The preferred term is mobile food preparation units. But they’re better known as catering trucks, or, more pejoratively, “roach coaches.”
They could be a dying breed in Orange County.
Catering trucks have serviced the county’s construction sites, factories, office buildings and courthouses since the 1970s.
Now demand for land is hitting catering truck operators, as more commissaries that serve as hubs for the trucks are being targeted for redevelopment as industrial buildings, homes or retail.
Demand for land is making it difficult for catering truck business owners and commissaries to stay in the area, said Brian Malliet, managing partner of BKM Development Co. in Costa Mesa, a developer of industrial buildings.
Catering truck commissaries, which typically are a few acres, are likely targets for redevelopment because of their size.
“A lot of (the catering truck businesses) can’t afford to stay on the land,” Malliet said. “It’s too expensive out here. They might have to move out to Corona or Riverside.
“There’s always a demand for development,” he said. “If a commissary is in an industrial area, it can be transformed into a business unit. If it’s in a residential zone, it can be developed for housing or retail.”
The county is home to seven commissaries and hundreds of trucks calling on work sites, according to Jim Miller, program manager at the Orange County department of environmental health.
One of the county’s largest and oldest catering truck commissaries, Orange County Food Service, plans to sell its 10-acre lot in Anaheim as part of a move to focus on supplying vending machines.
The city of Anaheim could be interested in the land for a fire station or a facility for its electric utility, according to sources.
TGI Caterers Inc., a longtime Anaheim-based rival to Orange County Food Services, is planning to sell its 4-acre lot to developers who want to turn the commissary and adjacent land into housing and stores.
“Land in Orange County is so expensive and there’s such a demand for it,” said Gilbert Gonzales, owner of TGI Caterers. “I hate to admit it, but eventually the need for land will eliminate the catering truck business.”
Demand for land isn’t the only challenge. Shrinking profits also make it hard for catering truck owners to compete with other sources of food.
“Back in the day, we didn’t have many fastfood restaurants, and a lot of businesses didn’t have cafeterias or cafes like how they have now,” said Susan Karagines, co-owner of Orange County Food Service. “If you were working and you wanted a hot meal, a catering truck was your best bet. But there’s more competition now.”
The county’s catering truck business got its start in the late 1950s, when people sold cold drinks and packaged foods,think cookies and potato chips,out of pickup trucks to field workers, according to the Orange County Historical Society.
Catering trucks added shelves and compartments during the 1960s and became rolling kitchens with stove-top burners, grills, deep fryers, ovens and sinks by the 1970s.
Prior to the late 1980s, whites dominated the catering truck business. Orange County Food Service’s founders were Greek. Now the business is 95% Hispanic owned and operated, according to Gonzales and others in the business.
“Hispanic immigrants rely on this industry,” Gonzales said. “This is a business that helps them buy homes, educate their kids and live the American dream.”
TGI Caterers’ commissary is home to 300 catering trucks, most of which are owned by Hispanic drivers.
The company charges catering truck owners a monthly rate of $500 for parking, ice, electricity, water and car washes.
Like other commissaries, TGI is a wholesale grocery store where truck owners buy frozen foods such as fish sticks and corn dogs, raw ground beef, chicken and pork, bread, tortillas, milk, eggs, cheeses, candy, potato chips and beverages.
Unlike Costco or Smart & Final, catering truck commissaries don’t charge their customers until they’ve finished servicing their routes and can pay with money they’ve made.
If Gonzales sells his commissary to developers, his customers will have to look for another place to buy food, and park and clean their trucks.
As the county’s largest commissaries look to sell their land, it’s possible others may follow suit, according to developer Malliet.
Karagines of Orange County Food Service said her company’s land sale isn’t without regrets.
“I hope all of the people that are still in the catering truck business to do well,” she said. “I hope this isn’t the end.”
