Food Truck Builder Featured on 12News

As a custom food truck builder, we used to build 3-4 food trucker per year, now we are custom designing and building food trucks at 3-4 per month. We have a large warehouse where we are custom designing and building your dream kitchen on wheels. Prime Design was recently featured on 12News.com

The Gilbert company behind your favorite food trucks

If  you’ve seen all kinds of food trucks or gourmet trucks at local events around the Phoenix area, there is a good chance they were built by Prime Design Food Trucks in Gilbert. Their specialty is building customized food trucks from scratch. “I can't build enough food trucks to keep up with people wanting food trucks,” said Ernie Miranda, owner of Prime Design Food Trucks. Miranda says four years ago, his company were manufacturing about three to four food trucks a year. As the food truck craze grows, so has their production. Today, they are producing three to four trucks a month. Each truck is uniquely designed to each client's taste. “We get different chef's in here. they look at what we're doing. We sit with them and do a CAD design and create what they're thinking in their mind. They all have a need and a certain way they want things,” said Miranda. Every piece of the truck is built in-house, including the cabinets, countertops and hoods, allowing for more flexibility to optimize the space for food prep. “You don't want to put a fryer in one spot and then you're jumping spots. You want to put in a lineup to the best fits the chef,” said Richard Patino, foreman for Prime Design Food Trucks. Miranda says the mobile world is also rolling into other industries besides food. His company currently building a boutique on wheels, where the walls can be lowered and be used to hold clothing displays. “What's going to happen is they're going to be setting up a whole bunch of clothing spaces. So it basically will be a store wherever you want to take it,” said Miranda. Patino says the best part of the job is helping clients achieve their entrepreneurial dreams. “If you can dream it. I can build it. It just makes me happy to hand the keys over to them,” said Patino. Check out the whole story at http://www.12news.com/news/local/valley/the-gilbert-company-behind-your-favorite-food-trucks/397068418

Get in touch with Prime Design today and see how we can help you create your dream food truck kitchen.

Food Truck Builder Featured on 12News was originally seen on website

Typical Kitchen Equipment on the Food Truck

When you are just starting with your food truck business, don’t get overwhelmed with the enormity of the things that you need to do. Learn about the appropriate equipment to use in your truck kitchen. It is imperative to ensure that your food truck kitchen has all the equipment needed, but still with plenty of leg room for your staff to make them feel more convenient. Food trucks come in various shapes and sizes: they can be the size of a small car, a bus, or a delivery-type truck (the most common type). Food trucks should have a complete and functioning kitchen with all the necessary equipment. These are some of the most basic equipment that a typical truck kitchen should have:

• Three-part compartment sink, including a hand wash sink to wash ingredients
• A freezer or refrigerator to keep supplies fresh
• A cooler for the refreshments that you serve
• A dispenser for serving iced tea, lemonade, and sodas
• A flat griddle or char-broiler

  Typical food trucks serve hotdogs, burgers, fries and ice. These are some of the basic equipment you need should you decide to offer them:

• Hotdog roller
• Griddle
• Fryer
• Soft-serve ice cream machine

  When purchasing equipment for your food truck, take into consideration what your menu is going to include. Here are some popular food truck types today:

• Chinese cuisine – The basic needs will be a bamboo steamer, a versatile wok and rice cooker.
• Italian cuisine – You will need a pasta roller, meat slicer, pots, cookers, oven, pizza prep table and oven, and sandwich grill.
• Mexican Food – To serve tacos, tortillas and salsas efficiently, you must have a chip warmer, a salamander broiler, a cheese melter, and other tools needed to serve Hispanic dishes.
• Middle Eastern and Greek cuisine – You will need griddles, woks, and ovens, among others.

 

Basic items that you should have in your food truck kitchen:

Food Prep Needs

• Cutting boards
• Can openers
• Food blenders/processors
• Knives and knife sharpeners
• Mandolins
• Vegetable cutters and slicers
• Mixers
• Thermometers
• Scales
• Timers

 

Cooking Essentials

• Frying pans
• Sauce pans
• Pots
• Infrared cooktops
• Hot plates and griddle tops
• Sandwich and panini grills
• Broilers
• Char-broilers
• Flash bake ovens
• Microwave ovens
• Commercial ovens
• Toasters
• Pasta cookers
• Rotisseries
• Rice cookers
• Steamers
• Ladles, spatulas, whisks, and other utensils
• Handle holders
• Gloves

 

Frying Essentials

• Fryer station
• Fry baskets
• Oil filtration and disposal units

 

Warmers/Holders

• Holding cabinet
• Hold oven
• Countertop food warmer

 

Refrigeration

• Freezer
• Walk-in refrigerator
• Ice machine

  It is also important for your kitchen to have ample and secure storage for all the supplies and equipment needed. Having a well-designed food truck kitchen ensures that you have a profitable food truck business by providing efficient service and increased productivity. There are basic rules in the configuration style of your kitchen. It all depends on what works well for your staff. These are the two basic methods of grouping kitchen equipment:

• Assembly-line – This design works well for a food truck, which produces large quantities of the same food, like sandwiches or pizzas. With this type of configuration, the design should allow your staff to stay organized. The tools are arranged based on the order of use.

