A Wichita barbecue restaurant, a Towne East food court tenant are both going mobile
Coronavirus has caused Wichita restaurant owners to have to make big changes and think on their feet.
But it’s also had an affect on the local food truck scene. Though many are still out and about, setting up in the various food truck parks around town or serving lunches in business parking lots, some have closed down.
Over the past week, there’s been a fair amount of food truck news, including the impending arrival of a new one, the semi-permanent residency of another one, and the temporary closure of another.
Here’s the latest:
The Angry Elephant Mobile Kitchen: Santiago Munoz, who has kept his barbecue restaurant at 756 N. Tyler open for to-go orders throughout the coronavirus shutdown, said that the pandemic brought him to an uncomfortable realization.
“This Covid thing kind of put it in perspective,” he said. “I only have once source of income, and I didn’t like that feeling.”
He’d been causally looking for a food trailer for the past five months but got more serious over the past couple of weeks. He spotted a pull-behind trailer online, and last week, he drove to Gallup, New Mexico, to pick it up.
The teal-colored trailer, which was used to sell concessions at fairs and carnivals, was set up exactly how Munoz wanted it. He plans to wrap the trailer with The Angry Elephant graphics and have it ready to go in less than a month.
He’ll use it to sell his barbecue creations at festivals and fairs around the area when the world gets back to normal, he said. He also wants to set up on the east side of town, where he hopes to open a second brick-and-mortar restaurant next year. And Munoz said he’ll also try to get the trailer in at the various pop-up parks and food truck festivals around town.
‘All of the Wichita events and some in the surrounding areas — most likely you’re going to see us there,” he said.
Charleys Philly Steaks food trailer: Towne East Square is closed during coronavirus, so now, one of its food court vendors is moving things outside. Charleys Philly Steaks’ local franchisee launched the trailer back in 2017, and now, it’s coming in extra handy.
The food truck will start setting up outside of Towne East starting on Tuesday. After that, it’ll be in the parking lot on the east side of the mall from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays.
In an announcement on Facebook, owners encouraged customers to practice social distancing and said they’d hand out pagers so people could wait in their cars for their food.
Charleys sells Philly cheese steak sandwiches, fries, lemonade and more. It opened on the lower level of Towne East in 2012.
LumpiaPalooza: Cynthia Wilson and Craig Bjork had been setting up their popular food truck at various places around town during the coronavirus outbreak.
But on Thursday morning, they announced they’d suspend business for now. With news of coronavirus cases spiking in Sedgwick County, they decided they didn’t want to risk it.
They’ll still be selling pre-fried, frozen lumpia for $20 a dozen. Place an order at parsnipitycafe@gmail.com.
Keep up
To find out where some of Wichita’s other food trucks are setting up, visit the Wichita Food Trucks Facebook page.
This story was originally published April 23, 2020 at 11:12 AM.
.jpg)