One of the things I have enjoyed most about
the food trucks is meeting people, not only the other customers but those who
are bringing the trucks to life each day. These men and women are incredibly
passionate about what they are doing and the food they are serving. I was also
noticing that they all had a story of how their truck came about and how their
life evolved in to being a part of one of the fastest growing small business
concepts, not only in DFW but in the US. Each week I will share these stories in
“Truck Talk Tuesday”.
Today’s feature is Brenda Barnhart with "The Bomb Fried
Pies"
1. What did you
do before you were a food truck owner?
Answer: I worked in the Dental Field for 30 years but finally retired the toothbrush
and fired up a fryer.
2. How did you come up with the name for your
business?
Answer: I was at Canton First Monday with my friend and our
daughters. We sat down to eat a corny dog and my friend made a comment,
this corny dog is "The Bomb". I laughed and asked her what she
meant? She said it was GREAT! Later that evening when I got home I was telling my
husband, Pat about our day and he had just got the bomb, which he was going to
custom paint and hang it in the garage. When I told him about the comment that
my friend made about the corny dog being "The Bomb" he said that's it
"The Bomb Fried Pies, I'll paint it and hang it from the front of the
trailer and it will be our sign!”
3. What made you
decide to have a food truck rather than a brick and mortar restaurant?
Answer: We actually were in Austin at a car show called " The Lone
Star Round-up" and saw a vintage Shasta cupcake trailer, I had been making
fried pies for awhile for Pat and his hot rod buddies when they were hanging
out in the garage working on cars and had always wanted a concession stand!
When I saw the Shasta cupcake trailer and the others on South Congress I
thought that's it, we'll find a cute vintage trailer that we could pull with a
vintage car and go to car shows and sell pies! We are wanting to park the trailer
in a location (like they do on South Congress in Austin) but as you know,
Dallas is a little behind on this type of concept, so until that happens we
will continue to do car shows, festivals, and other events that are trailer
friendly.
4.
What is your favorite menu item?
Answer: I'm not crazy about sweets, Pat's favorite fried pie is the apple;
I like the fried guacamole, and occasionally, I add a mean fried bologna
sandwich to the menu!
5.
What has been the biggest reward of having a food truck?
Answer: We enjoy meeting people at the
different events. As you could probably tell we're really into everything
vintage and unique, the trailer- 1965 Shasta, the car- 1960 Ford Sunliner, the
bomb- 1965 USN practice bomb, the music we play is vintage 50's & 60's TV sitcoms, we even have old photos of our friends and relatives that grew up in
the 50's & 60's on the back window of the trailer. All these things remind
us of a simpler time and we hope it makes people smile!
6. What has been
the biggest challenge of having a food truck?
Answer: Probably finding places to go set up. Our goal is to have the
trailer at a permanent location where people can come to us. It's a little
tricky setting up our trailer each time, not quite like a food truck that's
self contained.
7. Most marketing
for food trucks is through social media, do you see that as a benefit or
challenge to you and why?
Answer: When we started, we were just kind of going to different shows and
events that other food vendors were doing and finding out about them pretty
much by word of mouth. Then our friend's daughter started her own website to
showcase her passions & hobbies, http://www.sugarderby.com/. She showcased "The Bomb Fried Pies" on her Nick's Pick page, a
memorial to her dad. Thrillist.com contacted me through Sugarderby for a story
about our food. I was told that I needed a way to be contacted because people
would want to know where they could find us, so now they can find us on
Facebook. Facebook has been a big benefit for us so now we are easy to contact.
8. You spent most
days of this summer on a food truck, where can we find you when you aren’t on a
truck.
Answer: I'm usually at home, just doing home stuff.
9. If you could
only cook one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Answer: I'm not sure, but it would probably be fried.
10. What would you
like to see in the DFW food truck scene in the next two years?
Answer: I would like to see more opportunities for true small, mom &
pop type trailers/ trucks that just want to serve good food at a reasonable
price to returning customers that we know by name, simple and satisfactory, just
like the good ole days.
You can follow The Bomb Fried Pies on Facebook.
