Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY -- Typically, you can find a pretty sizable line at the Chow Truck in Salt Lake City. With such a devoted following, you'd think self-proclaimed "Boss Lady" SuAn Chow would like to keep the truck in one spot. But she can't.
"I have to move every two hours in the city, in the Salt Lake City area, and I do," she says.
The Chow Truck isn't exactly like other lunch trucks you may have seen. It's more like a themed restaurant on wheels. Instead of selling hamburgers, hot dogs, chips and sodas, she sells coconut and lemon grass chicken tacos, as well as flash fried calamari. She does sell chips, but hers are made with purple potatoes, carrots, beets and lotus root.
Most lunch trucks travel to particular sites to bring food to the people. But Chow's asking people to come to her. This can get tricky when current city ordinances make her move frequently. Chow says she's able to tell customers where the truck will be through Twitter, but that's not always the best way to reach people.
"Not everybody is on Twitter. Some people prefer to utilize the website, which I post my schedule on. Also, some people prefer Facebook," she explains.
Even if her customers know where she'll be, she says the short amount of time isn't conducive to how she needs to work. The truck is operated like any regular restaurant, which needs time to set up and tear down.
"Within a two-hour time frame, it sometimes is a little bit more difficult to chase down the truck," she says.
Chow's hoping the city can expand the time it'll allow her to stay in one spot.
E-mail: pnelson@ksl.com
