The grand question: How do you marry (no pun intended) two highly distinct cuisines in a single wedding, and from a single food vendor?
Why a food truck?
As offspring from a very, very long lineage in our respective states -- Ryan a fourth-generation Arizonan, Jess an umpteenth-generation North Carolinian -- we are very opinionated about good food. If it doesn't involve a spice factor that will make you cry, Ryan's not interested. And if flavorful meat and cured pork isn't involved, I'm done. In Arizona, "flavor" means "spice;" in the South, spice is nonexistent and readily replaced with vinegar.
When we set out to plan the food for this wedding, we could easily agree on one thing: We wanted a food truck. Full plates were far too expensive, and many vendors in the Phoenix/Scottsdale area start at around $90/plate. (We love our family and friends to the moon and back, but that's a lot of money for two grad students.) Even catering, typically around $45/person, ends up costing more than expected when you add in the prices for dishes, silverware, and cleaning.
But a food truck would solve both the per-head price and our fear of commitment (that is, to place settings).
The benefit of a contractor
We started off by contacting some of our own favorite food trucks -- establishments that we'd encountered at festivals and fairs like Phoestivus, local events, and local microbreweries. Many of these trucks stood out in our minds because they're distinctive: They serve one thing, and they serve it hella well. Think poutine trucks, hot dog trucks (wrapped in naan and topped with Cap'n Crunch), mustache-shaped pretzel trucks. They're memorable because they're unique, but at weddings, unique can be a problem.
We needed a truck that served food that would appeal to a diverse audience from around the country, including the BBQ-loving South, the Midwest and Northeast (about which we know regrettably little), the spice-loving Southwest, and the local/organic-loving Northwest. We've also managed to befriend a lot of vegetarians and vegans over the course of our lives, so bacon-wrapped everything is a no-go. Making everyone happy is impossible, but making even a majority of people happy is a challenge.
Aioli Gourmet Burgers
So we hired Roaming Hunger, a company that contracts 108 food trucks in the Phoenix area alone. We outlined our wants and wishes, provided a desired budget, and let them do the rest. The Roaming Hunger reached out to all trucks that met our criteria, and came back with full proposals from each -- including a full menu with appetizers, main courses, and sides. They even scheduled tastings with our top contenders when we were ready to sample their wares.
Without Roaming Hunger, there's no way we would have found out about Aioli Gourmet Burgers -- and we are so glad we have. They specialize in (shocker) a huge assortment of homemade aiolis, burgers on homemade potato buns that will make you cry (their truffle burger is omg), and street tacos on homemade cilantro-lime corn tortillas. For appetizers, they have a suite of Italian hors d'oeuvres (bruschetta, caprese, prosciutto-wrapped melon skewers) or Mexican appetizers (nacho bars, Mexican street corn).
Making it all work
We don't think it'll be that simple, though. We're stoked not to have to provide plates, napkins, or silverware (and even more stoked to not have to clean them), and love that people can customize their appetizers and main courses to their heart's content without breaking the bank. But food trucks come with a few limitations, which we've learned as we've gone along.
There are a lot of taxes and fees that come with food truck operations -- city-induced taxes, generator fees, operator costs. There's a typical recommendation for one truck per 150 guests, so if you're hovering at around 160, you might be looking at double your original costs. (Just getting the truck to your location and covering the generator and operating costs is pretty considerable.) Our current concern is getting food to our guests in a reasonable amount of time.
We've built into our RSVP forms requests for exact tacos, which can at least give Aioli an idea of how many chicken, steak, and vegetarian orders to expect -- or even how many gluten-free orders to plan around. We're working with our event planner, Gina Quiros (The Wedding Ambassador), to develop little order cards for each person to write their name, table number/name, and order, which can be collected and delivered to the truck to reduce commute and wait time during the reception.
We're confident that this set-up can work, but it will take some time and attention. Even so...prosciutto-wrapped melon skewers, y'all. That's all we need.