Set up for Food Truck Friday started early for the Boys and Girls Club. The adults get to Idlewild park around noon. By 4 p.m., five teens from the club show up to help out.
After putting on their aprons, they get a crash course on how to use the cash register, then it’s learning how to fold boxes and cutting up fresh out-of-the-oven pizza.
At 16 Jackie Ornelas is the senior employee. The moment she arrives, she’s helping her fellow teens learn the ropes.
“My favorite part is meeting new people. There's a lot of new people that come into this industry that I love to meet, and they're always so nice and kind,” she said.
She’s a part of the Life and Workforce program at the Boys and Girls Club. It gives teens the chance to earn certifications and gain work experience.
There’s over 100 teens taking part, said Allen Taylor, director of the Life and Workforce program.
Almost every member of the program signed up to help with the food truck. Every week a new group comes in to learn how to manage the truck.
“Right now, we're really focusing on the ServSafe, working with our customers, working with the POS (point of sale) system, and actually making and producing a product for our customers,” Taylor said.
It all started with the culinary program at the club. Teaching teens how to work and manage a real kitchen while getting a chance to feed the other members of the club.
“So once they go work through the culinary program, they actually come here and actually work with the customers as well. So this is just kind of the next step in the evolution of the program,” Taylor said.
The idea for the food truck began when the owner of Food Truck Friday approached
Lindsey Habtemicael, the food service director at the Boys and Girls Club. It involved his own food truck. That deal fell through but planted a seed in Habtemicael.
“This is something we should just do. Let's pull the trigger,” she said.
She found an old Boys and Girls Club snack trailer that had seen better days.
After several days of maintenance, the trailer was ready to go. They just needed a menu.
“We kept it simple like, In-N-Out, because obviously it works. It's like, okay, what do kids enjoy? Kids enjoy cheese pizza,” she said.
It was a hit. By the second day, they already had loyal customers.
Chelsea and her husband David went to Food Truck Friday on the first day. While David was collecting their nachos the Boys and Girls Club staff had invited Chelsea to buy a pizza.
“This week we came back just for the pizza, because he loved it so much. And I have a gluten allergy, and I still ate it because it was so good. So we'll definitely be back again,” she said.
But they also received their first complaint. Alejandro Gonzalez, 15, was managing the front with supervision from Habtemicael when a set of customers came back with their pizza and asked for a refund.
“I definitely felt a little shocked, just because it was only one of the first customers of the day,” Gonzalez said.
Habtemicael said it’s important for the members to learn how to respond in a situation like that.
“When you give them that positive response back and their acknowledgement, no matter what you know that you're doing right by your business,” she said.
But that didn't ruin their night. More people came and raved about their pizza. Julie, who came to the event with her friend, said she chose them because they looked the most professional.
“I actually didn't even know it was [the] Boys and Girls Club. I thought it was like a regular pizza place. What the heck, I'm shook. I'm like, what this slays it's so good. I love it. I'm glad I bought pizza tonight,” she said.
The Boys and Girls club will be there every week until the end of Food Truck Friday. They plan on making this a yearly tradition with catering events spread out in between. All proceeds go back to the club to support more opportunities like this.
