Check out the masterpiece below that was built for Coastal Crust based out of Mt. Pleasant, SC in the Charleston area. Whether you want to outfit your food truck with a full commercial kitchen or you need to add on to an existing food truck, Gorilla Fabrication has you covered. Tons of options that can make your custom food truck dream come to life! We’ll get you on the road in style with all the comforts of your own restaurant. If you are thinking about joining the food truck phenomenon that is sweeping the country, you have found the perfect company to build your custom food truck and mobile eatery. We have recently built trucks for the likes of Jim ‘N Nick’s BBQ and Kickin Chicken. If you’re ready, fill out the quote form here.

http://gorillafabrication.com/commercial-food-trucks/

The whirs and hisses of drills and welding torches carry outside a warehouse tucked away in a Fort Lauderdale office park. Inside, rows of step vans and delivery trucks are being reborn as food trucks.

As mobile eateries have flourished in South Florida in recent years, food truck builders have also shifted into high gear.

These mobile food truck factories — including Concession Nation in Fort Lauderdale, AAA Concession Trucks and Trailers in Davie, and FoodCart USA in Miami — scour the state for new and late-model Chevy, Ford and GMC step vans as well as used flower, fire and delivery trucks (and in one case, a shuttle van from NASA). They add fryers, refrigerators and stainless steel surfaces and turn them into rolling restaurants.

“Everybody wants one,” said Alexander Alvarez, owner of Concession Nation, which completed 126 jobs in 2012, a 34 percent increase from 2011.

The weakened economy and high unemployment of the past few years have helped drive the local food truck boom. As people were laid off or considering job changes, some decided to become their own boss and invest in mobile units. Meanwhile, TV programs such as Food Network’s “The Great Food Truck Race” and the Cooking Channel’s “Eat Street” were showing contestants making thousands of dollars a day with a customized food truck.

Yes, food truck operators have costs such as gas, food inventory and permits. But these are “less expensive than brick-and-mortar facilities, making it easier to enter the food service business,” said Ron Grimes, manager of environmental health programs at NSF International, a nonprofit that develops standards for equipment used in food service establishments such as food trucks.

“People don’t have to pay rent [with a food truck], and they are not committed to one place,” said Bruce Hicks, owner of AAA Concession Trucks and Trailers, adding that his business doubled to 30 trucks in 2012 from the previous year, from a mix of local and national clients.

He began to shift his business toward food truck building in the past two years after noticing a decline in RV-related jobs.

“I saw that [business] going away. People were in foreclosures and losing their homes,” Hicks said.

These days, he’s getting requests to create food trucks for freestanding businesses such as Popeye’s fast-food chicken and Donna’s Restaurant and Lounge, which has locations throughout Broward County.

He was also hired to outfit an all-white, 8-foot GMC step van for Gozen Yogurt, a self-service frozen yogurt company based in Philadelphia. It will be painted in orange, yellow and blue swirls and have a flat-screen TV, freezer and four self-serve yogurt machines. Once completed later this month, the truck will be ready to dispense sorbet, dulce de leche and caramel-flavored treats at corporate parties and festivals from Jupiter to Miami.

“The real advantage to having a food truck is that you will be able bring the entire frozen yogurt store experience to someone’s home,” said Adam Zell, the Florida partner for Gozen Yogurt.

Of course, none of this would be possible without the ever-growing popularity of food truck fare and events. The National Restaurant Association doesn’t track the number of food trucks in the United States, but the group has found that consumers have been increasingly flocking to mobile eateries.

In a 2012 association survey, 43 percent of adults said they had bought items from a food truck.

The demand for food trucks, Concession Nation’s Alvarez said, comes from a base of customers hungry for “fast-food but better quality. You get a homemade plate served to you in 10 minutes.”

At Concession Nation’s offices and warehouse in Fort Lauderdale, calls pour in from throughout the country. The San Francisco 49ers football team, for example, had the company create a team-themed concession trailer.

And the Fontainebleau in Miami Beach recently hired Concession Nation to build an 18-foot food truck to sell some of the dishes found at the resorts’ restaurants such as Gotham Steak and Scarpetta. The truck will roam the property, complete with three flatscreen monitors showing video of the hotel’s amenities.

