Meat the Veggies, a Miami Gardens food truck, made it big with a licensing partnership for its oxtail sandwich with a business owned by rapper Trick Daddy.
Co-Owner and Head of Ops Meat the Veggies, Jocelyne Williams and Co-Owner and Head Chef Meat the Veggies, Keith Valles Jr. Photo: Meat the Veggies.
Due to the mobile nature of the industry, food truck operators have to be agile businesspeople to take advantage of the best opportunities, whether that be finding the best location, getting the right licenses or branching out their businesses.
One area that some food truck operators are branching out is taking their most popular items and licensing it to other restaurants as a way to expand profit and reach, without having to drive the food truck around.
Meat the Veggies, a food truck based in Miami Gardens, Florida dove into this world through a partnership with the restaurant House of Flavor, co-owned by rapper Trick Daddy.
Food truck history
Meat the Veggies first opened in March 2022 as a ghost kitchen and then the owners purchased a food truck in October 2022.
« Our motto is real meat plus real veggies, » Jocelyne Williams, owner and operator, said in a Zoom interview. Half the menu is meat, specifically seafood with a tropical twist such as BBQ salmon or mango Chipotle BBQ salmon while the others items are flavored vegetable dishes.
The top seller was the oxtail sandwich, which Meat the Veggies got a trademark for.
Licensing transition
Last fall, Meat the Veggies shut down its food truck, but the demand for the oxtail sandwich continued. To meet the demand, Williams reached out to House of Flava, which is located less than a mile from the home of the Miami Dolphins Hardrock Stadium with a licensing opportunity for the Oxtail Sandwich.
« If we could push our customers to House of Flava, they will get new customers, » Williams said. « This will bring our brand back to Miami Gardens. »
The partnership officially launched on April 1 this year. Meat the Veggies produces the sandwich and provides the ingredients but doesn’t have to handle all of the marketing, overhead, POS system costs and other costs associated with a food truck.
« As a food truck operator, you spend so much time and energy just getting it around. There’s way more prep that has to go with it, » Wiliams said. Now, Meat the Veggies is, « taking the product, teaching them(House of Flava) how to put it together and they are sending it out the door.
Food truck future
However, despite the opportunity, Meat the Veggies hasn’t abandoned their food truck, they are simply adjusting to a more strategic model.
Williams said they are open to doing special events such as AfroNation Miami, a major event celebrating Afrobeats. They are also looking into taking the food truck to arenas and airports.
She said that they view the food truck as « more of a mobile kitchen. »
Tips for operators
Williams offered several points to operators looking to break into the space.
For one, she said to « be proactive » about understanding all the regulations surrounding food trucks in your area, especially zoning issues.
« We would personally go to zoning office in Miami and get all the requirements around where food trucks can park. If I wanted to park in an address, I would ask them first. »
She also recommended that one of the best ways to find a place to park your vehicle is to build relationships with businesses where you can both benefit.
« In Miami, the industry is still being created, it’s a bit of a free for all with what vendors have to pay, venues have to charge, » Williams said. « They will charge you a lot of overhead to park your truck. »
However, by forming relationships with local businesses such as a modeling agency in the area, she was able to find free places to park the truck and since the business was a private location, there were no issues around parking.
Ultimately whether licensing your food or getting your food truck set up, Williams most important piece of advice was, « Be proactive and do your homework. »
Bradley Cooper is the editor of ATM Marketplace and was previously the editor of Digital Signage Today. His background is in information technology, advertising, and writing.
