Fodd truck Fiesta

Food Truck Fiesta

The Story Behind Successful Food Trucks in Austin, Texas.

By Bilal Faisal

The stove lights on fire. Your partner is nowhere to be found. Just you versus the flames. Beads of sweat are now pouring down your face. It’s looking like game over, but then your partner comes in, fire extinguisher in hand, and saves the day. Welcome to the food truck industry in Austin, Texas. Since the food truck craze took off in 2008, Austin, Texas has been infamous for its trucks and trailers. The food truck industry in Austin is the fastest growing in the United States, and trailers and trucks are key contributors to Austin’s culture. It is extremely difficult to thrive, let alone succeed as a food truck in Austin which is why only the best make it out alive. Michael Rypka is the owner of one of the most popular food truck-based businesses in Austin. In 2006, Rypka opened Torchy’s Tacos which skyrocketed not only all over the city of Austin, but across the country. When asked about how this all started, Rypka’s answer was simple. “Literally one day, I woke up in the middle of the night and just had this thought,” Rypka Courtesy of Cuisine | 14 said. “What are you doing? Dude, you need to be a chef. That’s what you love doing. I couldn’t sleep, and when I came downstairs the next day, I told my mom, ‘Hey, mom, I’m dropping out of school, I’m gonna go be a chef,’ and she looked at me like I was crazy.” The unique slogan, “damn good” and the baby devil logo went crazy as it brought a new way of serving great food to the state of Texas. Rypka’s tiny food trailer gradually expanded to a restaurant which would then turn into over 70 different locations across the country. However, it was not all that easy for Mo Pittle, the owner of JewBoy burgers. Pittle agreed that it all starts with an idea, but the process of starting a business is a lot more complicated than just waking up one day with an idea. “I had to get propane, to get food, to get any type of supplies into the bank,” Pittle said. “All those things I had to go and do, and then there was the truck. I walked the truck from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and we’d close from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. I’d work from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. for dinner,” Pittle said. Brandon Hunt, the co-owner of VIA 313 alongside his brother Zane Hunt, agreed with Pittle that the journey to success was, as he puts it, “a grind.” “I would wake up at noon, and go to central market or HEB and get groceries because we weren’t busy enough to get a restaurant,” Hunt said. “So I would load up groceries for the night. We would make dough from like three to four in the trailer and open at five. I would work from five at night until two or three in the morning. Got home at three or four in the morning, made sure the money was squared away and then

Torchys is often praised for their chips and Queso. Photo via Mike Rypka.

Via 313 first opened in 2011 as a Detroit Pizza styled food trailer. Via now has 3 locations across Austin. Image via Brandon Hunt.

ate dinner and went to bed and repeated doing that for two years. So definitely a grind for sure.” Rypka’s great idea came with several pitfalls and a lot of hard work, but Rypka said he never backed down. He looked for unique ways to make himself stand out. “I kind of took my food to people and I just gave out lots of samples, and I hoped that, ‘Hey, if they like it, maybe they’ll come by and check us out,’ and that seemed to work,” Rypka said. “It was tough in the beginning, real tough. I mean, lots of hours. A lot of hard work and so, it took a long time before I even got a paycheck.” Like Rypka, Hunt was aware that success would not come overnight. “You have to crawl before you can walk,” Hunt said. Eventually Pittle, Rypka and Hunt were all able to successfully get their businesses off the ground, but that doesn’t mean it was light work after the first few months. The recent COVID-19 pandemic had massive impacts across the country, especially when it came to food. “We had to furlough 50% of our staff in the beginning, and we closed 10 restaurants temporarily,” Rypka said. “It’s definitely been probably one of the most challenging two years in the restaurant industry.”

For Hunt, COVID was devastating for VIA 313, especially in the mental aspects. “You’ve been preaching family, and we care about our crew, and we care about everybody, and we’re all family and then you gotta lay off 3040% of your crew to save the business,” Hunt explained.

Owner of JewBoy burgers, Mo Pittle, takes an order from a customer. JewBoy burgers, established in Austin, began operating as a trailer in 2018. Image Via Mo Pittle.

Mo Pittle sits in his food trailer awaiting more customers on a typical busy day for Jeybow Burgers. Image Via Mo Pittle.

“Know your industry”

Although Pittle was able to combat COVID with success, he too realized that it put several members of the food industry in despair. “People forget that all restaurants are closed for two weeks,” Pittle said. “If we close for two weeks right now that puts a serious dent in my situation. It’s not easy to close because rent was still there, bills were still there. All the restaurants closed while they figured it out, except for food trucks because we were outside.” COVID was just one of the millions of challenges these businesses had to face, but they all overcame the challenges because they love what they do. Pittle offered some advice to people seeking to join any industry. “Know your industry and study what you’re getting into,” Pittle said. “Understand the ups and the downs, understand who’s doing it well. Know what makes it work, know what makes it fail. If you know these things, you are so much better at it and all the cliches are true, in both the good ones and the bad ones. If you’re not committed to being an entrepreneur, being your own boss, you’ll fail.” Hunt and Rypka both heavily agreed with this. “If you do not Torchy’s Tacos location at Arbor Trails. love what you are Torchy’s is now doing, don’t do it,” Rypka said. only restraunts. Image viua Mike Rypka “Staying true to who you are and what you’re about is important too,” Hunt added. because they have some frame of reference, even better,” Pittle said. The future is bright for all three of these companies. VIA 313 is planning to expand to several states in the future. Torchy’s has

Food trucks all over Austin have created this culture of being unique and staying true to who you are. For Pittle, it’s all about creating a culture that is cherished by everyone. “This whole premise that the Austin weird is a culture is a very real thing, and if you can create a concept that people can relate to

Founders, Brandon Hunt, left, and Zane Hunt, right, stand in front of their iconic VIA 313 trailer. Image Via Brandon Hunt

their sights set on even more locations nationally and possibly adding Churros to their menu and JewBoy Burgers just opened their second location in Central Austin. All three of these businesses have played a significant role in the culture of Austin making the city more and more special by the day.Courtesy of Cuisine | 17