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Taco John's deploys food truck to introduce new look

Taco John's introduced its first official food truck in Cheyenne, Wyoming, to give customers a glimpse of its new look and to celebrate its 50th anniversary.

August 21, 2019 by Elliot Maras — Editor, Kiosk Marketplace & Vending Times

In a sense, launching a food truck brings Taco John's back to its roots. The nationwide QSR chain began as a taco stand in 1969 in Cheyenne, Wyoming, offering a variety of tacos with bold flavors.

The company used the event of its 50th anniversary, which took place in June, to introduce its first official food truck. The truck served customers during a location announcement ceremony attended by company and community leaders of a restaurant in Cheyenne that will boast its new look as the company begins its next 50 years.

The food truck works from the company's corporate headquarters and is loaded from the corporate kitchen daily.

The 35-foot truck, featuring bright red, green and white colors and the "bigger, bolder, better" slogan, gave the community a preview of its revamped image. The graphics were created by Adrienne Weiss, the Chicago-based food branding consultant.

"Our new image is coming out here in a couple months," Rocky Clark, vice president of operations, told Food Truck Operator. 

The truck's immediate purpose is to continue serving customers at the site of a corporate-run restaurant in Cheyenne that the company demolished to make way for a new prototype restaurant.

"When we knocked down this restaurant, we thought, 'man, we don't want to lose those guests or give them the opportunity to go eat elsewhere.'" Clark said. "So we thought this was a great time to test out a food truck so that our guests would still have access to their favorites."

Another goal is meeting the requests of the growing number of franchisees asking about a Taco John's food truck.

"As the franchisor, it is our responsibility to test some of those things," Clark said. 

 A versatile kitchen

The truck has a prep-line, hot and cold table, fryer, tortilla warmers, taco tower, and two POS systems — everything a freestanding restaurant would have, as well as a generator to power the appliances. It can serve 600 tacos an hour.

"We've got the full line (of equipment) for the assembly of all the tacos and burritos, the hot side, the cold side, the tortilla warmer," Clark said. With about 20 items, the truck serves most of the restaurant menu.

The company purchased a Freightliner truck and hired a contractor to build the kitchen using specs provided by Taco John's kitchen design team. The investment was under $200,000, Clark said.

The company has not determined a return on investment schedule for the truck as it is still gaining an understanding of the truck's business activity.

Food tucks are not yet well established in Cheyenne, Clark said, and local regulations have been reasonable. 

Most of the food is prepared in the corporate kitchen in Cheyenne and loaded on the truck in the morning.

There are typically four people working the truck. For larger events, a fifth employee takes orders on a POS tablet outside the truck. The truck employees all previously worked in the restaurant that is being rebuilt.

"A rotation of different people (among the corporate restaurants) would get the opportunity to work on the truck," he said.

A positive response

The Cheyenne area offers a wealth of activities to serve at, along with charity events. The company posts the truck schedule on social media and on the company app.

The biggest event to date was the grand reopening of the Capitol in downtown Cheyenne following its restoration, an all-day event in July that featured restaurants and other food trucks. The truck served between 400 and 500 customers.

"We did as much that day as we did in a traditional brick-and-mortar building," Clark said. He declined to give financial information.

Many customers were pleasantly surprised when they received their orders within two minutes. Having the employee taking orders outside proved to be a great help, Clark said.

Marketing support for restaurants

"Once we rebuild our South Greeley store, the truck then will be kind of an add on to one of the restaurants," Clark said. There will be one store manager assigned to managing the truck.

The company takes the truck to festivals as well as some street locations in parts of town that don't have a lot of meal options. "We're looking to establish some regular stops," Clark said. 

"I think it offers us some different opportunities," he added. "I could see us using it in different promotional ways as we roll out new products. I could see us promoting new restaurants. What we're trying to figure out is best use scenarios for this truck."

One use would be to test the reaction to the brand in a new market. If a franchisee is considering a town, they could send the truck to the area to see how well it is received.

The company is presently working on a design for a truck to offer to its franchisees.

"There are a lot of people who see value in being able to use it in their communities," Clark said. "I think there's great interest."

In the meantime, there are no plans to make the corporate food truck available to franchisees, he said.

Photos courtesy of Taco John's.
 

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.