Good morning everyone, and welcome to today’s @MNMOmag Twitterview with the co-owner of @BloomysRB, Ryan Bloomstrom.
To start off Ryan, what made you decide to start a #FoodTruck in the first place?
Ryan: Thanks Joel! Katie and I wanted to open a brick and mortar diner, but the startup costs and risk were just too high
We explored ways to get wealthy and inheritance, lawsuit and lotto weren’t in the cards for us. Our business was it
I have always had a passion for food and there was a lack of amazing roast beef around which finalized it for us.
What kind of process did you go through to come up with the right meat and buns to put your own name on for the public?
Ryan: It started in Bloomy’s test kitchen (our house.) We wanted to come up with beef and an ultra slow cooking method
Much testing later we found the rub we wanted to use. Then we were off to the Sysco test kitchen to start tasting beef
We researched different meat producers to get the most local and fresh beef and CHB (Certified Hereford Beef) won.
CHB has over 85 farms in MN alone and has a natural product free of hormones and fed a vegetarian diet.
The bread was much more difficult. We have had to change it twice, but we finallly nailed it for Bloomy’s brand.
Your next step was finding a truck to use as home base. How long did that take you?
Ryan: Several months. We literally scoured the country trying to find a used food truck that would meet our needs. None did.
We would have spend more time and energy reconfiguring a used truck than designing our own so we switched gears.
We bought a used 1998 Chevy Step Van and began working with Mark Palm at Chameleon Concessions to build our truck out.
Food Trucks are challenging to say the least. It is a constant battle to keep everything working well and tied down.
Worth it though right? :) So when did you roll out onto the streets of MSP, and how did biz go at the start?
Ryan: So worth it! We launched Bloomy’s last 4/21. We were very well received by the public with help from Kickstarter press
However, it was not all fun and games. We literally had the wheels fall off the truck not once, but twice.
We also lost our entire inventory when an employee left the fridge door open over the weekend. OUCH!
Thank goodness MN’s love their beef so much or we never would have made it through our first year.
Where can people find your #FoodTruck parked generally, and do you do events and parties as well?
Ryan: We are mostly in Dwntn Mpls or St Paul. We always post our weekly beef schedule on social medai and our website.
We do a lot of events, corporate stops, grad parties and weddings too! It is a fun alternative to traditional catering
We also do fun events like the Monster Food Truck Rally at St Paul Saints game this Sunday, 612BREW taproom Saturday
Canterbury event on 6/22 and the Dabbler @ Pride where we get paired with a local brew and get to make some new dishes.
Share the wealth of roast beef huh? Good for you! :) What are your best sandwich sellers from your menu?
Ryan: Last year our classic roast beef (1/4LB marinated, ultra slow cooked CHB) was voted the best $5 sandwich in the cities .
Our best sellers change nearly every day. The Drunken Philly probably takes the cake, but the French Dip has rising
My personal favorite is the “George Michael” which is our classic topped with tots and a generous shot of beer cheese
Do you ever get any unique requests for what people want on their roast beef sandwich?
Ryan: We do and we actually named 2 of our sandwiches after their creators The Jessica & the George Michael were customers
who submitted their sandwich ideas, we ran them as specials and they were so good we moved them to the perm menu.
Support from MN has been unreal and we will continue the tradition of naming good sandwiches by their maker’s name.
We aim to please so all reasonable sandwich requests are honored. :-)
Joel: Good to know! :) Thank you for your time and comments today on #MNMOtv Ryan. All the best to you and Katie!
Ryan: Thank you Joel. We look forward to feeding you some of the best beef around. Take care, Ryan
If you’re a big #FoodTruck fan, be sure to check out Chuck Terhark’s article “Lunch Wars” on p.73 of the June @MNMOmag issue
Interview was conducted on May 22,2013