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> Mobile food concession trailer - teriyaki - ready to go
Mobile food concession trailer - teriyaki - ready to go
We kept the trailer in one location, permanently hooked to a large propane tank and plugged into a 220 outlet. If you want to be more mobile, you can use the included twin 100-lb propane tanks and your own portable generator to take the trailer on the road.
My availability. One more thing I will be out of town until Monday, so I won t have access or be able to answer any questions until then. Again, I apologize.
Ok. Following is my description of this vehicle:
The trailer.. The vehicle is a used camper trailer. The roof doesn t leak; the windows and window covers shut tightly and lock, as does the door. I installed siding from Home Depot, and I built a framework and then installed a pagoda-style roof out of corrugated galvanized steel, which is painted aqua blue. This is a second coat of paint on the roof; the first one started to peel off. I used Behr Premium Plus this time, and hopefully this coat will not peel! I just realized I don t have any photos of the other side of the trailer. It looks the same as the serving side, only minus the doors and windows.
There s a nice long stainless steel counter, which folds down for travel and folds up, with three support legs, for when you do business. The only problem is that it is kind of high up off the ground, too high for a drive-through. People who are quite short, like children, have a little trouble peeking into the window over the top of the counter. Anyway . . . I installed two wooden things on the counter to hold napkins, straws, etc., but the wood on one of them is starting to unravel; it will need to be replaced or removed at some point. On each window there is a stainless steel cover which closes and (if needed) bolts on one side, inside the trailer. Inside is a push-rod which I use to push the window shade covers into place every day before business. They lock into place; then when you push them a little higher at the end of the day, they unlock and close. The rivets/screws attaching the left arm of the right window shade are starting to come loose, though if you handle the shade gently, they should last for a while longer, I think. I ve included a photo of this below, FYI. BTW the boy in the window is one of my sons.
Electrical. All electrical work has been redone, by a licensed contractor here in Idaho. There s a panel outside on the back, and a 220-volt cord extends from the back of the trailer. I spliced an additional length onto the cord; I think it s now about 40 50 feet long, though I m not positive. All wiring inside is in conduit tubes, with three separate four-plug outlets as well as a two-plug outlet near the pump and a separate, GFCI covered outlet above the sink. There is still an outlet on the wall near the door from the original RV electrical system; it does not work.
Gas. The propane connections were installed by a licensed gas contractor. Everything is connected - the water heater, the hot plate stove, the grill, the deep fryer, and both rice cookers. There are multiple lines so that different propane bottles can be connected simultaneously, or, as we had it, everything can be joined at the end and plugged together into a large tank. We leased a 250-lb tank from our local gas provider, who also provided the regulator coming off the tank. They took their regulator when they took away the tank, so if you want to have all propane lines connect to a single source, you ll need to have your gas provider also bring a regulator. If you just want to run off of individual bottles, you can connect each one to a line and run it straight to the appliance.
Plumbing. A licensed plumbing contractor installed the faucets and ensured the proper operation of the pump and the pipes. A different licensed contractor performed some repairs to the water heater (more info below). The trailer contains two large water tanks maybe 30 or 40 gallons each, I m guessing? which are connected to each other. Some hoses and pipes connect these to the water heater outside, and a pump brings the water to the three-compartment sink and the separate handwashing sink. All of this works very well.
When I have filled both tanks to capacity, I ve noticed that (a) the one on the right seems to bulge out quite a bit, and (b) the back of the trailer bends down a little under the heavy weight. We found that only filling the tank on the right provided more than enough water for about two days of operations for us (but we never filled the wash basins very full when doing dishes at night three or four inches or so), and that by only filling one of the tanks, the trailer didn t seem so weighted down and the tank didn t bulge so much. There was a fitting on the top of the right-side tank which allowed a door to open and shut to put the hose in; this little attachment broke off. I meant to glue it back on but have not gotten around to it. I will include the attachment; below is a photo of the hole where it goes. We operated without the attachment, simply pushing the hose through the hole to fill the tank, but your health department may require that the tank be completely closed.
