@JoelECarlson: Hello everyone, and welcome to the TwitterReview of the @128cafe food-truck, with Jill Wilson Tweeting today. Lets get started!
Jill: Good Morning!
Q – #1 Lets start off with, when did @128cafe start as a cafe, and then when did the food-truck start?
Jill: The restaurant originally opened in ’96. It closed 6/07 & I purchased the business & re-opened in 11/07…
We started our mobile cafe last summer so this is our 2nd season of operation.
Q – #2 What made you decide to start a food-truck version of @128cafe, and how much planning went into it?
Jill: It started as a new way to market the restaurant. I wanted a billboard w/128 cafe written all over it.
the economy was in the tank & it wasn’t so great getting ‘Best-Kept-Secret’ awards. I needed people to know about us…
About the same time, my husband was working in NYC & would tell me about all the fancy midtown restaurants w/trucks..
that would drive down to Wall St. & make fancy lunches. That’s how it hatched. A truck can be both a billboard &
a way to introduce the flavors of the restaurant to a new crowd of people.
this all started in the fall of ’09 & we launched our truck last spring.
Q – #3 I see. With there being cooking space and food storage limitations on a truck, how did you figure out a menu to use?
Jill: We designed our menu options so that they 1) can be prepared quickly 2) Represent the style of food …
that we’re serving at 128 & 3) work well, practically, in the limited space of truck. We have to balance each day’s..
menu so that it’s not all from the grill or all from the pantry.
Q – #4 So what are some of the regular items on the menu, and what are some of the items that get rotated?
Jill: Well, we always have our BBQ ribs on the menu since they’re our calling card. The rest of the menu rotates & depends..
on the event that we’re setting up for. We nearly always have fresh fish, lovely salads like grilled asparagus or beet
andwiches-pulled pork w/our BBQ sauce, BLTs, grilled portabella mushroom, etc. The key is that everything …
is fresh & made to order. We don’t cook it and wait for it to sell. We always keep in mind that we’re representing 128
Q – #5 Where can people find the @128cafe food-truck generally, and what are the hours of operation? Open to catering or other events?
Jill: I do my best to keep our website ( www.128cafe.net ) updated so people will know where we are but twitter is my..
best friend when it comes to broadcasting our location-some days we just don’t know until we get there!
I have, however, worked hard at creating events like #FoodTruckCourt on Kellogg every Wednesday w/4 other food trucks
And we’re also booked every Thursday night either @musicinmears or the Ordway’s Summer Dance & music near the Landmark
We’re also booked for Patio Nights at City House. Free concerts on the river & organized by www.mmaa.org
Then we also do a private event here & there & a lunch around downtown or the Capitol if the weather & sched permits
Q – #6 Nice work Jill! :) When people come to the @128cafe food-truck, who should we look out for to say “hi” to working in the truck?
Jill: The truck crew is: Ian (chef), Jamie, Jake & Brad-cooking & either Buffy or me in the window.
@JoelECarlson: Thanks Jill for your time today and talking about the @128cafe food-truck. Look for a video later today about the truck.
Jill: Looking forward to meeting y’all soon!
Wonderful. I love the food truck events. Thanks for this review.