(NYCFTA), founded in 2011, and author of The Food Truck Handbook. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 25

Success on wheels

Today’s food truck revolution is generally pegged to the astounding 2008 success of Los Angeles’ Kogi Korean BBQ-to-Go (http://kogibbq. com). In its first year, with just one

Track the trucks

USE THESE APPS to find food trucks in your area and around the country. Be sure to test apps for reliability; some update their data with the trucks’ Twitter feeds and GPS data. Others rely on the trucks to manually update their locations. Search i Tunes and the Android Market to find more food truck apps specific to your town.

TruxMap Lite (iPhone, iPod, iPad, Android; free)

Eat St. (iPhone, iPod, iPad and Web version; free)

Roaming Hunger (iPhone, iPod, iPad; free)

Food Truck Follower (Android, 99 cents)

truck, this Korean-Mexican fusion eatery’s profits were more than $2 million.

Kogi also leveraged social media. Owner and Costco member Roy Choi used Twitter and Facebook to update hungry followers on the truck’s constantly changing location. Other successful food truck owners quickly followed suit. Today you can even download smartphone apps to track your favorite food trucks (see “Track the trucks”).

Kogi’s success inspired Seattle Costco member Kamala Saxton and business partner Roz Edison to launch their Korean-Hawaiian food truck, Marination Mobile (http:// marinationmobile.com), in 2009. “We wanted to take back some control of our work and our money, and opening a food truck was our answer. It seemed like a manageable way to get started,” recalls Saxton. Her own ethnic background inspired the creative marinated meats menu.

magazine marketing job and his business partner, Scot Sherwood, moved cross-country to get married. Both friends needed a fresh start, so they settled on launching a funky falafel-and-more food truck in Newark and Jersey City, New Jersey.

Bill Todarello, a Costco member
in Gold Hills, Oregon, started Rocco’s
Amoré Italian ( www.roccosamore.com)
food truck last September after retiring
from an educational labor union
career. “I’m still young, I had the time
and money, and I decided that food
was something I was really passionate
about,” he says. “This made total sense
for me as a second career.”
Miami, Florida, Costco member
Alex Miranda also started his food
truck as a career change. After 20 years
as a realtor, Miranda felt increasingly
uneasy about the stability of the real
estate market. He still sells property
part time, but he’s doing
well enough with his
blended-drink truck—The
Frozen Drink Company
( www.thefrozendrinkcom
pany.com)—that he
expects to eventually move
to it full time.

SHANNON HERNANDEZ

Mama Toledo’s Phoenix, AZ

26 ;e Costco Connection JULY 2012

Mobilizing new careers

A common theme for many food truck owners is the desire to reinvent their careers. Marination Mobile’s Saxton was an out-of-work education and public-policy consultant looking for stable employment. Her business partner, Edison, was looking to supplement her part-time work at the University of Washington.

Two Pitas in a Pod ( http://twopitasinapod.com) was launched in September 2010 after Costco member Athos Kyriakides lost his

Financing for foodies

Starting a food truck isn’t necessarily an easy way to shift gears. Saxton and Edison used personal funds to buy their custom-designed truck, since they couldn’t get bank financing. In fact, home equity lines, savings, credit cards and generous family members and friends are still the most common way for food trucks to get rolling, according to Tawnie Nelson, small-business manager for Wells Fargo Bank’s Northwest region. While some owners may be eligible for loans guaranteed through the Small Business Administration, they’re still required to put up 30 percent of the money required as a show of good faith.

h required as a show of good faith. The Frozen Drink Company Miami, FL

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Molly Clauhs, a Costco member in Grand Rapids, Michigan, talked her supportive dad into helping finance her food truck, Silver Spork ( http://silversporkgr.com), with a home equity loan.

The Costco Connection Costco warehouses carry a variety of fresh fruits, vegetables, meat, cookware and more for your kitchen—be it mobile or stationary.