After deciding to open a food truck together, co-owners of Yes Chef! Trailer, Raechel and Mitch Robinson, began to look for a place that could make their dream a reality and help them build a mobile restaurant. Through mutual friends, they discovered FoCo Food Trucks, and — in a twist of fate — it wasn’t the first time they had met the owner.
“They had their rehearsal dinner at Fort Collins Brewery, and I was the chef,” said Andrew Cole, owner and lead design engineer for FoCo Food Trucks. “That’s a fun little point where we crossed paths years ago and didn’t know it.”
Cole worked in the culinary industry for many years, but during a transitional period of his life, he began using his spare time to help a friend build a food truck.
“It was our, like, hangout on Saturdays,” Cole said. “After we finished that, another one of my friends had a guy who wanted a food truck built. So we built that one. And then we built another one.”
He said he started FoCo Food Trucks later with another friend before eventually taking over full ownership.
“I just kind of fell into it,” Cole said. “It was one of those weird things where two of my backgrounds meshed into a new thing.”
Cole’s first order of business is finding their base of operations. He often recommends clients buy trailers rather than classic trucks to make maintenance easier. The Robinsons said they took this advice when buying their 18-foot trailer. Then, Cole said the most fun and challenging part begins — designing.
“There (are) a lot of different ways to do it,” he said. “Even-handedness can be a factor when you design a kitchen for somebody. … If they’re right-handed, you want to keep a flow a certain way. … If they’re planning on having multiple employees, you want to alter the design so the people can fit in there as well.”
After blueprints are drawn, construction begins and design alterations often result in an upcharge. Even then, Cole makes sure his customers are in the loop about their trucks no matter what.
“I’m a big fan of people coming in and seeing … what’s getting made for them because generally they will treat (the truck) a little bit better if they have an idea of how much work it takes to make it happen,” Cole said.
Raechel Robinson said the constant updates were extremely helpful for the couple while they found their footing in the industry.
“When you’re in a food truck, there’s so many more things to think about,” Raechel Robinson said. “(Cole) was super knowledgeable of all of that, and he also had a lot of resources for us to reach out to for questions.”
One major aspect of food truck ownership Cole helps his customers understand are the laws, such as the fire safety regulations and licensing rules, which often vary from state-to-state.
“We put these little pearl-coated box pizza ovens into (a) truck,” employee Jake Huneycutt said. “At the time, we didn’t know if … we could even do that. We kept checking the temperature to make sure it wouldn’t get too hot.”
Even when they doubt a concept, they do their best to ensure it’s both safe and possible.
“The kudos have to go to that client,” Cole said. “Eventually he convinced me to do the bench test … and sure enough, I was wrong, and he was right.”
Other memorable moments from their time working on trucks come from their ties to the community, such as helping at a school’s end-of-year mini-food truck rally.
“That was probably the most fun remote repair,” Cole said. “Having to change out a water pump in a parking lot at the Poudre School District with, like, a line of teachers waiting for food.”
Now entering their fourth year of business, the owners of Yes Chef! Trailer said they feel grateful to the food truck business for not only creating their establishment but also for being a reliable presence ever since.
“(Cole) totally has our back,” Raechel Robinson said. “Anything we need from him, as far as running a food truck or applying for events, … we have the best of both worlds.”
Reach Maiya Kreamer at life@collegian.com or on social media @RMCollegian.
