I think a lot of us have circled March 28 and the Texas Food Truck Showdown on the calendar. This event, put on by the Waco Chamber, promises to create quite a bit of buzz downtown.
When I saw it on social media, I immediately blogged it with the info on the flier and made a note-to-self to get more details soon. I spoke with Ashley Futris from the Chamber this week and have an enticing update.
The Texas Food Truck Showdown already has 20 confirmed commitments to the event and could host as many as 30-35 food trucks.
Those already entered include our own Club Sandwich, Aunt Fannie's from Austin, which serves fried pies and sandwiches, Burro Cheese Kitchen, also from Austin, EZ Sliders and Bombei Street Food from Dallas, Lone Star Samwiches from Houston and Chef Tai from College Station. I'm guessing Club Sandwich won't be the only local food truck in the mix.
Youngdae Moon, who runs Club Sandwich told me he's pumped about the event and hopes it's a good showcase for local food trucks.
"I think it'll be a good opportunity for people who may love food trucks when they go out of town, but have been hesitant to try the local ones, to ease into it and give us a shot without having to get a whole meal and see how we stack up against the big boys," Moon said.
Futris also gave me an idea on what to plan for strategy-wise for those of us who want to make a day of it. Between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., the food trucks will put their contest entries out there for us and we'll be able to buy them with tickets supplied by the event promoters. The tickets will be $3 apiece.
After the judging is complete and winners have been announced, then the trucks will open up their full menus after 5 p.m. in time for dinner and the Sunset Cinema. At that time, you can just use your own cash, no tickets needed.
Also, it won't just be food trucks. Futris said 18 mobil vendors have signed up, including fashion trucks, a photo-booth van and a dog spa.
There will also be a beer and wine garden to wash down all that delicious food.
This won't be the last update on this deal. Let's all hope for great weather for an event that could really put is on the food truck map.