• Zone-style – For this type of design, the kitchen is divided into blocks, one block per function. There is one for food preparation, another for cook, then another one for refrigeration, and another for cleaning. This works well in food trucks that serve many types of food in their menu. This layout, allows your staff to prepare on one area of the kitchen, as the newly prepared ones are being cooked.

There are many more considerations, and contractors may be capable of providing you with additional tips. Prime Design help you with all these decisions when we are designing your truck and asking questions based on your needs.  

Typical Kitchen Equipment on the Food Truck was first published on Prime Design Trucks

Why Customize a Refrigerated Trailer?

The common notion is that refrigerated trailers are used by owners of food and beverage companies. Refrigeration is definitely needed to preserve food and keep drinks cold. Various food industry businesses require special refrigeration needs. An ice cream trailer needs ample refrigeration to keep its frozen products in good condition. A beer garden will need to serve cold beer at all times. A mobile bar has to serve cool sodas, bottled water, cocktails, and other hard drinks at music festivals, parties, and corporate events. A mobile restaurant needs to keep its fresh goods frozen and its produce refrigerated. Marinated meats, sauces, and cooked dishes must also be properly stored in refrigerators.  

Food Safety

Installing refrigeration in food trailers is not as easy as it seems. A trailer owner must know the specifications of food storage. He must know the right temperature ranges for numerous food and beverage products. Refrigeration is not just about keeping things cold or frozen. The basic principle behind refrigeration is food safety. Storing food and beverage items in refrigerators and freezers prolongs the shelf life of the items. But it does not necessarily follow that an item placed in cold storage will not develop molds or become rotten. Some food and beverage items still become spoiled even when in cold storage. Food and beverage items must be sealed properly. They must be placed in containers that are clean and undamaged. They should also be stored in compartments with similar food groups. Finally, trailer owners must be oriented with the time periods of refrigeration and freezing. Keeping food and beverage items way too long in cold storage might do more harm than good.  

Not Just For Food

Refrigerated trailers, however, are more than just receptacles for food and beverage businesses. They are actually used for a wide range of businesses. Specialized ambulances and medical transport vehicles also make use of refrigerated trailers. They require refrigeration to keep laboratory samples and medicines in good condition while in transit. They also need refrigeration so that they can safely deliver pharmaceutical products. Florists are also wide users of refrigerated trailers. Some of them use their trailers to hop from places in order to sell their blooms. Refrigeration will maintain the freshness of the flowers despite traveling from place to place. Florists who provide décor to special events like birthday celebrations and weddings also rely on refrigerated trailers to keep their floral decorations fresh and beautiful.  

Tailor-Made Trailers

With the various uses of refrigerated trailers, it is best to have one made based on the specific purpose that it will serve. A ready-made trailer might be suitable for a mobile restaurant business but not for medical transport. Someone who is looking for a trailer might settle for a ready-made one because it will not cause a lot of hassle. But having a customized refrigerated trailer will pay off in the long run. Having the trailer designed and built according to all the needs of the owner will be beneficial to his business. The customized interior design will enhance the operations and improve the flow of the work station. Customizing the exterior design will definitely boost the image of the business. It will make a business name or organization stand out. It will also improve brand or product recall.  

More Than Just Customization

Those who are looking for Refrigerated Trailers - Design & Build services need to look further into what a design company is offering. Most trailer design companies only offer several templates. Prime Design Food Trucks assures that the trailers we build are made with utmost workmanship. The company can build refrigerated trailers from any size available with controllable temperatures ranging from -2 to +4 degrees. It also gives in to all of the requests of clients. It believes in the importance of customizing all aspects of a trailer according to the needs and wants of clients. Clients can dictate where the refrigerators and freezers will be situated. They can also choose where to situate the cashier and counter for a mobile restaurant. Florists and pharmaceutical owners can have a small office installed in the trailer. With each finished food trailer product we complete, we want it to be a work of art.   Prime Design Food Trucks, however, also points out important points of design to our clients. Our designers make suggestions based on their expertise and experiences. Clients are usually given pieces of advice on effective display marketing, selection of equipment, designing the trailer, and maximizing the space of a trailer. Prime Design Food Trucks even goes further by giving tips on trash management. In addition, the designers of Prime Design Food Trucks ensure that our layouts comply with standard health, fire, and building codes. Clients will no longer have a hard time with having their business designs approved because they are compliant with local and national codes. Another benefit from getting a customized trailer from Prime Design Food Trucks is that we provide a reliable repair service that covers a wide range of services. Trailer owners need not worry whenever they suffer glitches because Prime Design Food Trucks has competent technicians and repairmen.    

