Food trucks provide a cost efficient and flexible way to start a food business and its causing a wide range of diverse foods to hit Toronto’s streets, according to some food-truck owners.
“One of the beauties of a food truck is you can go park somewhere and if that’s not a good spot you can immediately change location,” said Samer Khatib, owner of Alijandro’s Kitchen.
“You also don’t have the crazy overheard of rent. Obviously you have to pay licensing fees and permits which are expensive, but it’s nothing compared to paying rent in a prime location.”
Alijandro’s Kitchen opened last March. Khatib and his brother-in-law wanted to create a low carb, high protein, gluten free bread substitute.
Khatib came up with the pair’s signature product: a fawaffle, a combination of a falafel waffle specific to Khatib’s Middle Eastern and Mexican theme food.
Khatib says the concept of Middle Eastern and Mexican fusion sometimes causes people to look at them funny but the response from the people of Toronto has been amazing.
And to let people get a feel for their product, Khatib started by heavily sampling the fawaffle.
“Now we’ll jump out of the truck and literally pass out samples of the fawaffle,” said Khatib.
Instead of investing heavily into a restaurant right off the bat, Khatib decided to lease the food truck and use it as a “restaurant incubator.”
“I know the pros of being a restaurant,” said Khatib. “But I also know if you don’t open the right concept in the right area you won’t make money.”
“The best part of a food truck is that you can go where the demand is,” said Luis Manuel Cordoba, who is the chef owner of The Arepa Republic, a Toronto-based Venezuelan food truck.
“You might discover new markets that you wouldn’t have the opportunity to try with a restaurant,” Cordoba said.
Despite the benefits of operating a food truck, Alijandro’s Kitchen will soon be opening a space sans steering wheels. Khatib and his brother are in the process of opening their first brick and mortar store. It will be open in three weeks in front of Celebration Square in downtown Mississauga, which Khatib called an “A++ location.”
“At the end of the day when you walk into this business you always have to be aware that there’s risk,” said Khatib. “And you have to be aware that people might not like what you’re selling.”
Opening their food truck in early April provided them the opportunity to test out their concept with minimal investment and Khatib said they have had “great success” in the city of Toronto.
(Header photo courtesy of Daniel Hartmann)
The definitive quiz to finding out which truck of food you are!
(Header photo courtesy of Karolyne Ellacott/Toronto Life)
Leave a Reply