Want to open a food truck? A fancy one just closed, and it could be yours

First, the sad food truck news.

The Surly Mermaid, the truck that former Ad Astra chef Amanda Hague opened in 2015 with her husband, Ben Hays, is no more. The couple has decided not to reopen the truck this year because they no longer have a place to store it and have decided to move on to other projects.

But that could spell opportunity for anyone in Wichita dreaming of opening a food truck. The couple has put their rig, a completely remodeled, turn-key 1956 Airstream Overlander, up for sale.

"She’s a beauty," Hague wrote in the Facebook post announcing the sale, "well designed, well built, and well maintained."

The truck is listed on usedvending.com, and the price has just been lowered to $62,700. Hague said she's willing to entertain offers.

Meanwhile, there's hope for those who are mourning the loss of Hague's cuisine — again.

The chef, whose food drew people by the carloads to her tiny Ad Astra Food and Drink in the Flint Hills' Strong City, opened the food truck after she left the restaurant in 2015. Many customers were relieved she was back in business.

She's considering another restaurant, but this one would be in Emporia, where she now lives.

"We are in the very, very, VERY early stages of planning a brick and mortar restaurant in Emporia," she said. "The cool thing about doing the food truck is that we were able to experience a lot of different markets first hand and decide which town was the best fit for us to do something permanently. We decided on Emporia because it has a young, vibrant business community and it feels like it is on the verge something big. It kind feels like a smaller version of Lawrence 20 years ago."

This story was originally published March 6, 2018 at 12:31 PM with the headline "Want to open a food truck? A fancy one just closed, and it could be yours."