Seems Like a Dream

Jay and I have been planning and working on this venture for about 9 months. We have taken a business planning class, met with bankers, accountants, lawyers, website developers, graphic designers, friends, truck builders and countless other people along the way to prepare ourselves for the world of small business. Well, the day is finally here, we are a food truck with a food truck. In case you haven’t seen, this is what the truck looks like! It is BEAUTIFUL and goes way above and beyond what we had imagined it looking like.

The truck was designed by these two gentlemen, Felix and Justin at Kitchens on Wheels in Texas. We told them what we were looking for and they made it happen. The funny part is it is EXACTLY like, if not better than  we envisioned it to be. Thanks Felix and Justin. The truck ROCKS!

And I also want to say that this young man Christian, worked very hard in heat that Wisconsinites are just not used to,  applying the graphics, which by the way are super flipping cool!!! Christian took our amazing logo created with the help of Lee Snodgrass and designers at  Allen James Design (and our daughter’s original artwork) and turned it into this beautiful fun and quite funky truck!

So, as you can see, we have had a lot of help designing this cool truck. Now we get to finally do what we set out to do. Cook delicious food, from the best local ingredients and serve to hungry folks in Appleton. Look for us at the Downtown Appleton Farm Market on Saturdays through October. Saturday July 16th you will find us near Heid Music from 9pm-2ish am  and Sunday July 17th we will be parked near City Park. Bring a lawn chair or blanket and enjoy one of our delicious offerings and relax in one of Appleton’s finest parks.

So, thank you all for your patience. We looking forward to being out and about and seeing you around! Email Jay at jay@kangaroostaurant.net to join our email list, or follow us on Facebook and Twitter. We will use all the resources available to get you our location and menu information. If all else fails, or you have any questions, please give us a call! We love hearing from you and woud be happy to give you the 411~ We are absolutely filled with Kangajoy over our new truck and can’t wait for you to see us! Til then, time for me to get hoppin’.

http://kangaroostaurant.com/2011/07/15/finally-a-food-truck/

It’s hard to miss the rainbow-colored Kangaroostaurant, a new food truck that’s been prowling Fox Cities’ streets six days a week since July 16.

Little Chute-based owners Kelly and Jay Barnes took daughter Emma’s brightly colored drawing of a kangaroo for their logo, color scheme and name for their “cookery on wheels.”

They gathered $83,000 for their customized truck plus startup costs by liquidating personal non-retirement accounts and getting a small loan from a friend. They quit their day jobs and headed out to the streets. Emma and son Loudon help out.

The couple joined me on Monday’s Buzz Live, and here’s an edited version of that webcast.

Q: This is the only truck that has a permit to operate in Appleton?

A: Kelly Barnes: We’re the only truck allowed to operate in downtown Appleton business district. They’re using us as a test case to see what policies might need to be drafted around food trucks.

Q: Besides Appleton, where else have you gone?

A: Jay Barnes: We’ve done a music festival and bicycle race in Menasha. Our goal is to work primarily in the Appleton area, where we’re from, and then start to expand as we go along.

Kelly: We’ll be at Fleet Feet (in Grand Chute) this weekend for their prerace extravaganza for the Fox Cities Marathon.

Q: A reader emailed me asking about your locations and timing. What are your regular stops?

A: Kelly: Every Saturday morning we’re at the Appleton farmers market. Our location is on Oneida Street next to Starbucks. Other locations where you can always find us: Washington Street on Wednesdays. We typically park somewhere between The Post-Crescent building and the library. Sunday’s at City Park is a great place to find us. It’s steady but there usually isn’t a long line. The places to check are our Facebook page, our Twitter feed and our website (www.kangaroostaurant.com), which always have our schedule. Each day, we’ll post where we are that day as well as any changes to the menu and specials.

Jay: We’ll update our menu and our locations every Monday, on the day that we have off. There will be a list on Facebook and on our website. This is where we’re going to be this week.

Kelly: Social media is what makes food trucks thrive and why they’ve all of a sudden become so popular. Without social media, we wouldn’t be able to do what we do. We do get some customers who come to us because they see the truck. But primarily people say, “We went to your Facebook page and saw you were going to be here, so here we are.”

Q: How do you characterize your menu?

A: Kelly: I like to think of it as comfort food with a twist. … All of our proteins, meats, eggs, cheese and dairy are all sourced locally, so our menu varies depending on what’s available.

Q: Looks like you’re having fun with the menu. I notice a “royale” burger.

A: Kelly: We like movies and music. That’s from “Pulp Fiction.” It’s what they call a quarter pounder in France.

Q: What are your most popular items?

A: Kelly: The vegetarian options. The black bean burger has been huge.

Q: How did this truck come about?

A: Jay: Kelly has always wanted to open a restaurant. We looked at the funding. To get into a brick-and-mortar is a substantial cost. One night she was on the Internet and noticed that food trucks were big on the coasts and in Minneapolis and Milwaukee. She said, “This is an idea we could do.” I like to drive around and listen to the radio. We combined our interests and here we are.

Q: How is business going so far?

A: Jay: Terrific. Every week we go out it seems to increase. We see new folks and return customers too. To be honest, it’s going better than I expected it to.

Q: What will you do in the winter?

A: Jay: Our goal is to do this year-round. We’ll do less street vending and do more catering and holiday parties.

http://www.postcrescent.com/article/20110826/APC03/308270019/Kangaroostaurant-jumps-into-scene-food-truck-cooks-order-using-meat-produce-from-region?odyssey=nav%7Chead