[dropcap size=big]Y[/dropcap]ou hear the jingles of an ice cream truck a block away. You grab your cash and run out into the street, but instead of an ice cream truck, it’s a food truck painted sky blue and the smell of sizzling meat draws you in.
Through the jingle, you hear someone announcing “Tacos, come get your tacos!” You’re not imagining things, it really is a meme come to life thanks to three 24-year-olds from South Los Angeles who decided they wanted to give back to their communities by helping out local restaurants and providing a food truck for them to use.
When the pandemic hit, Gabriel Gamez, Alberto Rivera, and Enrique Loyola asked themselves how they could make a positive impact. Gabriel tells us, “We came across that meme that said, please consider having taco trucks cruise the streets like ice cream trucks and it triggered this idea.”
The three recent college grads emptied their pockets and savings accounts and gave birth to On The Go LA, a new innovative platform that helps local restaurants in Los Angeles book short-term food truck rentals at the lowest cost.
They don’t own the food truck but instead have approached it as brokers. “Renting a lunch truck is expensive and they only do long term rentals,” Gabriel tells L.A. Taco. “So what we’re doing is taking that long term rental, and splitting it up by day so that local family restaurants can take advantage of it.”
Along with affordable rates, On The Go LA also provides optimal roaming routes, personalized marketing assets, and handling of all food truck logistics.
The one-two punch between the stay-at-home orders and current Black Lives Matter protests has hit some restaurants particularly hard, leading them to look for innovative ways to market their business and supplement their income. For many restaurants like Tirsa’s Love located across the 101 from all the protests in DTLA, the curfews have especially been devastating.
“We’ve been considering investing in a food truck ourselves to supplement our income, but it’s a huge commitment,” Tirsa of Tirsa’s Love explains. The restaurant specializing in Chipotle Lime grilled chicken and her famous ‘Me So Corny’ Flaming Hot-shrouded esquites is located on Sunset Boulevard in the outskirts of Chinatown. They are the first to try out the new concept in Inglewood today.
She tells L.A. Taco, “I jumped on this opportunity immediately. It’s so much cheaper this way, and we always thought that meme was such a cool idea. On The Go LA is giving us a chance to get this experience we can’t get anywhere else to help us determine if this is a goal we want, along with giving us a chance to market ourselves in other communities.” On The Go LA isn’t just focusing on tacos either. They will be offering it to a culturally diverse array of foods, coffee, sweets, and anyone who qualifies as a small local restaurant.
A taco truck that operates like an ice cream truck is surely a historic move in the city’s Taco Life. What a time to be alive in Los Angeles.
Follow them On the Go LA on Instagram for regular updates and visit their website for their daily schedules.