Also included is a large (33 gallon) Rubbermaid Brute garbage can in very good condition, plus a box with about 250 light commercial liners for this can. We found that we went through a lot of boxes, wrappers, gloves, and containers every day, and we filled this at least once a day. It was very handy to keep inside the trailer.
Fire protection. Inside the trailer is a commercial quality class K Amerex fire extinguisher. Note from the tag that it was inspected and approved by Fire Pro of Idaho Falls in May 2010; it s fully charged and will not need another inspection until the end of this year. Be aware also that this trailer contains an exhaust hood and fan system, but other than the extinguisher, there is no fire suppression system installed. Your local fire marshal may require that you install one. We were ok to operate here without one.
Wheels. This is a double-axle trailer, for greater strength. The tires are in good condition; see photo below. There is a decent amount of tread left on them, and I ve had no trouble pulling the vehicle with my little Toyota pickup, other than the fact that the overall weight was hard on my transmission! During the months in which the trailer has been parked for business, I ve kept it jacked up on blocks so that the tires are barely touching the road. This helps preserve their longevity.
Other exterior features. The front side of the trailer includes a standard tongue, screw jack, and hitch for a ball. It also includes a connected lighting harness, though one of the tail lights does not work. The back side of the trailer contains four separate cabinets, made of somewhat flimsy wood which is starting to deteriorate. For the largest one, I already reinforced it with a sheet of plywood underneath. This will eventually need to happen to the other three as well, though they re ok for now.
The first cabinet contains the electrical panel and some room for the coiled up electrical cord, which is a heavy 220 cord, as mentioned above. The second one opens to provide access to the water heater, which I will explain further below. The third is for propane connections and has enough space to house two 20-gallon propane bottles (standard barbecue size), complete with a screw-down holder for them, should you choose to install some. The fourth cabinet contains the spare tire, which is inflated and ready to go, should you need it.
Water heater. The AquaStar AQ240FX water heater uses propane to create an on-demand flame to quickly heat water on-the-fly. Unlike a normal water heater, which maintains a tank of water at a certain temperature, this unit only starts to heat the water when you turn it on at the tap. It only takes about five seconds, and out comes hot water! It s pretty amazing; I d never heard of such a thing. Bosch has now taken over the AquaStar company; these heaters retail for $820. This one was made in Japan and is very high quality. It has worked perfectly for us during the month and a half we were in business.
Interior. The trailer is roomy inside, with plenty of space for two or even three people to work side-by-side. Our biggest problem is that we are tall in my family. The ceiling is about 6 feet 1 inch high; my son and I both stand 6 3 , so we constantly had to duck. I made a one-square-foot section in which a tall person can stand up at full height. But there are two fluorescent lighting fixtures, into which we were constantly bumping our heads. If you re tall, beware! We got used to it, though.
The ceiling is stainless steel, and the floor is corrugated galvanized (I think) metal. The floor is not perfect; it has some little holes and imperfections. For our purposes, though, it always worked fine. The layout of the floor plan is visible in the photos below. You could easily move things around to accommodate your particular needs.
Storage, etc. There is lots of storage and food preparation space. There are wire racks above the sinks, behind the refrigerators and rice cookers, and beneath the long food preparation table. Almost every exposed surface is stainless steel, commercial quality. There are also two sections beneath the cooking area where standard commercial food trays can be stored.
Steam tables. There are two electric (110 volt) steam tables, which are food warmers. Included are the units themselves (I paid $150+ for each) and the pans and lids that go with them. We used the large pan for chicken thighs and breasts, where they would keep quite well for hours after we had grilled them. We used the two half-size compartments in the other steam table for steak in one and teriyaki sauce in the other. These work extremely well and can be easily moved to where you want them.
Hot plate. Included is a two-burner Cecilware hot plate, fully connected and operational. We used this to cook our teriyaki sauce in pans, before transferring it to the steam table. I m not sure where or how the pilot is; we always just lit it with a lighter whenever we were ready to use it. The dedicated gas line has a shutoff switch, so you can stop propane from getting to this if you want.
