Local food trucks hit the road for the spring and summer seasons

With Prince George warming up, local food trucks are starting their engines for the spring and summer seasons.

Jeremy Jean, owner of Smokey J’s has been serving BBQ in Prince George for two years, he took his truck out for the first time a few weeks ago.

“We’ve had some great feedback and an awesome turnout, we were busy the whole day,” he said.

However, given the current provincial health guidelines in place, Jean says he’s taken a “safer approach” this year and has had to take on another full-time job.

“Obviously there are no events happening right now and that’s kind of the large chunk of the income for food truck season so we’re just trying to find more spots where we can open up on a regular basis without having too big of a rental payment for the locations,” he added.

With the absence of events like the four-day BC Nothern Exhibition and Motorcross events, Jean says he’s relying more heavily on Prince George residents for support this year.

Meanwhile, Jennifer Kaebe, is starting up a new food truck in town called Glazed and will be serving donuts.

“We’ll be operating on a very part-time basis, just because we aren’t quite sure what the restrictions are going to look like,” she explained.

Even with the uncertainty, Kaebe says that there is actually one benefit to operating a food truck during a pandemic.

“Food trucks are such a Covid friendly business model, it’s all outside there’s lots of ventilation, everything is kind of grab and go so I would expect there to be a lot more push for them this summer,” added Kaebe.

She also says the biggest impact on the food truck industry will be the lack of events this summer.

Glazed will be operating during the weekend farmers market all through the spring and summer season, more information on where the truck will be throughout the year can be found on the Glazed social media sites.

Smokey J’s is operating on Mondays from 11 am to 5 pm at Powerhouse Plaza on 1679 15th ave, more information on the truck’s whereabouts can also be found on their social media sites.