As coronavirus disrupts business plans, food trucks are forced onto a new road

Nate Anger expected there would be some hiccups when he opened his food truck. But he wasn’t prepared for a pandemic. Rabbit Food Revolution, an all-vegan food truck, launched in the first week of March.

At first glance, food trucks might appear pandemic-friendly. Food is already prepared to go. There are no dining areas to be shut down, unlike Sacramento’s thriving restaurant scene that had to be closed down and revamped for takeout and delivery amid the spread of coronavirus and the state’s shelter-in-place order.

But food trucks rely heavily on brick-and-mortar businesses to support them. They need to park before they can sell food. And if they’re going park for more than an hour, they must be within 200 feet of a restroom for employees to use (porta potties don’t count). Host businesses provide the parking, bathroom access, and hopefully some foot traffic as well.

Anger figures his business should cater to people interested in health food, so he set up shop near a gym. Then the gyms closed, leaving him scrambling.

“I’m basically cold-calling,” he said.

It can be a hard sell. Paperwork has to be filled out. Businesses tend to balk.

Even so, Anger managed to land a couple of gigs. Rabbit Food Revolution is scheduled for Mission Liquor and Deli on Friday and Lefty’s Taproom, a new East Sacramento bar and grill, on Saturday.

Anger is posting the gigs on social media and hoping for the best.

“I could take my trailer out there for hours, burn all my money on gas, end up prepping a ton of food and sell nothing,” he said.

Che’s Urban Eats

Ulises Lespade owns Che’s Urban Eats, an Argentinian food truck known for its empanadas.

Business was good before the coronavirus. “People love our food,” Lespade said.

About a month ago, Lespade started following the news on the coronavirus. He saw what the virus did in Europe. It was serious.

Lespade closed his food truck voluntarily days before Sacramento County issued its stay-at-home order.

“We didn’t want to expose anybody or be exposed,” he said.

Lespade stopped serving food March 12. That was a Thursday. By Tuesday, his 7-year old daughter spiked a fever and got a nose swab in the parking lot of Sutter Hospital.

It took eight days to get the all-clear. The test was negative for COVID-19.

But Che’s Urban Eats remains closed for now.

“We’re all suffering” said Lespade. He hasn’t been able to do payroll. He still has to pay insurance fees, commissary parking fees and other overhead.

“Right now I have to figure out a way to keep the business going,” Lespade said.

He applied for a federal small business loan, but was denied due to credit history.

For now, he’s helping out. He’s donating cases of nitrile gloves to Sutter to help out with the shortage. And he wants to bring the food truck to the hospital grounds and cook free meals for the health care workers.

“They’re doing so much for us, they helped us tremendously when we were there. They were fast. That’s our priority right now, to help them,” he said.

As breweries close, food trucks face challenge

Ash and Oil: Mobile Eats opened about three years ago. Owner Venice Labra used to operate outside breweries and wineries in Sacramento, Placer and Yolo counties.

But since the coronavirus outbreak, some breweries have closed, while others no longer want to host food trucks. Breweries and food trucks usually have a somewhat symbiotic relationship, since the food encourages customers to stay longer and drink more beer.

Labra estimates she’s lost about 80 percent of events, so she’s trying to figure out other options to stay afloat.

There’s at least a little reason for optimism. On Saturday, March 28, Ash and Oil will participate in “Food in the Hood.” It’s a “gathering” (social distancing rules apply) of food trucks in five parks in Elk Grove. Food trucks will be open from 4 to 7 p.m. Online ordering is encouraged. Customers can get 10 percent off their order by bringing a canned good for the Elk Grove Food Bank.

This story was originally published March 27, 2020 at 8:10 AM.