Refrigerators. The trailer contains two commercial Continental 1F refrigerators. Both work well and have large capacity. Each has a separate thermometer and adjustment knob. One of the adjustment knobs is missing; you have to turn the brass fitting underneath it, with a pair of needle-nose pliers or something. I believe the former owner of this trailer installed these in such a way as to detach the compressors and then re-attach them on the roof. Anyway the compressors are on the roof, and they automatically turn on and off as needed to maintain the temperature you set. Neither of these can quite reach freezing, I think, but both come close. They are stainless steel commercial quality with fans inside, and shelving for standard commercial trays.
Air flow. Installed on the trailer roof (underneath my pagoda roof) is an evaporative cooler. There is a water line connected to it, but disconnected on the other end. I m not exactly sure how to connect it. I used the cooler simply as a fan, to circulate the air. I don t know if the water-based cooler part of it works or not. I assume it does, but it needs to be connected by someone who knows more about it than I do.
The switch for the cooler is on the wall, by the refrigerators. The vent is just above the switch. When switched on, its fan blows a decent quantity of air onto the person standing beneath it, helping circulate the air when things get smoky inside the trailer. When things get really smoky, we open both windows and the door, too.
There is a large exhaust hood/vent installed above the grill, hot plate and fryer. It contains a powerful fan which vents the smoke to the back side of the trailer, through some attached vent slats. It works very well; when it s on (it s a little noisy, but not too bad), you can put a paper up to the exhaust vent panels and it will cling to them.
Deep fryer. Included is an Imperial propane-powered two-basket commercial deep fryer, which comes with the baskets and is connected and ready to go. We never used this (though we contemplated making tempura yummy!), but I did turn it on, without oil, for about five seconds, and it started to get really hot, so I know it works.
Grill. The grill is a 24 Jade, which are known for their high quality and excellent design. The grill we used was a 36 no-name charbroiler grill, which we removed so we can use it in our new restaurant. This Jade grill is, I believe, fully operational, though I have never actually used it. It s in very good condition and is hooked up to the gas and ready to go. I m not sure how to light the pilot on this or anything, but I could probably find out from someone, if you need to know. This grill (unlike the one we used) has raised ridges to give the meat sear marks, but it s enclosed, rather than having gaps, so that the grease all slides down the gentle incline into the grease tray and is easily cleaned each night after work. There is a grease collection tray (see photo below) which easily slides out for cleaning.
Cash register. I bought a new Royal Alpha 710 ML from Sam s Club a few months ago. For the most part it is a fine machine. It s customizable, intuitive, and fully functional. My only problem with it is that the SD-card part doesn t seem to be working right. Maybe I m doing something wrong with it I m not a computer expert but the register doesn t seem to be reading my cards at all. So to be able to tap into all of the features of this cash register, including using the data in Quickbooks or in your computer to generate sales data, etc., you may find that you have to keep the register permanently connected to a computer via the serial modem cable (included).
Washing and sanitation. The three compartment sink works very well, as does the handwashing sink. There is a Clean Xpress soap dispenser on the wall, which I never used. It has an old bag inside and is clogged or something. I assume the dispenser works, but I m not positive. Likewise with the Fort James paper towel dispenser. It has a lock or something on top, which I could not figure out how to open, so I never used it. We just bought rolls of paper towels instead. Anyway . . . I assume the dispenser works, if you can figure out how to get it open.
Steamers. We re including two vegetable steamers. We charged extra for steamed vegetables; lots of people ordered them. These steamers are small but fast-working. We tried to keep them both going all the time, with frozen vegetables which would be ready to serve in about 5 6 minutes. They have little round baskets (which are very hard to clean!) and adjustable dials. They work on 110 power and can be plugged in anywhere you want.
Beverage refrigerators. Beneath the rice cookers are two commercial quality Edgestar beverage refrigerators. Each of these holds 60+ cans or bottles of soda pop or bottled water or other drink. We kept diet sodas in one and regular in the other one. I bought them new; they work very well.
Thanks for reading all of this. Good luck!
