Our Story
When I was young and I’d done something wrong or questionable - my Dad used to say “what’s your story?” Well now my social media savvy children are asking me the same thing! “What’s your story?”
Well I’ll try not to bore you as I tell you how it is that Susan and I are the new proud (very proud!) owners of a 30 ft long bus that we’ve named “The Zone Bus”. What’s a “Zone Bus” you may ask (?) we’ll all I can say is that at our age most couples are buying motorhomes to vacation and travel around to see everything that this beautiful country has to offer. Not us! We bought a motorhome-sized bus… from a rest home in Ft Wayne, Indiana! “Why” you might ask(?) well after more than three months of chasing all over the country (via internet) for different shapes and sizes of “fed-ex type” step-vans - that might have the potential (and enough life left) to become our food truck - a big vehicle broker in Ft Wayne called and sent pictures of “our new retirement vehicle” (yes there is hidden meanings in there!).
And so the story begins!!! Off to Ft Wayne, Indiana to meet my new friend - a fifteen year old (but like new) micro bus that, like Susan and I, was just waiting for its next chapter! Just like us, it’s got a lot of good life left on her and even though it’s got some years on it - it’s got low mileage and it’s been “well taken care of”!!!How does something become a “Food Truck” - or in our case, “A Food Bus”(?)
Well, first of all you have to find the perfect guy - (in our story his name actually is “Guy”) This Guy not only needs to catch your vision, but he needs to be able to weld anything - cut and shape Stainless Steel, do gas lines and plumbing - run electrical wiring and basically follow a vision as he installs some really expensive appliances. We felt that we were somehow led to find maybe the only “Guy” who could possibly make it all come together... but first I had to tear everything out!
Then we had to rebuild and reinforce all of the walls…
You order things way in advance to avoid having to wait on parts, like the 10 ft long by 3 ft tall order & service window.
You diagram floor plans and shop for appliances that are specifically made for food trucks.
Along the way you purchase necessities - like 10,000 watt generators, that cost three times more than our first car did…
As it starts to come together - you start to think about colors and presentation - and that’s when your kids can make you feel really old... happily after a month or two of “friendly disagreements” - we saw a semi truck cruising down the road with our exact color. Trouble was - no wrap companies made our chosen color... Another stroke of luck when we serendipitously Met Allen the Wrap Master, and Andy Wright at Grizzly Graphics in Ogden. Again they caught our vision immediately. Andy just made our color, yes, he dialed it in on his computer, and told his million dollar printer to make Todd and Susan’s color. Oh yeah, and did we mention all the other fabulous graphics that are now on the bus. What can we say, it turned out so much better than we had even hoped!
As we began to wrap things up on the production side of the project - all of the “un-fun” things started to pop up on the lists of things we needed to do. Pass the “Food Safety Manager Course.” Since May we had the study books with us everywhere we went - and we tested and retested over and over again until the big day - when we walked in and totally “killed it”!!! What a relief though... then the Fire Marshall (Chief) inspection - couldn’t sleep for days - then the Chief walks in and says “this is the coolest food truck I’ve ever seen!” He immediately became my favorite Fire Chief! Then the dreaded Health Dept Inspection. Two Inspectors spending several hours looking for anything they could possible find that could make our food bus an unsafe food making establishment! I’m Happy to say that the Davis County Health Inspection is done ✅ YAY!!!
What’s next (?) jumping in and going full blast bringing our old family recipes and fresh food made from scratch each day out to you! Lunch, dinner, events and any other get togethers where you want really good homemade comfort food brought to you!
We are excited to start our new chapter! We’ve always loved cooking and making good food. There’s just something about hearing “Mmmmm” and seeing an appreciative smile when you make something unique and delicious.
We are both so grateful to have been brought up in families where really good food was the standard. Grandma’s and Aunts - and of course our mothers were all very good cooks. Todd grew up working in family food establishments, helping Aunt Betty cater and seeing the men in my family slaving over hot grills and barbecue barrels for hours to bring really good food to the ones they loved!
Good food has always been a big part of our lives. We want you to feel like family when you buy and eat our food. We want you to expect the best, and let us know if for any reason something hasn’t lived up to what you expect!
Come and join us - come and get to know us - we want to get to know you, and we want you to really enjoy what we’ve cooked for you. What does it mean to “be in the Zone”(?) Athletes as well as others have described it as “an out of body experience” wherein ones production or self expectation becomes beyond anything we’ve ever experienced. Many will ask “how do I get there”? The answer is elusive - but many say that “when you get there, you’ll just know”... if you want your taste buds to experience “being in the zone” - just Get on the Bus!!!