“It’s a truck that we are going to use to feature lots of different venues in the resort,” said Thomas Connell, the resort’s executive chef. “We are going to use it for special events, barbecues, LIV [nightclub] after-hours … wherever our customers need it really.”

Costs range per builder, but a used food truck can cost $3,000 to $20,000, depending on the mileage, year, condition and size, which can be 16 or 18 feet long. Fully-loaded new trucks can run as much as $100,000. Generally, vendors find the trucks for the client, but a customer can bring a truck to a contractor and have it outfitted with equipment.

Workers strip the rear (or the box) of the truck, install aluminum walls and diamond-plated flooring. They add stainless-steel counters, refrigerators, sinks and deep fryers, or whatever the client requests. Some owners add LED lights on their roofs and flat screens to promote their menus to potential passers-by.

Concession Nation, which features its work on fastfoodtruck.com, also wraps the exterior of the vehicle to brand the food and services.

“You have a brand-new truck inside and, plus, you have free advertising whenever you hit the road,” said Monica Gonzalez, chief financial officer at Concession Nation. A typical job there lasts about five days.

Craig Larson, owner of Lucille’s Bad to the Bone BBQ in Boca Raton and Boynton Beach, wanted a food truck as a side catering business to bring his culinary fare to office workers daily.

“We realized there was as significant truck scene going on down in [Miami-Dade] but didn’t see a lot of it in Palm Beach,” he said.

So last year he sought the services of Concession Nation, which transformed a 2001 GMC 28-foot-long step van used for flower deliveries in Disney World into Lucille’s on Wheels, a black food truck bedecked with the image of a smiling red-headed woman carrying a tray of food.

“We wanted to do something whimsical, slightly southern, slightly risque. The whole deal with the truck was to have fun,” said Larson, whose mobile unit houses a three-compartment sink, two fryers and a 4-foot grill that makes barbecue chicken nachos and fries slicked in gravy. “It’s a whole rebirth for that truck from what it did originally.”

http://www.southflorida.com/news/fl-food-truck-builders-20130306,0,3231810.story

Minneapolis — Cummins Onan has developed an online sizing tool that makes it easier to find the right Cummins Onan commercial mobile generator for a particular application. The new sizing tool is designed to help people quickly find the generator they need to be installed in their vehicles based on the requirements they enter into the tool.

The application walks users through a logical step-by-step specification process, supplying them with convenient visual references and suggested categories. First, the user identifies the type of vehicle in question, e.g., a fire engine, food truck, utility vehicle or mobile command center. The user then enters the power needs for the vehicle, selects the fuel type and indicates whether 50 or 60 Hz power is required. Last, the user specifies whether SAE or metric measurement readout is desired.

Based on the information that is entered, the tool automatically displays three Cummins Onan standby generators to consider: one that’s recommended, one with less power and one with more power. The tool also provides links to help find a nearby dealer and request a quote.

“There are a significant number of variables that go into specifying a commercial mobile generator,” said Nick Halstead, engineering manager for Cummins Onan. “This tool takes all of them into account and makes the selection process considerably easier.”

The online “Select Your Generator” tool is available at http://cumminspowerdocs.com/CM-sizing/preview/.

About Cummins Onan

Cummins Onan Generators is a brand of Cummins Power Generation, a subsidiary of Cummins Inc. Cummins Inc. (NYSE: CMI), a global leader that manufactures, distributes and services engines, fuel systems, controls, air handling, filtration, emission solutions and electrical power generation. Headquartered in Columbus, Indiana, Cummins serves customers in more than 190 countries through its network of 550 company-owned and independent distributor facilities and more than 5,200 dealer locations. The Cummins Onan brand is found on generators and products manufactured for the RV, marine, commercial mobile and residential generator markets.

Food trucks are hot. They represent local, fresh, fusion, authentic and hip all in one convenient dining experience. Research indicates that food trucks are not just a fad, but a viable market segment with significant competitive advantages relative to quick serve, fast food and take-out food vendors.

Jumping onto the foodwagon, Intuit today released “Food Trucks Motor Into the Mainstream,” the latest Intuit 2020 Research Report that assesses trends and impacts of the rapidly growing food truck industry in the U.S.

