Earlier this evening we took the RG Food Truck, a 1976 VW Bus, to its first food truck event. The event was in Battle Creek for the Food Truck Fridays event, hosted by the Battle Creek Farmers’ Market Association.
The event was from 5-9pm, and we had a blast. First of all, we are happy that the VW Bus made it to the event (and returned safely to Kalamazoo — a 25 mile round trip, on the back roads; as had just gotten the bus back from the mechanic the night before). Second, it was wonderful weather. Third, the patrons were fun to talk to, and hang out with. Finally, we sold out of all of our product (thank you for showing your support by buying our gelato :-).
The bus was only ready for the road the night before, as our mechanic (Todd) finished his work at 5pm on Thursday. He ensured the bus ran, AND stopped (the brakes were our main concern for this bus). Everything worked well as we were able to drive to and from the event in Battle Creek. The bus slept nicely at its home in Kalamazoo late Friday night.
For this event, we had our chest freezer carried to the event in our Volvo XC90 — without any power to it. We lost about 6 degrees for the 1 hour drive during the heat of the day. The temperature got up to between 12-14 degrees by the time we arrived at the Market Festival Square in Battle Creek. That worked out well, as our desired serving temperature for gelato is between 13 and 18 degrees.
For this event, we just had a clean shell for the bus. New and clean floors (dry laid). All of the equipment carried by the bus, except for the chest freezer (which was in the Volvo). The bus did carry the chest freezer back to Kalamazoo after the event — and since it didn’t have any product in it (sold out), it wasn’t as big of a worry if the temperature rose.
The next event will be using power from the bus, as we are working on the electrical system / design for the equipment to be used in the bus. The bus is slowing coming together 🙂
And to top the day off, we were at 2nd market we were at, the Vicksburg Farmers’ Market, where we sold out of 3 of our 7 flavors.
We will be at the next Food Truck Fridays event in Battle Creek, which will be in August [ Update 2017-08-10: We will be bringing the VW Bug instead of the VW Bus to the August Food Truck Fridays event, due to scheduling ]
See pictures below of the Food Truck Fridays event in July in Battle Creek.
