The Ingenious Way Firetrucks Have Gotten Into The Food Truck Business

Finding a food truck on the street when you're desperate for a bite is always a treat. Forget about the long commute to work for a few minutes and enjoy an impromptu taco. And if the concept of this food truck has some serious novelty appeal? Bonus points. 

According to QSR, food trucks are getting more and more inventive every year. While the look of every eatery on wheels varies, some have evolved from much more than a place to grab a quick bite on the go to an experience in and of itself. For example, with all the ingenuity of the present age, many chefs in the food truck industry are taking advantage of the resources at their fingertips and choosing to restore and repurpose their wheels instead of buying new ones, per QSR. Take the popular journey of teenager Alice Kelly and her restoration of a vintage pony box into a bakery stand, per The Irish Times. Creativity levels are high in a place where food and restoration combine, and it makes for an experience handcrafted with a whole lot of palpable passion. This is especially true of some businesses bringing a whole new set of wheels into the food truck industry. 

According to The Washington Post, you should never underestimate a food truck. Most people behind that grill (and the wheel) are serious professionals with genuine kitchen experience. According to The New York Times, most of these chefs decided to open up a food cart rather than a restaurant in the first place simply because it's easier to secure funding. It's one of the reasons why this billion-dollar industry is only growing, per The New York Times. 

Still, the business comes with its own set of challenges. Eclectic eateries often have limited space, so cooks have to get crafty. Per The Washington Post, factors like water tanks, refrigerators, freezers, ventilation, sinks, and fire suppression are just a few of the things required to be on every food truck. 

But for those that have stuck to the business of wheeling and grilling, some of the best burger places around come right out of a converted school bus, per Thrillist. Sweet Jenni's Cupcake Shop sells its sweets out of a literal cupcake on wheels, per Patch, while Maximus Minimus in Seattle sells its pulled pork sandwiches out of a giant pig, per SeattleFoodTruck.com. Concepts like these tend to have a little bit of the shock factor on their side. We'd say that's a big part of the reason behind the growing amount of fire (food) trucks.

Fire trucks have become an unlikely vessel for many food trucks. Per CarBuzz, Company 77 Mobile Pizza Unit out of Irvine, California is one of them. The retired fire truck was repurposed to sell stone-baked pizza. Some of the best parts about it? The water cannon still works, and the kitchen is on the roof. Other amenities include a jump-seat photo booth, and when your order is ready, the pizzas come down a slide, says CarBuzz. 

According to CBS News, Company 77 surprisingly isn't the only fire truck selling pizza. Firefighter Kevin Doherty out of Boston turned an old fire truck into a moving wood-fired pizza oven. Aptly named 3rd Alarm Wood Fired Pizza, Doherty told CBS News that it's nice to be able to bring a truck usually associated with stressful situations to a celebration.

So food trucks continue to evolve, but fire trucks seem to be a hot commodity in the industry right now.