Emergent Research, Intuit’s partner on this research project, forecasts the food truck industry to continue its rapid growth. By 2017 food trucks will generate about $2.7 billion in revenue. This is a fourfold increase from the 2012 food truck revenue estimate of $650 million provided by the National Restaurant Association.

Research for this study took place from May-August 2012. As part of the study, Emergent Research conducted in-person interviews with 272 food truck customers. The team also interviewed 27 food truck owners or managers in person, by email or on the phone. All interviews were conducted in San Francisco or nearby suburbs.

The Customer Experience

Survey results show that food truck customers like the food and enjoy the experience. More than 90 percent of the diners interviewed rated food truck quality as either excellent (43 percent or good (48 percent). Just over 80 percent of those interviewed used words like fun, exciting, new, different, unusual and unique when asked why they dined at food trucks.

Diners also like the speed and convenience of food trucks and are willing to pay for quality. The average customer interviewed spent $9.80 at lunch and $14.99 at dinner. Almost all diners interviewed said they planned to continue patronizing food trucks.

Food Trucks as a Business

Interviews with food truck owners and operators revealed a very Silicon Valley flavor. Most food trucks were started and operated much like lean tech startups. Reflecting the tech industry’s Lean Startup movement described by entrepreneur Eric Ries, food truck owners focus on rapid prototyping, business flexibility, cash and resource conservation and a laser-like focus on customers to quickly adapt to market needs.

• Food trucks cost much less to start and run than a traditional brick-and-mortar restaurant. They can also quickly and easily test new concepts, menus and recipes.
• Food trucks are tightly focused on their customers, interacting closely and intimately with patrons every day, both in-person and through the extensive use of social media. These interactions provide instant insights into menu and food preferences.

The food truck industry has tapped into powerful consumer trends, especially the desire for fresh, local, quality food served quickly and conveniently. They can test new products real-time with daily menus. Using social media and geolocation tools, they broadcast new food concepts while being easily found in unique and often changing locations. These trends, coupled with their low cost and flexible business model, will drive food trucks to continued success.

http://www.business2community.com/food-recipes/food-trucks-motor-into-the-mainstream-0361300

Your Food Truck generator has served you well in helping you “find your away” this year. Now it’s time to return the favor with a winterization service. Cummins Onan wants to help with a 10% discount on orders for maintenance items purchased online from our Cummins Onan store.

This special offer runs from October 2 – November 30, 2012. Our Cummins Onan online store is stocked with oil, oil filters, fuel filters, air filters, spark plugs, points or condensers. If you have a gasoline-fueled generator, this would be a good time to get our Onan premium fuel system cleaner and OnaFresh fuel stabilizer.

Take good care of your Food Truck generator, so it will be ready to give you another season of adventure and fun next year. To take advantage of this special offer, just visit CumminsOnanStore.com, enter promotion code winter10 and receive a 10% discount on your order.

Related posts:

1. Don’t miss the limited-time offer for 10% off on Food Truck generator parts from Cummins Onan Elkhart!
2. Time running out for $100 discount on EnergyCommand EC-30W autostart controls from Cummins Onan
3. $100 discount during July and August on EnergyCommand® EC-30W autostart controls from Cummins Onan online store
4. Keep your Cummins Onan Food Truck generator in top condition with regular service and genuine Green Label Parts.
5. Tips from Cummins Onan for a top-quality spring Food Truck tune-up

Being a mobile kitchenette means that you will have regulations you must keep up to code, similar to restaurants. These standards and codes are established by the National Sanitation foundation (NSF). They help you to provide a safe and healthy environment with uncontaminated food to serve to the general public.  National Sanitation Foundation is a non-profit company that protects the public by certifying products and writing standards for food, water and consumer goods.

The health inspector will not pass you if requirements are not met. You do not want to invest a large amount of money and time into your mobile kitchen as well as yourself and not be able to make a profit. Make sure you do your research on each mobile kitchen manufacturing company.

All equipment provided by Mobile Kitchen Designs is NSF approved; the mark of certification ensures that the equipment has been tested in compliance with American National Standards. The mark will symbolize the highest quality product. When choosing a company to manufacture your mobile kitchen, make sure all equipment pieces being placed in your food truck or trailer is NSF approved. The health department will not pass your mobile kitchen if all equipment is not NSF approved. It is easy for companies to use refurbished equipment or equipment that does not hold the NSF status and mark. If you buy a truck or trailer without the NSF mark on its equipment, you will not pass your local health department inspection. Also if a defect does happened with the piece of equipment, the warranty could be ineffective.

