ARLINGTON, Texas—Aminta Gutierrez owns and runs two food trucks, Tejas Smashburgers and King Hibachi, in Arlington.
Located at 2601 W. Arkansas Lane, the trucks have been part of Ghost Food Park for about a year.
“We like food, so we opened a couple of food trucks with the food that we like,” Gutierrez said.
When coming up with the menu for her trucks, Gutierrez chose to stick to her two favorite foods, hibachi and smash burgers.
Between her two trucks, she offer customers a large range of options from the Cowboy Smashburger, which is a burger that is topped with bacon, onion ring, pickles, barbeque sauce, truffle aioli and cheese, to the Hibachi Trio, which includes steak, chicken and shrimp hibachi with vegetables and fried rice or noodles.
“[These] are my two favorite foods,” Gutierrez said. “We did a lot of research and kind of got in the kitchen and started messing with ingredients. We make everything from scratch, so we did everything from our liking. We just started messing with ingredients and went from there.”
When picking a location for her business, Gutierrez said the Ghost Food Park was something she “fell upon.”
“Somebody was selling the food truck,” Gutierrez said. “We were like, ‘We’ll take it and take the spot.’ Then we added a second one.”
Cooking her hibachi and smash burgers in a small food truck versus a full-size kitchen has come with its own unique challenges for Gutierrez, especially in the Texas heat.
“Cooking in the summer can be very dreadful, because we’re inside of a tin box,” Gutierrez said. “In the heat, business slows down. Other than that, it’s great.”
Though starting a new business can be hard, Guiterrez is proof of success. She encouraged others to “take that leap,” too.
“I think if anybody is ever wondering once they get a food truck and they’re trying to take that leap of faith, I think they should do it,” Gutierrez said. “It’s something that really is up and coming because brick and mortars are so expensive. Food trucks are a good way to start.”
The Ghost Food Park was created by brothers Juan and Chris Labra on the grounds of their other business, New Gen Print and Design shop.
Ghost Food Park offers many other food trucks as well. The other food trucks located in the park include Autana Food Catering, which sells Venezuelan street food, Crazy Good Kitchen, which specializes in nachos, and Habibi Barbeque, which makes smoked barbeque.
On Friday nights, the Ghost Food Park hosts Food Truck Friday at 7 pm. On these nights, more vendors set up booths in the park. Extra activities and shopping are set up for families to enjoy along with their food.
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