Roadside Kitchens is an experienced, long-term company focused on food trucks, events and catering services. A well-known name when it comes to events, we have had the benefit of years of excellent reputation from consumers, ensuring calls and orders whenever the need for a food truck becomes evident. This is why we here at Roadside Kitchens is always on the lookout for new food trucks to add in our growing list of offerings. If you sign up with us, we’ll make sure that you have a steady stream of demand from caterings, events, and food stops.

We take pride in promoting every food trucker that becomes part of our team and always consider each and every one of them when booking jobs or assigning food stops. When working for us, you can be sure of an equal opportunity to land high-demand food service spots. Food truckers are free to find their own spots in cases when there are no orders or requests for their particular service. Here at Roadside Kitchens however, we take every effort in keeping all our food truckers occupied in high-yield jobs.

The extent of our reach opens up the market for additional bookings and earning opportunities. With a fully functioning website and high-traffic social media platforms, we have the capacity to reach markets that are not readily available to others.

Take that image - except replace kids with business professionals and switch out the ice cream man for a gourmet chef - and you have food trucks, coming to a city near you...if they haven't arrived already.

Growing up in Morocco, Yassir Raouli likely never heard an ice cream truck's melody. But after trying multiple ventures in New York City - waiting tables, managing night clubs and opening an online clothing shop - Raouli came up with an idea, Bistro Truck, that could carry him to retirement.

"I did research, and I wanted to start a restaurant. I always wanted to have my own place," he says. "What made sense was the food truck."

If you still haven't caught on, the food truck is exactly what it says it is. An entire restaurant, from the kitchen to the cash register, is self-contained in a truck or van. Food truck owners, who often double as the chefs, drive their restaurants to the people rather than letting the people come to them. From there you start to notice differences.

Traveling Kitchens

There are food trucks that cater only to the lunch crowd, and others to only the dinner rush; some do both. A number of food trucks are nomadic, posting a week's-worth of locations on sites such as Twitter and Facebook and making them reliant on their customers' Internet savvy to guide them to their current locations. Others, like Raouli's operation, are parked daily at the same spot in the same neighborhood.

It's the emphasis placed on the quality of food that defines the current wave of food trucks. Aside from the venerable ice cream man, people have been eating street food in the United States for decades - at hot dog carts in Chicago or brat stands in Boston. But over the last few years customers across the country have had the pleasure of myriad gastronomic options. Los Angeles has a kosher taco truck (Takosher). Kronic Krave Grill serves South American arepas four days a week in downtown Austin, Texas. And, not surprisingly, in Portland, Ore., owners pushed the politically correct limit with Kim Jong Grillin', a Korean BBQ food truck named after the controversial North Korean dictator.

"I think we kind of revolutionized it," Raouli says of Bistro Truck's menu, whose daily specials feature items like chilled watermelon soup, kofta kebabs and strawberry panna cotta. "We were one of the first to offer gourmet food."

Whether Raouli spearheaded the gourmet food truck revolution may be arguable, but the success of his Bistro Truck is definitely not. In late August 2010, on the one-year anniversary of its opening, Bistro Truck was named one of five finalists for New York City's annual Vendy Awards, a food truck competition whose quirky name belies the competitive seriousness of the event.

Bistro Truck's nomination should give the business some much-needed notoriety that can offset the obstacles facing food trucks. For example, at traditional restaurants any mishap can be mitigated by a dessert or cocktail on the house. Food truck owners, however, are often limited to a first impression. Patrons get in line, order their food, make the payment, grab their food and go. There's so little time for interaction with the customers that the vendor must nail the experience to ensure repeat business and positive word of mouth.