The picture presented is the NSF insignia which should be marked on your mobile kitchen cooking equipment. This logo should be placed beside other logos, like the equipment’s brand name.

To get further information about the National Sanitation foundation visit www.nsf.org. This website is a great resource to understanding what is needed for your mobile kitchen to meet health code regulations.

I hope this vital information on the National Sanitation Foundation will help you to be more profitable in your mobile kitchen business. Please call Mobile Kitchen Designs directly if you have any questions or need further assistance, (888) 774-6961. Stay tuned for other great tips on Mobile Kitchens.

Generators can be viewed as a waste of money or a necessity. Mobile Kitchen Designs feels that a generator is a necessity in your mobile kitchen unit. Below is a list of tips to keep in mind when choosing your mobile kitchen generator:

• Security – It is crucial to be prepared for any situation that would arise. For example, the event loses electricity and you do not have a generator, all products are now lost depending on the type of product you are serving i.e. ice cream. That is money and time wasted.  Now, there are 100 vendors and 50 of them do not have generators, you happened to have one and are able to meet the needs of your customers. More profit will be generated because the same amount of people is now choosing between fewer vendors.
• Budget – Your mobile kitchen budget will have an impact on the generator you choose. Generators can range from a couple thousand dollars to tens of thousands, depending on the size and brand. The bigger the generator the better, just so you know that in the event of an emergency you have enough power to sustain all of your equipment.
• Sound – Some generators are louder than others. Sometimes this can defer a customer from buying your food. Lower cost generators are louder than the more expensive brand name generators. This sound is similar to a small mower. Diesel generators are ultra-quite compared to gas generators, but are more expensive.
• Placement – You might think that a generator will take up a lot of room. Why have a generator when you can utilize that space for cooking equipment. At Mobile Kitchen Designs, we mount the generator on the tongue of the trailer (unless specified differently). This spot is otherwise unused space. A benefit of mounting the generator on the tongue of the trailer is that it is easy to service there. No worries, a protective cover will shield the generator from rough weather.

I hope these tips for choosing a generator will help you be profitable in your mobile kitchen business. Please call Mobile Kitchen Designs directly if you have any questions or need further assistance, (888) 774-6961. Stay tuned for other great tips on Mobile Kitchens.

]]> http://www.mobilefoodnews.com/2012/10/national-mobile-kitchen-generators-should-you-or-should-you-not/feed/ 0 http://www.mobilefoodnews.com/2012/09/great-resource-stepvan-replacement-parts-at-your-fingertips/ http://www.mobilefoodnews.com/2012/09/great-resource-stepvan-replacement-parts-at-your-fingertips/#comments Wed, 12 Sep 2012 12:00:58 +0000 MobileFoodNews.com http://www.mobilefoodnews.com/?p=28378 By STAFF | MobileFoodNews.com

Thousands of parts available for your food truck!

CONGRATULATIONS Food Truck owners, builders and repair centers!!! You have just found a fantastic source of stepvan parts for your walk-in food truck. www.StepVanParts.com

Chassis Parts

Whether you have a Grumman Olson, Supreme Body, Utilimaster® or Union City Body® stepvan or others, Mill Supply’s www.StepVanParts.com online store with convenient secure ordering, carries one of the most extensive inventories of stepvan parts in America. Mill Supply has been providing stepvan parts to fleets and independent distributors since 1944. Their constant research assures you of the widest selection of stepvan parts and the most accurate applicable information. Count on an educated and experienced sales and technical staff to get you the right part every time.

Wiper Assembly Parts

The 350 new products they have just added to the new catalog (many chassis components) brings the total number of products to over 4,350. For your convenience, they offer toll-free order and fax lines and the ability to receive orders via e-mail and now via this on-line catalog. An order blank is available for those wishing to mail or FAX their order with payment information. Orders received by 3 p.m. EST are shipped the SAME DAY! We have included a “Products Index” so you can instantly locate specific sections and, a New Product Listings.

