Food truck industry booming amid pandemic

By Sophia Perricone

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    LAS VEGAS (KVVU) — The city of Las Vegas is in the middle of a food truck frenzy.

According to the city’s business licensing manger, Darcy Adelbai-Hurd, demand for licenses – specifically for food trucks – is up by about 20%.

“It’s just a little bit easier to get started in this business. Put it on wheels, throw some food in, and you’re good to go,” she said.

Local entrepreneur, Gabriel Harvey, is part of the food truck boom.

After nearly two decades of dreaming up a food truck, he turned his concept into reality in November.

“I wanted to spend more time with family, and when COVID came and people were losing jobs and the risk of not being able to go to restaurants to going to restaurants and things, I just said, ‘I think it’s better if we start a food truck,'” Harvey, who owns HapaHaoles Hawaiian Street Tacos.

Harvey said the pandemic played a role in turning his dream into reality.

“You get complacent right, with your job and your career and what you’re doing. This gave me an opportunity to think out the box, make sure that no matter what happens, I can support my family,” he explained.

A business owner in Las Vegas is helping dreams, like Harvey’s, come true.

At Ibarra’s Food Truck Builders, CEO Jonathon Ibarra and a team of about a dozen workers build, lease, and sell food trucks and trailers to Las Vegans breaking into the industry.

“The biggest thing right now is the rent-a-food truck. This gives the people the opportunity to start the business at a very low cost,” Ibarra said.

Since the pandemic started, Ibarra said their hands have been full.

When the team first started, they were only able to build one to two trucks a year.

Now, they push out 20 every three months.

“A lot of these guys – their dreams have always been to start their own business and their own food trucks – chefs, restaurants. So by them being laid-off, they finally pulled the trigger and went into the food truck, so that really skyrocketed,” Ibarra said.

The city of Las Vegas has a webpage dedicated to helping entrepreneurs break into the industry with proper licensing and compliance. To learn more, visit lasvegasnevada.gov/Business/Business-License/Food-Trucks.

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