Text by RYAN SETO and ISHANI RAHA Photo by ISHANI RAHA
Friendly neighborhood
FOOD TRUCK
LEE’S CATERING SERVES LOCAL CONSTRUCTION WORKERS
T
HE FAMILIAR three-tone jin- more successful alternative than running his gle rings throughout the dusty own restaurant. “Restaurants stay in one place, and the construction site as a food truck rounds the corner of Cowper customers need to go to your restaurant,” Street and Coleridge Avenue at noon. For Tran said. “For this [food truck], you are many crew workers who are required to looking around for construction sites, and this leads to more busistay at the construction ness.” site — and whose lunch At first, I learned it Tran and Phung’s breaks are only 30 minfood truck origins run utes — the chime is the [Spanish] to count deeper than what sound of a reprieve, and money, to get orders, much meets the eye. At age more importantly, a sig14, Tran immigrated nal that their lunch for that’s all. But I like his family from the day has arrived. talking with my cus- with Vietnam to Indonesia Spouses Daniel Tran and then to the United and Jennifer Phung have tomers. — DANIEL TRAN, Lee’s Catering States. been running their Palo co-owner “In order to esAlto- and East Palo Alcape from the war, we to-based food truck, Lee Catering, since 1984. While most food moved from Vietnam by boat to Indonesia, trucks remain motionless during lunch- not by airplane,” Tran said. “And we went time waiting for their customers to come to there and they checked everything and they them, Tran and Phung are constantly on the asked you how and why you left your counmove driving from construction site to con- try. After that, we were brought to the Unitstruction site in pursuit of hungry workers. ed States.” Tran remembers how hard his parents Lee’s Catering has a diverse menu consisting of everything from burgers to tacos worked in order to open the food truck after to burritos, as well as a range of beverage arriving in the U.S. with just the clothes on their backs. and snack options. “When they [his parents] came to Today, while it may be unorthodox for food trucks to chase down customers America, their first job was the food truck,” during the busiest time of their day, Tran Tran said. That same work ethic carried over to believes that his new approach to running a food truck is what makes his mobile food Tran after he took over the truck at age 21 service better than most, and why it is a when his mom retired. Instead of working
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a typical nine-to-five, he starts his day early and ends late at night to have weekends off. “We start preparing food at 4 a.m. so we need to wake up at 3:30 [a.m.],” Tran said. Tran and Phung are diligent about planning and modifying their route so they can serve over 15 different construction sites throughout Palo Alto and East Palo Alto. “I just know the boss and I get a text or call about new construction sites,” Tran said. Not only is it flexible about its route and the sites it serves, but Lee’s Catering also has a lasting impact on many of the construction workers who benefit from its services. Casamiro Caballero, a Palo Alto construction worker, has been a customer for over 25 years. “It’s been great,” Caballero said. “I’ve