Let them know that you read about the here on MFN and receive a special added value!

Simply click www.StepVanParts.com and find exactly what you need to bring your food truck back to life!

 

Amy Le, Owner of Duck-N-Roll Truck

Food trucks are no uncommon sight on the streets of the Windy City, so when Amy Le decided to roll out her new mobile food concept in Chicago, she wanted to make sure it would stand out from the crowd. “With the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter, I get the kind of attention I was looking for,” she reports. The whimsically decorated lime-green van is a real eye-catcher. “People say they see my truck everywhere, and it makes them smile. That’s great, but with the Sprinter, I got much more than a rolling billboard. The advantages it provides are making a real difference in my business.”

DucknRoll is a concept inspired by Vietnamese banh mi sandwiches, with a contemporary take on flavors from China, Japan, Korea, and Thailand. The DucknRoll Sprinter is a moving tribute to Le’s mother, a Vietnamese refugee who immigrated to the United States. “I was raised in the eateries she ran, and that’s where I learned to prepare many of the family recipes I now include on my menu,” she says. Le also got valuable experience apprenticing under noted Chicago restaurateur Bing Zhou, who is now a co-owner of DucknRoll.

Sprinter provides real competitive advantages

Le did a lot of research before buying her 2011 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter Model 2500 High Roof Cargo Van with the longest wheelbase (170 inch EXT), and even flew out to the West Coast to meet with a company that builds conventional food trucks. “Nothing comes close to the Sprinter,” she says. “I’m a small person, but I feel completely comfortable driving the Sprinter. The fuel economy is fantastic, I can move easily through traffic-clogged streets, and I can park in spots where conventional food trucks could never fit.” One thing that really helped sell Le on the Sprinter was its reputation for reliability and durability, she adds. “So many food truck owners I know spend an inordinate amount of time having their trucks repaired. Not only is that expensive, all that down time also means lost revenue. My Sprinter has been in the shop exactly once—for a regular service checkup.”

The DucknRoll Sprinter is customized with stainless-steel, diamond-plate flooring, interior and exterior service lights, two pop-up windows for food service, electric hot boxes, refrigeration, running water, and an auxiliary generator. “It’s got everything I need, and it’s perfect for catering, which is turning out to be a bigger part of my business than I expected,” she says.

http://www.inc.com/sprinter/ducknroll.html

]]> http://www.mobilefoodnews.com/2012/09/chicago-il-not-just-another-food-truck/feed/ 0 http://www.mobilefoodnews.com/2012/09/60-years-of-experience-built-into-every-food-truck-trailer-kitchen/ http://www.mobilefoodnews.com/2012/09/60-years-of-experience-built-into-every-food-truck-trailer-kitchen/#comments Wed, 05 Sep 2012 14:29:52 +0000 MobileFoodNews.com http://www.mobilefoodnews.com/?p=28611 By STAFF | SchantzMfg.com

Before

Our background in serving fair and festival concessionaires allows us to bring innovation and features to the mobile market unlike any other manufacturer.  Our fair clients park their trailers on a midway weeks at a time, where they serve customers for over 12 hours a day.  We design and build trailers that are highly profitable by making them easy to work, easy to maintain, easy to clean and energy efficient.

Schantz has learned where and how to reinforce stock cargo trailers using lightweight material to make them structurally stronger without adding much weight.  Our custom built frames and bodies are built to take a beating, operated at fairs and festivals 365 days a year.

After

Schantz uses advanced wall materials for better insulation, less weight and thinner dimensions; allowing for a wider interior for more working space.

Schantz realizes that maintaining a clean trailer is one of the most important and time consuming tasks.  We don’t use conduit.  Its hard to clean and doesn’t look as good as a smooth wall.  All our wiring is enclosed in corner wire ways, easy to clean, easy to access, and it looks a whole lot better.

We use energy efficient T5 light bulbs.  Brighter, smaller, more efficient, and longer lasting than traditional bulbs.  Using “green” lighting saves energy use and allows you to put that energy towards something that actually “makes” you money…your equipment.

“We Know What Makes You Money”,  and over our 60 years we’ve learned how to do just that.  Contact Schantz to see how we can put this kind of innovation and ingenuity in your next food truck or mobile kitchen.

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