About the 5 Melt Limit

Yesterday was very interesting. We were busy, which is good. We had a line, which is good. But we had a ton of people who ordered 5 melts each, which makes things a little crazy. This is what happened:

Three checks of 5 melts come in back to back after several single orders. Our grill can handle about 7 melts at the very most, (you have to get creative about spacing sometimes). So I was cooking and down the line, I see some big tickets. I have to start thinking ahead but there is only so much you can do about this situation. I have to fit 5 sandwiches on and sell them together. Then another 5 and another 5. Each group takes about 7 minutes to cook. So for three people's order it to about 25 minutes once they were cut and plated. The people behind them do not understand why it is taking so long. If we had three single orders, they would all come out very quickly. We always hope that they look around and see a bunch of sandwiches being handed out and get what's happening. That is almost never the case. We sold 115 sandwiches, that's a sandwich every 1.2 minutes. Sure enough, we got complaints about the wait.

The business model of a melt truck is not to serve a lot of people at the exact same time. that is why we park at the same place for 3 hours. Cheese has to melt and the bread has to get toasty, that takes a few minutes. We can do several single orders at a time but the big tickets slow the line way down. This is true for most kitchens large or small. We wish we could make it go faster somehow, and I do think we have got it down to a science at this point but this is the nature of a melt truck. It's fresh food made to order, it's not sitting in a steam table or under a heat lamp. We have watched the trucks in the big cities who have been around for years and they have the same issues. People wait at melt trucks in L.A. for 45 minutes to an hour or more on a regular basis.

Please come have a grilled cheese at GourMelt. While you are waiting, enjoy the fresh air and the sun on your face. Talk to the folks around you and make a friend. Make a fun lunch out of it. But if you are in a big hurry, take a look at the line and see if you have the time to do it first. We want you to be happy and well fed. If you can face the occasional wait, we think you will be both.

Burrrr....

Winter approaches! It's a whole new ballgame for us, new challenges, new mindset. Food truckin' (in Reno) involves things you don't really have to think about in a brick and mortar, such as snow chains. We got a lesson in chaining up earlier in the week from a friend who used to be a chain monkey in the Donner Summit. Doesn't seem too tough, we can handle it. Now our concerns have switched from things getting too hot and melting to things getting too cold and freezing. We need to keep the water pipes from cracking, we need to be able to feel our fingers as we prep in the morning, you know...little things. Things that the SoCal trucks never have to think about. But this is our life now, we don't close for the winter. I personally can't think of anything better on a snowy day than a grilled cheese and tomato soup! I'm looking forward to warming people up with good food. We will definitely be out there, ready to face winter head-on! Hope to see you soon.

Truck Etiquette

Just a few guidelines to help things flow better, this is mainly to be considerate of other Melters, we want the line to move just as quickly as you do:


Firstly, this is NOT fast food. We prepare everything TO ORDER. We make grilled cheese sandwiches, that means the bread needs to grill and the cheese has to melt. This takes about 5 or 6 minutes per sandwich and we can do 5-7 sandwiches at a time. Please consider these factors, have a little patience. Enjoy the fresh air and meet some of the folks around you. It will be worth it.

We do take cards but CASH IS PREFERRED. Cards slow the line quite a bit.

If you would like your order bagged, please say so in advance.

Please no huge to-go orders. Let's limit it to 5 melts at a time please. We LOVE that your whole office wants food but we have a small grill and your order of 15 makes the folks behind you wait a really long time.

Don't cut in line with your friends.

Please speak up! It's loud inside the truck with all the fans running.

Don't smoke around the truck, same rules as a restaurant folks.

We post our schedule well in advance in several locations. Here's one: http://alturl.com/nncsz

We thank you all for your patronage!! Hope to see you soon.

Newbies

We were just two chicks with a little dream. We never claimed to be anything more than what we are, foodies, service industry veterans, and hard workers. We didn't brag about what we have our make claims to things that haven't happened yet. We never wanted to knock down anyone else in the industry. We got a tiny loan and found an older but decent food truck. We begged, borrowed and bargained for help from friends and family to fix it up and make it into our vision. We didn't have a name in town to back us, or some fancy title. We didn't have anything but our truck, some great recipes and a lot of hope. We tested our recipes again and again. Our families worked their butts off on the truck for months. We scoured the internet hoping to see how other food trucks do it in other towns. We barely knew how our truck worked when we opened, there is no manual on these things.

And then we opened. What an amazing reception we received! People were so excited about out little grilled cheese truck. We worked our butts off in the summer heat for three months straight, never saying no to an opportunity. Figuring things out day by day, what works and what fails. Finding out that we need thicker skins, that most people are very kind but some can be so harsh. Becoming aware that when you put your complete heart & soul into something, it hurts deeply when someone complains about it. Also realizing that we cannot possibly please everyone, that some people will never get it, and we just have to do our best and move ahead.

We learned from our mistakes on a daily basis and still are. Our first menu was way too big for our little truck and we would run out of things often. The prep for that big menu was taking more time than the service. We had 4 different sauces, 3 different dressings and 2 dips. That alone took hours a week. We roasted and sliced a turkey and a beef roast twice a week. We don't have a brick and mortar restaurant to work out of, we have a kitchen in the truck. Food suppliers won't deliver to us. we run around shopping about 8-10 hours a week. We start our day at 7:30 and end at 4 or 5 or 6, or even later (11 or 12) when we do night events.This is a two person operation, no employees. If one of us is sick, we can't run (unless a friend or family member steps in but they have jobs of their own).

But we love it. We honestly both love it. We work harder than we ever have before in a 120 degree truck. We are joyfully amazed every time there is a 20 person deep line for 3 straight hours. We have gotten smarter and faster. We love how loyal our customers are and how pleased they are. We are bracing ourselves for the winter and the challenges that may hold. But we are optimistic. We are happy to see other trucks opening in the city and can only hope to maintain a good relationship with them. We feel that it will help all of us, to get people used to the idea of eating good food off of a truck. There is still a bit of a stigma from the old "roach coach" mentality and we are thrilled to see that change. We are so blessed to have the success we have and grateful. Thank you Reno, for all the support.