When Lorenzo and Mingui Garcia began their Tacos Al Carbon food truck in 1998, it was essentially only supposed to be a five-year business plan until their youngest child began school.
“My husband actually worked at custom sales where they built the food trucks … so, we purchased one,” Mingui explained. “[At the time], we sold just two types of tacos with just two meats, shredded beef and carnitas (pulled pork).
“I like to cook and it just so happened that [the food truck] worked out. We ran lunches from factory to factory while we were raising the kids.”
Fast forward 25 years later, yes 25 years later! Not only is the Tacos Al Carbon food truck still in operation, their three children – Lorenzo A., Adriana and Joanna – are all grown up. Each have a role in the success of the business their parents started oh so many years ago.
“It’s a big family business,” Mingui explained. “When my husband and I go out to a different route or different location, or city, he’ll go, ‘Did you ever imagine us here?’ I’m like ‘No, no not at all.’”
The food truck business allowed Mingui to be “mom” running to school functions, traveling soccer and dance when need be. At the same time token, she became a successful businesswoman.
In those early days, Mingui said pulling out the food truck in town often got quizzical looks.
Food trucks were not as common or popular as they are now, she noted.
“It was kind of like an adjustment for everybody, but after seeing us there every day, everybody had embraced us as part of the community … it was a good feeling,” she said.
For 18 years, Tacos al Carbon was a regular at factory businesses in the surrounding area for breakfast and lunch six days a week. On Sundays, they parked outside the laundromat in town.
Each factory stop had a window of about 15 minutes, which became hectic at times because if they ran late, they could miss “business.” They worked around employee breakfast and lunch breaks.
Whatever they were not able to sell at the factory stops, Mingui said she would park the food truck in the family lot in town and wait until everything sold out.
“Sometimes it took me an hour, sometimes it took me four hours,” she recalled. “Sometimes I would sit there all day and then just pack up and say, ‘OK guys we’re going to eat tacos for dinner.’ It just depended on how many hours it took me to sell everything out.”
Today Tacos Al Carbon has immensely grown from its early days and catering is a big part of that growth. They travel throughout New Jersey, Pennsylvania to even Maryland.
“From starting out really small with only two items on the menu to being able for our name to reach out to somewhere that far [Maryland], it’s humbling,” Lorenzo A. said, noting growing up in a food truck business, “you learn the ins and outs of the business.
“My parent’s food truck was the only Mexican run business in Hammonton for a long time. It put pressure on them to put a good foot forward and set an example for a lot of upcoming businesses.”
The Garcia family has learned how much potential their food truck business has when they all work together.
They learned this was the case during their first catering job – a wedding for a New York couple around 2015 and 2016.
“We got challenged,” Mingui said. “I remember when they asked us … my husband was like, ‘Are you sure?’”
She said she was confident that they could and in true Latino fashion, she gathered her entire family to help including her mom and sisters.
“It was a grand opportunity and we ran with it,” Mingui said, adding that she was grateful for the opportunity and trust the New York couple gave her and her family.
The Garcia family learned that the husband was the owner of three restaurants in New York and he offered them the catering job after trying the food of 21 people.
From that challenge on, the family has accepted many more challenges. With the challenges, they have expanded from one food truck to four and have a staff.
“[The catering opportunity] opened our eyes to another part of the business that could exist,” Lorenzo A. said.
Mingui said catering is fun and allows them to be part of people’s lives in a more personal aspect.
“[With the food truck route] we get to see people on a daily basis because of their lunch shift and they get to see us,” she said. “We know a lot of people, a lot of faces – their likes and dislikes, but to be able to celebrate with them or sometimes mourn with them, it’s just different.”
Tacos Al Carbon has done it all from catering dog birthday parties to attending campus functions at Rowan and Stockton universities.
Over the years, Mingui said there were times she thought it may be time to leave the food truck business whether to “to get a real job” or from the urging of her children when they were younger to “try something new.” But she always found her way back to the family business.
Mingui said her oldest, Lorenzo A., became the voice of reason.
“He said, ‘you should look into different things, what are other food trucks doing?’” she recalled. “And honestly, [at the time, a food truck] was not something that was trending. So I had to really do a lot of research to get myself out there.”
Slowly, but surely, Tacos Al Carbon has become a staple in the Hammonton area and even beyond.
The menu has grown from those two tacos to sandwiches – sopes (fresh corn dough) and tortas – to quesadillas and burritos.
“Little by little, we started adding more items to the menu,” Mingui said.
They now offer six daily meat selections. The recipes find neutral ground between Mingui’s family from the north side of Mexico to her husband’s family from the south side.
The recipe difference comes down to spices and the simplicity of the dishes, Lorenzo A. said.
The younger Garcia has also introduced his own spin of the recipes molding his Mexican culture with his American upbringing with the burrito chicano.
“It’s one of the first things I introduced to the menu,” he said. “It’s kind of a line between both cultures. It’s one of my most favorite things to make in the food truck.”
And the question is “What doesn’t the burrito chicano have?” from pico de gallo, beans, cheese, chips and avocado to cabbage, cilantro, more cheese and salsa taqueria.
“Toast it up and you’ll be full for a month,” quipped Lorenzo A.
Woah!!
Tacos Al Carbon offers something different every day. Today they have one spot in town at 107 Peach St.
“We try to rotate the menu,” Lorenzo A. said. “We are transitioning [the menu] into the fall and trying to mix it up a little bit without messing with the authenticity of the food. Obviously, we want to keep it traditional when offering new options that could be a little bit more inventive.”
And yes, those new options this fall will be the popular pumpkin spice.
“We may be offering pumpkin spice horchatas,” he said.
The rotating menu offers a special drink and special meal each day.
And most important to note as Tacos al Carbon celebrates its 25-year milestone, the food day in and day out is made with love.
“That is the key ingredient in all that you do with our cooking,” Mingui said. “We do it with a lot of love.”
