Two beer-loving Fresnans started a business that’s literally a bar on wheels. It’s for hire
Tod Tompkins was at a 40th birthday party in Paso Robles when he got the inspiration for the business he would eventually launch in Fresno.
A vintage truck was parked at the party, with taps installed on its side serving up glasses of beer.
Tompkins had a vintage truck of his own, a 1953 Chevy panel truck – once used to transport school lunches for the Sanger school district – that was wasting away in a friend’s field. It had belonged to his dad, who died in 1989.
“It was like my dad parted the clouds from heaven and said, ‘Son, my favorite things: the panel (truck) and the beer,’” he said.
The younger Tompkins suddenly knew what he was going to do with the truck.
Fast forward eight months and Tompkins and his friend Tim McConnico have started Tap Truck CenCal. It’s a Fresno version of the beer truck he saw at the party that can be hired for special events.
They started doing a couple of fundraising dinners at LoMac Winery. Now, they’re available for weddings, parties, reunions, football tailgating, corporate events, festivals and farmers markets. The truck can be parked at indoor venues, too, assuming there’s a door big enough for it to get through.
There are Tap Truck franchises scattered all over the nation. Tap Truck CenCal can be hired for events from Merced to the Grapevine.
The truck is outfitted with five taps and serves all kinds of beer from various breweries. The men are beer fans and McConnico brews his own beer. He’s not at the selling-it step yet.
But it’s not just beer.
“If they keg it, we can serve it,” Tompkins said.
A surprising number of things can come in kegs: wine, sangria, cold brew coffee, kombucha (a fermented tea drink) and root beer (both hard root beer and non-alcoholic).
They can also do non-alcoholic events for kids, offering sodas in flavors like orange, lemon-lime and root beer (all come in kegs).
It also has a separate bar that is set up at the event, so they can also pour wine from bottles and make root beer floats.
The back of the truck is now rigged to keep kegs cold.
It’s a lot different from the delivery truck it used to be. Tompkins’ dad, a welder who raced motorcycles, had used the truck to cart his motorcycles to various races. When his son was old enough to compete (BMX, motocross, etc.) it hauled his bikes, too.
It needed quite a bit of work, though. The weather took its toll on the truck and mice had eaten through some of the wires.
Now, it’s polished and clean, and the taps turn heads everywhere they go – especially when driving down the highway.
“The truck itself is such a cool talking piece,” McConnico said.
Tap Truck has a regular gig from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the second Saturday of each month in Kingsburg at the Bluebird Home & Lifestyle Market event that’s open to the public.
The cost to hire Tap Truck varies (customers can do a cash bar or pay for all the drinks) but usually starts at around $600. The truck is booking up fast through the end of the year.
Tompkins and McConnico still have day jobs. McConnico works with Fresno State’s teacher credentialing program and Tompkins is director of special education at Caruthers Unifed School District.
Because of that, they ask potential customers to notify them via email at taptruckcencal@gmail.com or Facebook. You can also see images of them on Instagram.
This story was originally published January 24, 2019 at 10:37 AM.
