What's The Catch? Jacksonville Food Truck

Blue Lava Taco

10. What have been the most popular items?

The Key West Taco has been the most popular, followed closely by the Ahi Tuna Taco. Over time the Key West Taco will probably become our signature item. It’s had a great reception and Chef Richard’s citrus sauce gives it a really unique flavor.

What's The Catch - Seared Ahi Tuna Taco
Seared Ahi Tuna Taco

11. How did you come up with your menu?

We’re just a bunch of good eaters and these are our personal favorites. Our menu isn’t huge but it has something for everyone. We wanted to have a good mix of options but we also wanted to do just a few things and to do them well. We think this approach will give us a distinctive brand that will appeal to a certain audience who will hopefully seek us out and look forward to when we’re serving in their area.








12. Chef Richard, what’s your culinary background?

Chef Richard: I got into cooking at a very young age. It was with Glenn, ironically enough. We were teenagers in high school. There were a bunch of pretty girls working at Calico Jacks. Glenn had a job there and I wanted one too, so I ended up getting a job in the back as a prep cook. That was 31 years ago. From there I worked in the restaurant business through my 20’s and 30’s. As you may know, the restaurant business is often described as a young person’s career. As I got older, working weekends, holidays and late nights just didn’t fit as well for me. I took a big leap of faith into the office environment, which I’ve been doing for the last 10 years. But I’ve always had a deep love of cooking and food and it stayed with me. With the food truck it gives me the opportunity to get back into the business without the crazy hours. I can still have family time.

I didn’t go to culinary school, but my claim to fame is that I was with Outback Steakhouse at it’s early inception. I worked at the Outback on San Jose Blvd, working my way up from the bottom as a salad guy. I really appreciated how Outback ran the kitchen. I was fortunate to mentor under a gentleman by the name of [EDJ: missed name] who was really passionate about food and food preparation. He was also a really good spice guy. On Sundays when nobody wanted to be in the restaurant he’d have a seminar to teach us how to make different things. It was very fascinating to me to see how you could start with one thing as a base and turn it into many different dishes with different flavor profiles.

Towards the end of my time at Outback I was an assistant kitchen manager, running the back of the house.

13. Glenn, what’s your role at What's The Catch?

I’m an investor and I help out on the creative side of the business. I’m not a cook, so I focus on the marketing and social media side of things. We didn’t wrap the truck but decided to use stickers on the outside instead. The design of the look, our overall brand, and ensuring we have a good menu is the sort of thing I help with. As we’re starting up I’m also helping outside of the truck to make sure we have enough supplies, that the tables are neat and clean, and there’s condiments available for our guests. All those little things that go along with serving great food.

14. How long did it take to get the truck going from the time you decided to start the business?

It was 60 days from the time we decided to give it a shot until we were going.





15. Can you tell us about your launch?

We launched on the 15th of March [2014] at the March of Dimes Food Truck Rally in Tinseltown. We served 365 entrees in 5 hours. It was a grand opening.

16. Were you surprised when you got orders for 365 entrees on your opening day?

We were totally surprised! We didn’t bring enough food and Glenn had to rush back to our commissary to re-stock. We also needed more gas for the generator so we wouldn’t run out. It took being nimble and reacting quickly.

17. Were there any big surprises prior to the launch?

How much time do you have? Probably the biggest surprise is all the red tape you need to go through to get established. There was a lot more to it then we expected. And after filling out all the permits, if you want to work at the Beach there’s a whole other set of permits needed.

Another surprise is that when we bought the food truck we assumed it was ready to go. It turned out the setup was backwards inside the truck. That meant that we had to pull everything out and prefabricate the inside to make sure it was friendly for the chefs and the person taking orders. So, when we thought we were set to go with the truck we found out we were just starting. That was probably the biggest shocker. We could have kept things how they were but we’d definitely not have been able to serve 365 meals on our opening day.

Another surprise came when we started getting quotes for certain things. For example, we thought we’d be able to polish our 1971 Airstream for a few hundred dollars. We then learned that it’s a 3-step process and the final cost was a lot more. Overall there was a lot more cost involved in getting the Airstream curbside ready than we’d originally thought.

That was another surprise, on the positive side this time. When we started we thought that with our connections and smarts we’d be able to find some places, no problem. As we got closer and closer we still didn’t have a place. Richard and Brett took a trip down to Hemming Plaza to see how some of the other food trucks were handling things there. They ran into the team from Up in Smoke and what they’ve done to help us out we can’t begin to describe. They took us under their wing to help us get going - sharing things we should be doing along with things we shouldn’t be doing. They’re the ones who corrected our kitchen design. They have been instrumental in helping us with our paperwork, our menu, and they’ve also been helping to get us locations.





18. Have you found your locations yet?

We are only doing lunches on Thursdays and Fridays. We do a rotation at Hemming Plaza every other Fridays and we do Fanatics Sports every other Thursdays. We have been doing a bunch of events and private parties lately.





19. What about the Beaches?

We’d love to come to the Beaches but it’s really hard to find a location and the laws are pretty ridiculous. It's almost like they don't want food trucks there. If we can find somewhere, we’ll set up. Parking the truck close enough to the action is the challenge. It’s great that the City is opening the Beach to food trucks but for there to be an effective test there needs to be locations where trucks can set up.

20. Do you provide catering?

Yes! We are only 90 days into this journey but we have already catered several events and served over 500 people in one day of service. We can custom make a menu for any event.

21. Can you tell us about your experience at the JAX Truckies Food Truck Championship in May?

It was a great event. There were a lot of people out and a lot of great food trucks. We won the overall Judge’s Choice Award. We were only 62 days old when we won so it was a real honor for us.


(904) 790-2645

Website
Facebook
Twitter



About the writer

EatDrinkJax.com interviews are conducted by Jacksonville Beach resident Gerry Glynn. When Gerry isn't talking with restauranteurs he is working for a local software company, training for his next road race, and hanging out with his wife and dog.