Big Red Food Truck is Crowd Pleaser for Hungry Patrons

May 16, 2016

By Aaron Putze, APR, Iowa Soybean Association

Food trucks have burst onto the scene serving up menu offerings as diverse as the venues you’ll find them at. And that holds true in central Iowa, where you’ll find a variety of tempting options to suit the most varied taste buds.

Among the most popular and successful is The Big Red Food Truck. Proprietors Shon and Julie Bruellman of Polk City are known for their unique and tasty offerings. The menu includes their famous fish taco (a fresh breaded whole walleye fillet nestled in fried flatbread and garnished with fresh-made cabbage slaw, shredded cheese and topped with a chipotle aoili), a jumbo beef taco boat (think “walking taco”.... but with an attitude!), Grilled Philly Chicken’s with green peppers, onions, mushrooms and muenster cheese, their signature item “Shon’s Famous Fried Taco” and mouth-watering cheese burgers served with fries and fresh-squeezed lemonade.

If you want to know where you can find the Big Red Food Truck, just look for the long lines. Seriously. Or, track its whereabouts at www.thebigredfoodtruck.com and via Facebook.

Shon and Julie Bruellman created the Big Red Food Truck.

The Iowa Food & Family Project met up with Shon earlier this week as he prepared to meet, greet and serve patrons April 29-30 at Cowles Commons in conjunction with Garth Brooks’ six-performance run. Our conversation was as flavorful as his cuisine!

Aaron: What brought you to Des Moines?

Shon: “Opportunity”..... or so we thought. Julie and I were living in West Bend, Iowa (a 120-mile drive north from Des Moines) where we had just become empty nesters and felt that we needed to make some pretty drastic changes in life. I was helping raise hogs in the area but knew we were in a rut and the only difference between that and a grave is the depth.  Our oldest son Andrew was working in Des Moines as a real estate agent and in 2014 we made the big decision to head south. I wanted to dip my toe into the real estate pond as well, along with my wife who was in real estate already. However, we soon realized that real estate work was not going to be a long-term option for us because our hearts were just not in it. 

Then what?

Try, ‘what not?’ Over the course of nine months I delivered freezers and refrigerators for a home delivery trucking company, dabbled in doing epoxy garage coating systems, released a book that I co-authored with a friend of mine, considered becoming an in-home caterer, and even spent some time as a line chef at an upscale local eatery. It was there that I quickly realized that I needed to get back into the food industry as a sole proprietor, and the best way to do that was with a food truck/catering business. I have done nearly every job under the sun but still couldn’t find that thing that was a good fit. At the end of the day it was my love of cooking, and the joy that I found feeding people that drew me to the idea of operating a food truck. Some people use a food truck as a stepping stone to open a restaurant but I used my past restaurant experience to establish a food truck. I like the flexibility to be able to go where the people are, freedom and autonomy to pick and choose events to service and what menu items to carry.

Tell me about the origins of The Big Red Food Truck

It started in 2015 with The Little Red Food Truck. It was truth in advertising at its finest. The truck was 14-foot long, bumper to bumper. If I stood on my tiptoes or stretched out my arms I was sure to touch the ceiling and two side walls at the same time. The funny part is that I bought and started fabricating The Little Red Food Truck before food trucks had been approved by the Des Moines City Council. Oops.  I literally was prepared to open my window as a food truck when I heard a blip on the news that the council had legalized food trucks for operation in the city. Sweet! It was a God-thing because I suddenly had a jump-start on the competition and was one of the first trucks out of the gate.

How did The Little Red Food Truck grow up?

In November 2015 I sold the first truck to a guy from Denver. I was looking to buy a new truck that was ready to go but I found they were hard to come by, very expensive and not well made. I opted to start from scratch and crossed paths with a great local truck builder. Terry Newton with Metal Masters out of Mitchellville literally built The Big Red Food Truck in a matter of weeks and I couldn't be happier with it.

Do you remember your first gig?

I’ll never forget it. We were at Des Moines City Hall and fed like....10 people in two hours and the day nearly ended in disaster. I didn't have an actual fryer at the time, just an open burner under a pot of oil that I used to fry my tacos. I was on my way home and the driver I was trailing on the Interstate suddenly came to a complete stop. And I did, too. In an instant, the oil came splashing out of the pot and drenched everything in hot oil. And my very expensive dough press came bouncing down the truck alley coming to a rest at my feet. Thankfully it was not seriously damaged but the thought did cross my mind as I was wiping up all the oil later that day, 'What in the world are you thinking?’  But we went out on day two and just kept plugging along.

What do you enjoy most about the business?

It can be a lucrative business but honestly, what gets me excited is the challenges of figuring out what people want so I can provide it.  First and foremost, this is a marketing business, not a food business. People eat with their eyes before their mouths. So how do I get people who have never heard of us to come to our truck at an event or a fair?

I also appreciate that this is a ‘high risk/high reward’ business. To get a well-equipped truck you can spend $100,000 pretty easy. Event fees can be as high as $2,000 per day and one little hiccup or equipment malfunction can costs you thousands of dollars in lost revenue. It’s not a business that is for everybody.

Tell me about the pace of operating a food truck?

Being successful in this industry is a process. It's similar to many other businesses but there’s one big difference and that is the results of your actions are immediate. If something doesn't work, you need to make changes and at times, that means you do so on the fly. There are foods we once offered but don't anymore because they take too long to prepare or you don’t have the consistency you want or they’re not what customers want. At the bigger events, we attend our goal is to serve a customer every 20-30 seconds with a fresh, made-to-order entree. We’re confident that (for the most part) we can deliver on that goal and we’re proud of that level of service. 

Who’s operating the truck when it’s open for business?

My wife Julie, myself, and our son Andrew primarily operate the business, and our middle son Tanner and his fiancée, Mary help out when they can.  Again, just like farming, our food truck is very much a family affair. Yes, there are times when things are humming right along and we’re all a bit on edge from being pushed to our limits that we have to stop, smile and tell customers “we’re all family in here” -- because there are ways we, well, ‘communicate’ with one another as a family that we wouldn't as employer and employee! But it goes without saying that running a food truck can be highly stressful when you’re working in such close proximity – you have 10 food orders being filled at once and a line of 20 at the window waiting to order. For hours on end at times.

Any new menu items appearing soon?

For the most part we like to keep the same menu in place but I also enjoy experimenting. I’ve done roast pork on grilled flatbread with an infused Asian BBQ sauce served with cabbage slaw that's gone over really well when we serve it. We’re considering some other options, too, including a seasoned tofu taco and also a tofu salad.