These food trucks are opening brick-and-mortar restaurants — and not just in Fresno
.jpeg "FURY Hot Chicken and Dad’s Cookies, started as food trucks and have opened brick-and-mortar restaurants, both in Lemoore.")
The food truck scene is continuing to explode in Fresno and the Valley. And as it grows, it evolves.
With more and more food trucks launching and spend a few years operating successfully, some are taking the next step: opening a brick-and-mortar restaurant.
At least four have recently opened or are in the process of starting a restaurant — one in Fresno, one in Kingsburg and two in Lemoore.
Many got their start at Fresno Street Eats regular events food truck events. That includes Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Sierra Vista Mall and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at River Park.
The president and founder of the company, Mike Osegueda, said each of the trucks opening the restaurants took their own path to get there.
“I think all four of those are really good concepts, good entrepreneurs, people who have … something different to offer,” he said. “I think it shows how a food truck could be a jumping-off point for a lot of people.”
And they’re not the only ones. Benaddiction, one of the most popular breakfast restaurants in town, started as a food truck.
Another truck-to-restaurant conversion, Spicy Mayo Hibachi, recently made the switch to spot at Shaw and West avenues. The owner joked it was simply too hot to run a food truck in a Fresno summer.
For Dad’s Cookies, starting as a mobile business had advantages, said owner Lance Sanchez. It allowed him to make mistakes on a small scale — moves that would be costly if he already were running a restaurant.
“It gives you the opportunity to take baby steps,” he said. “I can’t even fathom the idea of starting in your kitchen and then moving into a restaurant.”
But enough of the strategy, let’s focus on what you can eat at these businesses and where they are.
Roma
Roma Italian Street Cuisine is a food trailer that opened in 2019. Now it’s becoming a restaurant in Fresno.
Its popular RCBA dish — rigatoni chicken baked alfredo — and fried ravioli will soon be available at a restaurant the southwest corner of Chestnut and Shepherd avenues, in the former Premo Pizza spot.
Roma is aiming for a November opening. It will be a fast-casual restaurant, where people order at the counter.
Owner Andrew DiNuzzo is part of the family that owns Mike’s Pizzeria (his grandpa is Mike). He always knew he wanted to follow his grandparents’ path and open a restaurant, he said.
“The trailer was a stepping stone for me,” he said. “I just figured it would be a good idea to do it this way.”
He started the food truck going to all kinds of events to the Roma name out there. Roma isn’t just a business, but named after his daughter.
Once he built a steady clientele, he settled into regularly parking at Enzo’s Table at Shepherd and Willow avenues — half a mile away from his future restaurant.
The restaurant will carry the same food truck menu, plus more dishes. That includes the one his family is known for — pizza.
Dad’s Cookies
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The smell of fresh-baked cookies now wafts through two brick-and-mortar locations in the Valley as Dad’s Cookies has expanded again.
Lance Sanchez was inspired to launch a business selling giant chocolate chip cookies that weigh 5.5 ounces each after getting laid off during the early days of COVID-19.
The business — with help from his daughter and her degree in social media marketing — started as mobile seller with a tent. It eventually added a food trailer that does five to eight farmers markets a week, and opened its first retail location last year in Fresno.
That store and its production kitchen are at Willow and Alluvial avenues, part of the Johnny Quik.
Earlier this month, it celebrated the grand opening of its Lemoore store at Highway 41 and Bush Street. At 10 Belle Haven Drive, it’s inside a newly constructed Day & Night Markets location.
The cookie dough is made in Fresno, frozen, and baked fresh in Lemoore. The store is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, and from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sundays.
FURY
The Madera-based FURY Hot Chicken food truck hit the streets during the spicy chicken sandwich boom two years ago.
A Black-owned business, it regularly made stops on West Shaw Avenue in Fresno, at the Amazon warehouse and farmers markets. Now it’s opened a restaurant. It’s also in Lemoore, in the same building Dad’s Cookies and opened Aug. 12.
“For FURY, we always planned for it to be bigger than a food truck,” said CEO Marcel McAlister. “I come from humble beginnings, so we had to start with a food truck because that’s all I could afford.”
A restaurant was always part of the plan. Now, he’s got two food trucks (the second one launched a few weeks ago), a restaurant and two more eateries in the works. One restaurant will be local, one won’t.
McAlister is also bottling the “honey b” sauce that goes on its chicken sandwiches and its lemonade. He’s working on getting it into stores.
Also at 10 Belle Haven, the restaurant is open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays.
Kabab Twist
After about a year and a half running a food truck, the owners of Kabab Twist opened a restaurant in Kingsburg this summer.
The restaurant is inside The Village Mall at 1332 Draper St.
Both the truck and the restaurant menu have a variety of Mediterranean food, including chicken, beef and lamb kababs, sliced shawarma meat, salads and wraps. There are also fries loaded with chicken shawarma and other toppings, and several vegetarian options.
The company also does catering.
Hours: 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sundays.
This story was originally published August 21, 2023 at 11:19 AM.
