Food Trucks of New Brunswick: Chunky’s Catering
Carlos Lamadrid and Tamao Itasaka have parked their food truck, Chunky’s Catering, on King Street in Fredericton and are serving up Spanish food with a Mexican twist.
We caught up with them to see how it’s been going since they opened in May.
What got you into this? What were you doing before?
Carlos: I was a catering chef at Happy Baker and I’d been cooking for 25 years, just about, and I always wanted to start something new, something mine. Tacos have been around forever but here in town there were no tacos, nothing original. Tamao agreed with me so we started together.
Tamao: I just tried to help him out with his dream to make it come true and finally we decided to go for it. I’m still working at another company, I’m just taking a break. We need to find the right person to help with whatever he needs in order to operate this truck.
You chose this style of food because it wasn’t previously available in Fredericton?
Carlos: That was one of the reasons. Another is I’m Spanish (from Guatemala City) and I grew up with this kind of food and I know how it is. I like it and I know how to do it. I know people will like it if they try it. It’s something original, homemade.
Tamao: In 2009 we moved from there so it’s been already seven years, six and a half years.
Have you found the response from people is positive?
Carlos: Yes. It’s slow moving because many people here they don’t even know what tacos are. We have the concept of tacos as Taco Bell, you know the hard shell and ground beef. And that’s not what I know. I’m not saying it’s not good, but we try to do it the right way and people are responding. They’re coming along and people try them and like them and come back again. It’s a good sign.
Carlos: There’s still more things to do. We try to introduce new foods every day, salads, different kinds of combinations.
Do you go for mostly traditional foods or do you put your own twist on them?
Carlos: I do put my own twist on it and there are some things that are the way they are. Like burritos, there’s not much to add to them because they are pretty much complete. Or tacos. But with fajitas or quesadillas, we try different ones. Today we’re doing fresh Fuji apples and chicken with mozzarella cheese and cheddar. We’ve been doing different ones every day.
Why did you choose to start a food truck rather than a restaurant?
Carlos: There are a few reasons. The most important one was the money. To open a restaurant you must have a lot of money compared with what I have. There are many other things involved: more equipment, a lease, so many things. When you start a business it’s very difficult to keep it afloat. With a food truck I can look for business. If it’s not here, I can move anywhere else. I can look for my customers, whereas in a restaurant you have to wait for the customers to come.
Have you stayed in this spot so far?
Carlos: Most of the time we’re here but I’m in different places too, at the breweries that have been opening. We’ve been to the Maybee Brewery in the industrial park. Very soon we’re going to be at the new brewery on Bishop Drive and we’re working on going to the brewery here on King Street. Tomorrow night we’re going to be at the Capital Complex. We’re going to be catering a trivia night they started there.
What are your plans for the future?
Carlos: We’re going to keep it going like this and we’re planning to grow a bit, maybe get another truck and eventually when we’re ready, open a place.