Damage Control (i.e. Six Months in Food Truck Ownership)

The following entry is intended for cathartic reasons, and is not meant to deter aspiring street food entrepreneurs. 

• Day 1: Truck stops working after 15 minutes of ownership. 2.5 hours & 3 vehicles later, batteries jumped. Batteries replaced. Old owner feigns ignorance. 
• Day 2: Truck is crashed into tree. Tree sustains no visible damage. Truck is sent to shop for 5 weeks and $5K worth of work. 
• Truck visits mechanic #1, who supposedly overhauls systems and charges $40 to replace windshield wipers. 
• Month 3: Truck drives like hell. Suspension replaced. One truck buck (= $1000)
• Truck visits the oven shop, gets a new hearth oven. Manufacturer assures us that venting oven inside truck is the proper installation, despite our concerns. Old deep fryer removed, but not before oil is spilled all over floor and stomped on by 3 sets of work crews. 
• Month 4: Suspension is better. Truck brakes aren't really working. Truck weighs 15 tons. On second thought, brakes REALLY REALLY aren't working. Immediate detour to break shop. One truck buck. 
• Lots of stuff is still not working. Truck is taken to truck builder, where all actual and potential problems are fixed. 
• Month 5: Truck gets a purty new exterior. Yay! 
• 9 man hours and 1 pint of nasty degreaser later, floor is visible again. 
• Vesta crew enters truck, deep cleans inside and begins to do things with food in truck. 
• We launch! No problems. Thanks to Linden St. Brewery for helping forget if there were.
• Enter: electrical problems. 
• Subsequent four weeks: fans working, lights not. Lights working, fans not. Some lights working, others not. One fan out. Two fans out. Enter electrician #1 with fuses. 
• Passenger side door does not lock from inside. Three times in two days it comes swinging wide open. Last time is going 60 mph on freeway.
• On a lovely Sunday morning before service, fans are not working. On this particular day it triggers fire suppression system which deploys, dowsing all food and some owners in nasty battery fluid-like chemicals. Rest of day is spent cleaning truck, throwing out food.
• Just to add to the fun, we decide to start fueling with biodiesel. 
• Quote to replace fire suppression chemicals: one truck buck. 
• Daily attempts to fix electricity are interrupted with major fuel leak causing cab to fill with smoke while on freeway. Enter mechanic #2. Mechanic plugs leak. 
• Weird transmission stuff. Return to mechanic #2. 
• Rotisserie stops spinning. We hand rotate it to bring you delicious pork sandwiches. 
• While driving from mechanic #2 to electrician #2, major fuel leak on freeway. 
• Electrician #2 spends all day trying to find source of fan/light problems. Discovers oven venting inside truck is one source. Does some weird electrical work which will soon need to be replaced. 
• Enter mechanic #3: Billy the Biodiesel specialist. Replaces all rubber in motor with material that will not corrode. 
• Fuel leaks third time. Fourth time I get under hood and fix it. 
• Month 6. We work an evening event by candlelight because nothing electrical is functioning. Vanilla sandalwood scents mingle with citrus pork. Brand new fridge starts blowing hot air. 
• Today: Electrician #3 has been deployed four times in a week and a half. Battery charger was replaced. Replacement is defective. Re-replaced. Now that it is working, fuses starting burning like crazy. Fuse box electrician #1 installed is replaced. 
• Tomorrow's solution: refrigeration 
• Next week: ?

--Traci