Owners of a Wichita gluten-free food truck are ditching the truck — but not the business
The owners of a popular Wichita food truck specializing in gluten-free and dairy-free food are selling their truck — but their business will continue.
And they’ll base it out of another Wichita business.
Pam Bugler and her son, Simon Bugler, who opened their Against the Grain food truck in 2018, said the coronavirus pandemic sent them in a slightly different direction.
When it first started, they began offering delivery service and gave their customers the ability to pre-order their comfort-food specials. That went pretty well, Pam said.
Once the stay-at-home order was lifted, Pam was contacted by a friend from the Candle Club, the well-known private supper club at 13th and Woodlawn. She was offered a job as a hostess, and she now also performs some office work.
The next day, Simon was offered a job working in the Candle Club kitchen.
The duo learned from Judah Craig, the Candle’s general manager, that the commercial kitchen the club had next door at its LaVela event venue was going largely unused during the pandemic. They worked out a deal where the Buglers, who work at the Candle at night, could make their food in the LaVela kitchen and invite their customers to pre-order and pick it up there.
The Buglers are working on their licensing, Pam said, and they hope to start accepting orders in August. Bugler said that when they get up and running, they’ll put a special focus on desserts, which have been popular with her clients.
“We think it will work a lot better for us and give us an opportunity to operate more days than just a few days week,” she said.
Now, the Buglers are planning to sell their pull-behind food trailer, which has been mostly parked since the pandemic started.
“It’s been really difficult. A lot of our customers who order food from us are auto-immune compromised,” she said. “This is a time where people have to be incredibly creative and figure out what works for their business. No where in anyone’s business plan did it say, ‘Prepare for a global pandemic.’”
This story was originally published July 16, 2020 at 10:33 AM.
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