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Food trucks gear up to serve 'aliens' at Area 51 events

Government officials warn that food, medical and gasoline resources are limited in the desert outpost communities for a pair of planned Area 51 events this weekend, but several food trucks will be on hand to provide nourishment for the days-long events in Rachel and Hiko, Nevada.

Image courtesy of iStock

September 20, 2019 by Elliot Maras — Editor, Kiosk Marketplace & Vending Times

Ready for the "aliens"? Government officials are warning visitors of the hazards in trekking from Las Vegas to more than two hours north to a pair of Area 51 events planned today and tomorrow, but thousands are nonetheless expected. And while officials said food, medical and gasoline resources are limited in the desert outpost communities, several food trucks will be on hand to provide nourishment for the days-long events in Rachel and Hiko, Nevada.

What began as a Facebook joke in June to "Storm Area 51 – They Can't Stop Us All," ignited a movement for greater transparency around what many people have for years believed to be government secrecy about UFO technology at a U.S. Air Force facility in Lincoln County, Nevada.

Millions of people indicated interest in "storming Area 51" on Facebook, but organizers of the two events are expecting between 3,000 and 5,000 attendees.

The U.S. Air Force has warned the public not to trespass into the secured facility. 

The two events — Alienstock at the Litlle A'Le'Inn in Rachel (about12 miles from Area 51) and Area 51 Basecamp at the Alien Research Center in Hiko — have scheduled activities. Alienstock will have musical acts while Basecamp 51 will also have movies and talks about UFOs. Organizers believe attendees will visit both events, which are around a 45-minute drive apart.

Visitors were already at the sites early Friday morning, according to Reuters. 

The Lincoln County Business Office told Food Truck Operator Thursday that temporary business permits had been issued for five food trucks: Butchers Gourmet Burgers and Phillies; Eurobites, World's Best Corn Dogs, West Coast Burritos and Arby's. Organizers of the Hiko event said several more food trucks are expected.

Food trucks are ready

"It's such a new thing, it's like a crap shoot," said Connie Graham, owner of World's Best Corn Dogs, who plans to serve at the Hiko event. "It could be a whole bunch or it could be a total disaster." She envisioned an event similar to the Burning Man festival, an art festival in the Black Rock Desert of northwest Nevada, and planned to have three people working the truck.

She expected to see five to 10 food trucks at the event.

While her truck normally serves corn dogs, "puppy" corn dogs, cheese sticks, French fries and occasionally brats, Graham said she expects to limit the menu to corn dogs since she doesn't think there will be reliable Internet connectivity for tracking orders.

"It's going to be 'old school' out there for sure," she said.

Chris Perez, co-owner of West Coast Burritos, based in Las Vegas, sees the event as a way to raise awareness for his food truck, which launched six months ago.

"We were focusing on private events and parties because the typical 'roach coach' approach was eating us up in gas," he said, referring to regularly scheduled street route events. Private events, he said, have more reliable business.

The event organizer of Area 51 Basecamp, Production Specialists of Las Vegas, contacted Perez late last week after seeing his social media posts. The production company said the Hiko venue has a capacity of 3,800 and he expected that there would be a constant flow of people coming and going between the events in Hiko and Rachel. The organizer told him there was a potential of up to 5,000 people in one day.

Perez said the food trucks would be in a secured area outside the Alien Research Center. 

"The local government has signed off on all this so it's not just people accumulating out in the desert," he said. "I've never done anything quite this large, so I'm logistically planning getting all the equipment I may need to be out there because it's pretty isolated."

The truck, staffed by the father-and-son team with the help of two other people, will mainly serve burritos and tacos. He wants the menu to be limited to make it easy to serve a large number of orders in a short time span.

Perez thinks there could be a lot of buzz on social media that should benefit his food truck. The event organizer told him that Verizon would be installing towers to increase Wi-Fi coverage for the event.

Perez did not have concern about behavior problems at the event, despite the fact that one of the original goals was to storm the military facility.

"I do know that everybody's looking to have fun," he said.

Iggy Wagner, owner of Sticky Iggy's, decided to participate in the Hiko event after the production company called him a couple days ago. He didn't have any other events planned for the weekend. The production company told him to expect between 3,000 and 5,000 attendees. He plans to serve his standard menu of chicken and waffles, chicken sandwiches, fries and other items.

Wagner said he would have prepared special menu item had he been given more time to plan. "It was more of a 'get down there and serve people,'" he said.

Curiosity drives an Idaho food truck owner

Jennifer Wood, owner of Mom & Dad's Fun Food in Roberts, Idaho, will drive nine hours to participate in the Hiko event. Unfortunately, her fudge and nuts truck suffered electrical problems at a recent state fair and cannot make the trip. She was planning to feature her "galaxy" fudge.

Nevertheless, she is taking the trek.

"I'm actually going to the festival to see what it's like," she said.

Wood became interested in the event after hearing it discussed on the George Noory radio talk show. She sees it as a potentially fun adventure.

Arby's recently announced it has been developing a top-secret menu exclusively for the Hiko event. The company first announced its plans to participate in the event in July, posting a video that showed the 2,000-mile path from Georgia to Nevada being drawn by an effusion of Arby's sauce. The video also stated the company will have a secret menu at the event. 

About Elliot Maras

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Elliot Maras is the editor of Kiosk Marketplace and Vending Times. He brings three decades covering unattended retail and commercial foodservice.