Food-truck gatherings may catch on in Iowa City.

By Bill Cooney
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Standing in the orange light of a September sunset in Iowa, three large trucks stood surrounded by onlookers.

Food Truck Tuesday is a new event held at Lucky’s Market, 1668 Sycamore St., that brings food trucks from around the area together in the grocery store’s parking lot.

The trucks serving food that evening were Local Burrito, Island Vybz, and Revels Mobile Meatery.

Local Burrito serves burritos made from all locally sourced ingredients. Island Vybz serves authentic Jamaican jerk food, and Revels Mobile Meatery serves a large number of meaty sandwiches and dishes.

Vanessa Clark, the marketing manager at Lucky’s, said the brand-new event has worked out great so far.

“Something like this is super new to Iowa City. It’s a win-win situation for everyone,” she said. “We get to bring all these food trucks together in a large area and drive business for everyone.”

Local food-truck fans seem to agree.

Kyle Sieck, the owner and head chef of Local Burrito, said Iowa City needed more such events in order to grow the local food-truck market.

“Nothing is really organized in Iowa City as far as food trucks go,” he said. “I would say most of my business comes from doing catering and events, not selling on the street like this.”

Clark said the first food-truck event was held on Sept. 1, and this month, the trucks will move to Fridays and be out today and the Oct. 23 around 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

“We decided to move it up, because it starts getting dark earlier around that time of year,” Clark said. “We won’t be doing it in the winter because of the cold, but we’ll be back next spring with more trucks.”

Ryan and Dibesh said they heard about the event on Facebook.

“We’re from Cedar Rapids, and there’s nothing set up like this there,” Dibesh said.

Ryan got the Jerk Chicken from Island Vybz, and Dibesh got the Philly cheesesteak from Revels. When asked if they would be back in the future, they said, “Definitely.”

Kellly McLean of Island Vybz said the event so far had been “wild.”

“We were here for the first night, and we sold out of everything,” McLean said. “Its good to get to this side of town.”

Clark said she got the idea for a food-truck gathering from the Lucky’s in Columbia, Missouri.

“They have a similar college demographic there that we do here,” she said.

Sieck said the event was a good start for the food-truck community, but it still needed more.

“We need more carts, everywhere, all the time, if were going to make this work.”