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CHAMPION -- Being a food truck owner, you become more than just a chef, said Michael Anderson, owner of the Little Red Food Truck, which often can be found stationed outside the Champion Beverage Tunnel on state Route 45 serving up gyros, Philly cheese steaks, wings, and stuffed grape leaves.
Anderson, who went to culinary school, now finds himself doing electrical work, carpentry, plumbing and aesthetic work on his truck.
"I've learned a lot in the process," Anderson said.
In its fifth summer of operation, the Little Red Food Truck is in demand, often too busy with events to put in much time roadside, but Anderson said he spent the first two years of operation "absolutely scraping every penny together just to stay operating."
"I think most people who get into this don't get into it for the money, because if you figure out the money your making each hour, you'd be disappointed," Anderson said. "Most food truck owners do it for the love of doing it."
Anderson worked in upscale restaurants locally and out of state, but decided to open the Little Red Food Truck because he wanted to be his own boss.
"For a lot of people, opening a brick and mortar isn't in our price range. The food truck thing was something, at that point in time, that was starting to get popular. It hadn't really happened around here yet," Anderson said.
Now, food trucks are on the rise locally.
Across from the ambulance station on U.S. Route 422 in Warren, a "taco truck" has been making waves in its first months of operation. Bushwick, named for a part of Brooklyn, N.Y., is technically a concession trailer, said Matt Dietl, who co-owns and operates the trailer with his brother, Jerry Dietl.
The Dietl family is originally from New York City, though it has been in the area for several decades. Up until a year ago, Matt Dietl was running security business ALC.
"We sold the business last year. My brother, Jerry, and I always wanted to open up a restaurant and this is how we got started," Dietl said.
On a 90 degree day, more than half a dozen people lingered outside the trailer, ready to order tacos and burgers. Among them was Shannon Burgraf, a Mahoning Valley native visiting from Wisconsin.
"Our friends had told us there's this taco place down there that's only open on weird hours and you have to go do it at least once," Burgraf said. "We're foodies, and when we lived here we used to love to go to Cleveland and hit the food scene up here. So, when we moved away and we come back and we see places like this and the new restaurants that are downtown on the square, we get excited about it."
RISE OF THE FOOD TRUCK
Anderson said food trucks have been growing in popularity nationwide for the past 10 or 15 years. In big cities like D.C., New York and Vegas, food trucks are everywhere.
"Every little truck has its own little niche of what it does and how its done. You've got a million chefs giving their own opinion of what a gyro should be," Anderson said.
"I think the trend is definitely geared toward the food truck," said Mark Mijavec, owner of Warren-based Mijavec's Catering & Concessions.
Mijavec got into the concessions game more than 30 years ago, after taking his then-girlfriend, now wife, Denise, to the Canfield Fair.
"They announced how many people were there. And back then, I don't know what I was making - some sort of minimum wage -- and I thought, my god, if I could make $1 off of 1 percent of these people, I'd make good money," Mijavec said. "So, the next year I went and bought my first trailer."
The Mijavecs now have two trailers and have added a classic food truck to their fleet. While the truck can't feed as many people as their "massive" trailer, it has its merits.
"The beautiful thing about the truck is it's 100 percent self-contained. You can pull in, set up quickly. You have your own water. Everything is just there," Mijavec said. "It's just fast. It's easy."
ADVENTUROUS TASTES
Anderson said as food trucks gain popularity, more people are seeing it's not just a fly-by operation -- and, people are becoming more willing to try new foods.
Little Red Food Truck started out serving gyros and Philly cheese steaks, Anderson said.
"Nowadays we run alligator tacos all the time and people freaking love them. If you had told me that I'd be doing alligator tacos in Champion, Ohio, when I graduated culinary school, I would have said you're insane."
Dietl said Bushwick tacos have a California "baja" taste -- one that's not especially common in this area, but has proved popular. A road crew from California that frequented Bushwick during its time in the area told Dietl his tacos were better than the ones they get in Cali, he said.
GOOD TIMES ROLL
Last weekend, Mijavecs Catering & Concessions, which is staffed mostly by the Mijavec family and close friends, did six private events with its three rolling kitchens, which double as "driving billboards" for the business.
On Friday afternoon, the full fleet and crew were at the Buckeye Club on North Park Avenue cooking onions, organizing, and stocking for the weekend. The Monday before, all the units were cleaned.
"It's not just those four hours you see us somewhere," Mijavec said of the business. "There's a lot of hours that go in before and a lot of hours that go in after."
"Most people who do this, we do this full time," said Anderson, who spent last week building picnic tables so his customers can sit down and eat when he is at the Trumbull County Fair this week. "This is our job. We put a hell of a lot of work and time into this."
The Bushwick "taco truck" has had many offers to do private events, Dietl said, but while the trailer is technically mobile, he has no intention of moving it right now.
"We don't want to ruin what we've got here," Dietl said, adding he didn't want to leave and upset regulars who expect the trailer to be open for lunch. "We've got to stay consistent for the locals."
ENTERTAINING
Mijavec said entertaining is part of the concession and food truck business -- he goes out of his way to make every sandwhich perfect, and to make every customer smile, even if that means dancing and singing while serving.
He said he takes pride in his food "like it's art."
Mijavec's oldest son is interested in taking on the business.
"All I preach to him is that you have to love this, because its hard," Mijavec said.
"If you love it and you love to entertain, there's an immediate gratification out of this job," he added.