The blog post Why Customize a Refrigerated Trailer? is republished from Prime-Design

History of Food Trucks & What You Need to Know Entering Into This Market

Many people don’t know it but food trucks have been around for quite some time; decades before the 21st century boom in Los Angeles, California. What started with a lone Korean barbecue truck in 2008 has transformed into a very popular and profitable food trend that even popular travel guides like Zagat are raving about. It was the current recession that brought about the awareness and support that food truck entrepreneurs are capitalizing on today. With plenty of highly-qualified and internationally-trained chefs shunned from the confines of traditional restaurant kitchens, more flavorful foods are finding their way into the streets. It is quite interesting that food trucks were launched into the limelight just as the economy started flailing. Even restaurateurs who found it difficult and intimidating to invest in new restaurants given the economic situation were convinced that the food truck concept was an excellent opportunity. New restaurants were turned into mobile canteens that were able to reach more customers not only because of quality food offerings but also because of the significantly inexpensive prices being charged for a gourmet experience. As more food trucks entered the scene, smartphones and social media were also on their way up the popular trend ladder. Food truck owners were able to take advantage of highly-affordable social media marketing. They were able to make themselves known in the competitive market without burning holes into their wallets. They were also able to get the word out with such efficiency that people are already lining up long before they reached their destination for the day. What started with tweets on Twitter became updates on Facebook and now, even Instagram. For those who are keen on investing in their very own food trucks, it should be known that one’s success on the road is not only dependent on active marketing and delicious food offerings. There is more than meets the eye when it comes to this business. More so, there is more that goes into a food truck than just a stove and some ingredients. When you outfit a commercial food truck for business, you can compare it to designing a kitchen for a swanky new restaurant. Given that a food truck offers a limited amount of space, you need a customized layout for the prepping stations and cooking equipment. This is where Prime Design Food Trucks can lend their expertise. The ultimate goal of Prime Design Food Trucks is to provide you with the best and most effective design solution for your food truck. Every design is customized to suit your specific needs and every inch of the truck is utilized for maximum success. Aside from the build, the company goes the extra mile by liaising with building, fire, and health departments to ensure that your food truck is up to the latest standards in terms of government, zoning, and code compliance. You should definitely choose Prime Design Food Trucks to help you create your dream truck because they are a leading force in the industry with years of experience and admirable skills when it comes to successfully configuring any size of truck into a highly-capable street food machine. There are different sections that you should consider when it comes to your food truck. There should be ample space for food preparation and cooking but storage and serving areas should also be considered as main priorities. The best way to go about the initial planning stages is to identify what functions you need the truck’s equipment to satisfy. Will the food be prepped elsewhere? Will the truck serve cook-to-order meals? Do you only need a place for reheating? These are some of the questions that need answers. These are some of the questions we ask when we are designing your food truck kitchen.

The following blog post History of Food Trucks & What You Need to Know Entering Into This Market was originally published to PrimeDesignFoodTrucks

Chef with Down syndrome opens food truck in Fort Worth

FORT WORTH - Austin Underwood opened the back latch of his truck and swung open the doors.

He grazed the shining surfaces with his hands, and his face broke into a big grin.

“This is it,” he said. “This is where we’ll do our cooking.”

Fort Worth’s newest food truck is the creation of the 37-year-old Underwood, who has Down syndrome and has long dreamed of working as a professional chef and owning a restaurant. Called Austin’s Underdawgs, the rolling restaurant will serve hot dogs with inventive toppings such as “dawg sauce,” a raspberry chipotle barbecue-flavored concoction.

He comes to work every single day with a sense of urgency and a great attitude.
Restaurant owner David Campisi

Underwood’s face is sketched on the side of the food truck, alongside the words, “Dream,” “Slurp,” and “Yum.” For now, the truck is available for catering by reservations only.
To many, Underwood is already a familiar face in Fort Worth, where he works as a host and greeter at Campisi’s, the west-side Italian restaurant.

Owner David Campisi hired him shortly after the restaurant opened three years ago. The two have grown close, talking by phone every night Underwood works and frequently dressing in matching blazers.

“Austin knows everybody,” Campisi said. “He represents the Campisi’s culture very well. We are all about handshakes and hellos. He comes to work every single day with a sense of urgency and a great attitude. His attitude is very infectious, not just for the Fort Worth restaurant but our entire company.”
Read More: http://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/community/fort-worth/article74765487.html
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Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/community/fort-worth/article74765487.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/community/fort-worth/article74765487.html#storylink=cpy