When the North American impulse to improve, discover and reinvent collided with the 20th century’s car culture, the result was a delicious creation: the food truck.
It was essentially based on the idea that drive-thrus are just too slow, and accessing a paper-wrapped burger is a bit too time-consuming, a tedious origami. Truly fast food shouldn’t require so much effort — it should come to you. And so began the food truck revolution.
It wasn’t really a new idea, just a reimagining of a concept with deep historical roots. The history and versatility of food trucks has long fascinated Jason Hill, founder of Ontario’s storied Burger Barn. Apart from analyzing the trend, he made his own move to food truck ownership during the pandemic, when his restaurant, along with all of Canada, was locked down for months.
Jason Hill’s base is his hometown of Ohsweken, in the First Nations territory of Six Nations of the Grand River.
“Burger Barn was the gathering spot for much of our community,” says Hill. “When we were forced into lockdown, we knew that our customers were missing us as much as we missed them. That’s when we decided to bring Double Stackers and our other famous burgers directly to our friends and neighbors with the Burger Barn food truck, which quickly became one of the few rays of sunshine during that anxious time.”
Jason Hill didn’t have a truck, but he did own a fueling station in town, one of several local businesses he had founded. Networking with his fueling station customers, he was able to find the perfect truck, and set out to outfit and decorate it. Within weeks he was ready to grill on the road.
“It was an exciting moment,” says Hill, “and part of the thrill was the realization that we were part of a great tradition, dating back to the old chuck wagons that fed cowboys on the frontier. Of course we’ve updated our menu — with the Texas chuck wagons of the late 1800s your choices were pretty much limited to beans, bacon, salted beef and pork, and more beans.”
Modern-day food trucks also trace their roots to a Rhode Island entrepreneur who began parking his so-called “lunch wagon” outside business locations, also in the late 19th century. Walter Scott sold coffee, pies and sandwiches to downtown businessmen and journalists. Soon, the idea caught on with both the public and industry, which began to manufacture lunch wagons in the 1880s. They featured stoves, sinks and refrigeration.
In the coming decades the trend accelerated, providing affordable, convenient meals to thousands. Canteens became a feature of U.S. military bases, and “roach coaches” became a familiar sight outside many workplaces.
The mobility of the trucks gave them an advantage over brick-and-mortar competitors, and market share continued to grow. It wasn’t long before food trucks were parked throughout business districts of major cities, sometimes arrayed in long lines along streets, creating inviting food-truck zones.
Economic downturns fed the expansion. Observers sometimes weren’t sure if the trend was a fleeting fad, but there was no denying that food trucks thrived even during periods of financial adversity. When workers were laid off during the Great Recession, resulting in fewer customers at the office and on construction sites, the trucks simply moved on to more promising locations.
Meanwhile, as traditional restaurants struggled during the recession, some restaurant owners made the decision to shutter physical locations and take to the road. This type of freedom was also appealing to laid-off chefs, who were eager to keep cooking and share their recipes with the wider world.
It was a chain reaction: With some top-tier chefs now operating food trucks, the food became better, and menus offered more creative or exotic fare. The innovative new themes and cuisines provided by this new wave of food trucks made the whole concept chic.
Soon having a food truck at special events was cool. From weddings and birthdays to company picnics, guests smiled when a food truck rolled down the street. This was no “roach coach.”
Another constant theme in the popularity of the concept is the fact that food trucks are just plain fun. As the Cooking Channel’s James Cunningham has remarked, “The common denominator with every food truck owner is that they want to make people happy.”
Every truck on the road represents the fulfillment of a dream, and offers the promise of convenience and community. Books and TV series have been devoted to the delicious diversity of cuisines and themes that food trucks bring to town.
Food trucks also symbolize freedom, a kind of freedom closely aligned with the North American love of mobility and exploration. This makes the idea especially appealing to adventurers, creators and innovators.
For entrepreneurs like Jason Hill, the simplicity makes business especially fun and exciting. After all, the best business decisions are also the easiest: When faced with an obstacle, just shift your truck into “drive” — and move forward.
