PICKERINGTON, Ohio — The owners of Slab food truck say neighborhood visits have given new life to the food truck industry.
Brothers Terron and Bryan Nelson started Slab a little more than a year ago after they up and quit their jobs to pursue their dreams of running a food truck.
It was in its infancy stages when the pandemic hit.
“We were worried,” Terron said. “As everybody was when COVID hit.”
But at a time when so many people were out of work or businesses were cutting back, the Nelson brothers say the food truck industry kept rolling on thanks to new opportunities.
“It gave us more exposure once they started to allow food trucks into neighborhoods,” Bryan Nelson said.
Before the pandemic, the Nelson brothers say Slab would sell about 150 meals in up to seven hours. During the pandemic, depending on the location, they sell 150 meals in two hours.
“It was more things compacted because parents are at home trying to work in addition to doing all of these things,” Bryan said.
They believe the reason for this is because food trucks are mobile, which allows them to go to people instead of people coming to them. That, on top of school and work and a pandemic, they say meals are becoming one less thing families have to worry about if they’re given quicker options.