Article
Morgan Olson debuts 'Foundation' – a walk-in van body just for food trucks
Morgan Olson specifically designed its 'Foundation' truck body to reduce the amount of 'upfitting' truck builders have to do in order to create a food truck. The body will be available in 2018.
April 11, 2017 by Elliot Maras — Editor, Kiosk Marketplace & Vending Times
The introduction of the first walk-in van body designed specifically for a food truck was more than a new product intro at last month's National Truck Equipment Work Truck Show at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis.
If the aspirations voiced during the introduction come to fruition, the "Foundation" will change the economics of building a food truck in a way that improves return on investment and delivers better service for food truck operators. The Foundation body limits most of the "upfitting" to selecting appliances.
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Chris Ramos of Detroit Custom Coach welcomes attendees |
Morgan Olson orchestrated the event to give food truck upfitters, dealers and operators a chance not only to see the 2018 Foundation fitted out with mobile kitchen appliances, but also to articulate their appreciation to a supplier for listening to their needs.
The company let upfitters offer their assessment during the presentation.
"This is what I believe to be phase one of the Foundation food truck," said Chris Ramos, director of operations at Detroit Custom Coach, a Detroit-based upfitter.
Ramos surprised many listeners when he noted that the model on display was ordered by a retirement community. The retirement community will use the food truck to promote its services at community events.
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Howard Seasonwein of Vending Trucks Inc. applauds the extra width Morgan Olson added to the body |
Howard Seasonwein, owner of Vending Trucks Inc., an East Brunswick, New Jersey-based upfitter, commended the extra width Morgan Olson added to the body.
Having started out as an ice cream truck operator, Seasonwein quickly learned the importance of new equipment when a steering bolt snapped, causing an accident. "Newer was the better way to go," he said.
"It’s nice to see that more customers are buying new bodies," said Jeremy Adams, owner of Prestige Food Trucks, an Orlando, Florida-based upfitter that is working with a number of restaurant brands.
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| Jeremy Adams of Prestige Food Trucks says more operators are buying new truck bodies. |
No one was more pleased than Dan McDonough, director of operations at Plymouth, Indiana-based Auto Park Fleet, Morgan Olson’s largest stocking dealer.
"We're seeing a lot more new customers coming into this market," he said. "They're asking for lasting bodies. These bodies are going to last 20 years. There are very few used platforms that aren’t completely used. It makes zero sense to take a cheap chassis and invest 80 grand into it."
McDonough noticed a rapid acceleration of food truck demand in 2012. Today, he said, there is a backlog of chassis orders for food trucks.
The Foundation marks a culmination of food truck market research gathered by Morgan Olson from food truck upfitters and operators nationwide.
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| Dan McDonough of Auto Park Fleet has seen a growing demand for food trucks. |
In 2016, the company held a food truck symposium at its national headquarters in Sturgis, Michigan, with many of the nation's top food truck upfitters.
Various food truck upfitters provided input and ideas gathered through targeted surveys from hundreds of food truck upfitters and operators nationwide.
"We created the Morgan Olson Foundation food truck to provide the best walk-in van body solution for the growing mobile kitchen market," said Rich Tremmel, vice president of sales and marketing, during the kickoff event at the convention.
"Additionally, the design of the Foundation food truck gives food truck upfitters roughly a 25 percent head start on building these custom kitchens into these new trucks, which saves production time with upfitters, which in turn saves the food truck chef/operators money."
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| The truck features a Vulcan oven. |
Whether upfitters or operators are looking to buy a new walk-in van or convert an older walk-in, Morgan Olson supports both choices.
"Converting older package delivery walk-in vans is very popular too," said Joseph Yoon, director of service parts at Morgan Olson.
"Many times these older model walk-in vans need to replace body panels, windows, or any other body part used in the original build, and Morgan Olson's service parts department is here to provide the food truck industry with complete support for both new and older walk-in vans."
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| The kitchen includes a Star Max grill. |
Key features built into the Foundation walk-in van body include heavy duty reinforced steel roof beam support for various sizes of exhaust fan, and ceiling-mounted air conditioners.
The entire width of the walk-in van body has been increased to 96 inches, providing food truck operators additional work space in their mobile kitchens.
The sidewalls of the walk-in van body have reinforced, extruded "H" beam sidewall studs featuring pre-drilled wire chase holes to help upfitters run the various wire service connections needed to power mobile food kitchens.
Completing the body package is the actual foundation itself, the floor. The floor provides the platform for all the various kitchen appliances and sinks.
About Elliot Maras
Elliot Maras is the editor of Kiosk Marketplace and Vending Times. He brings three decades covering unattended retail and commercial foodservice.
