We are super excited about this weekends Justice League of Street Food  Factory themed bash!  Tons of food trucks will be setting up camp at the Denver Design Center this Saturday at 595 South Broadway from 5-10pm and shelling out some of the best in mobile cuisine.  Avery Beer and Republic Tequila will be on site to keep everyone smiling.  And oh yeah… I’ll be spinning records for the whole party with a commitment to Warhol’s Factory and other cutting edge music of the of sixties through the eighties.

The Justice League organization has been throwing these food truck parties in some of Denver’s other great neighborhoods for a bit now and has finally found their way to our neck of the woods.   I chatted up a couple food trucks to gain insight about what to expect and what makes Denver’s food truck movement so special.

Interview – Stick it To Me

 

1. Tell us a little bit about your food truck concept (how long has it been around?, Why sticks?) .

Stick it to Me has been around for around a year and a half.  The food on a stick concept came from our travels around the world in Italy, France, Israel, Greece  and South East Asia.  We loved both the exotic tastes and convenience of the street foods in these countries that was all served on a stick. We use the stick as the base for all our items and then allow people to enhance their meal by putting their stick in a sandwich or salad.

2.  What is your background in food and/or small business?

We met in high school and our passion for food led us to start a very popular BBQ Club and participate in various cooking competitions. We decided to start the truck, our first foray into the world of small business, shortly after we finished college.  Ezra’s background is in culinary nutrition, while mine is in Hospitality Management.

3. You and Ezra have an incredibly diverse background in the restaurant business.  Are there any challenges that working with the mobile kitchen model has presented given your history in fine kitchens?

The mobile kitchen definitely has its challenges and rewards.  One of the greatest challenges is making it easy for customers to find you; social media has helped a lot but we still work daily to come up with new and creative ways to connect with the people of Denver.  The second greatest challenge compared to a physical restaurant is the ability to create an experience. From a food truck the experience ends once a person is given their food, a restaurant is really a theater where the diner is a show goer and is being entertained by the food, service, and atmosphere from start to finish. One of the greatest rewards is the sheer number and diversity of the people we get to interact with on a daily basis who really have to seek us out to come get our food.

4. How does living in Colorado influence your menu?

Colorado loves their meat which is a huge influence for our menu, a testament to this is the popularity of our Korean Beef Sandwich. Colorado is also fairly health conscious and environmentally conscious which is why we are nearly 100% organic and our menu provides a well balanced meal.

5. What sets you apart from other food trucks?

We are definitely set apart by our age compared to many food trucks with us both being 24.  As far as food what sets us apart is our unrelenting desire for perfection. An item off our menu that shows off this desire for perfection our the Fried Mashed Potato Balls which are at every Justice League Party and take over four hours to prepare. We make a product that we love to eat everyday and that we know is great for our customers and for the planet. Our use of organic product from our meat to our produce is different from a lot of food trucks, we are proud that we purchase most of product from the same distributor as Denver’s finest restaurants. From a financial standpoint organic food is hard especially from a food truck but at the end of the day it is the right thing to do for our customers and for our food system.

6. What do you see happening with the Denver food truck movement over the next few years?

We will see more trucks coming to Denver, increasing competition and also forcing trucks that aren’t providing a great product to step up their game or unfortunately close.  There will also be a progression for many trucks to open up physical locations as seen in LA. Hopefully we will also see more awareness of the street food scene in Denver allowing for more regular food truck gatherings in different neighborhoods.

7. Do you have another favorite food truck in Denver?

We have lots of favorites, it really depends on what we are in the mood for. There are a lot of great trucks in Denver putting out an awesome product.

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Check out Stick it To Me and other great food trucks this Saturday at 595 South Broadway from 5-10pm.

 

-Matthew