DETROIT – Gas prices are climbing again, and while every driver feels the pinch, food truck owners are being hit especially hard.
“It happened overnight, and we are light ouch,” said Lynnette Rodgers, owner of the Nacho Grill.
Rodgers runs both a fixed location at 9 Mile and Livernois and a mobile truck for events.
“Just doing my best behind the scenes like the Wizard of Oz, not to pass the prices on to the customer,” Rodgers said.
In Cadillac Square, food trucks line up nearly every day during the summer months -- a staple of Detroit’s downtown lunch scene.
But behind the scenes, operators say the math is getting harder to work out.
Richard Zemola has owned Hero or Villain since 2013 and says this latest fuel surge is a tough one.
“It hurts. Every time we go, I’m playing that game of like, do I put a quarter tank in?” Zemola said.
He recently had no choice but to bite the bullet.
“After avoiding it for as long as I possibly could, we were at about a quarter tank left. I filled up this truck, and it was about $120. We are going to sell a lot of sandwiches today and hopefully make some of that back,” Zemola said.
Kaylah Polidori, senior manager of Impasto, says her team is spending anywhere from $80 to $160 per fill-up, depending on which rig they are running.
For now, Impasto is not passing those costs on to customers — but the margin for flexibility is shrinking.
“We’ve been pretty fortunate to be able to maintain, but it’s definitely something we have to factor a lot more now,” Polidori said.
Still, these operators say they are not going anywhere. The trucks will keep showing up, and the food will keep coming -- but they are asking for a little extra support from their loyal customers.
“We need the help just like anyone else,” Zemola said.