“Come to find out all of a sudden, six months into it, barbecue blew up all over town.”
-Valerie Fitzgerald
Valerie Fitzgerald and her fiancé, John Layton, one day decided to own a food truck. Immediately, they purchased a truck and began building their business. Now Fitzgerald and Layton own The Smokin Pig BBQ food truck as well as a restaurant.
Hannah Giardina: Why did you choose to open a barbecue food truck?
Valerie Fitzgerald: My fiancé loves to cook, loves to grill, and loves to barbecue. Then he took up smoking and decided that’s what we are going to do. Come to find out all of a sudden, six months into it, barbecue blew up all over town.
HG: What made you open a brick and mortar (restaurant)?
VF: We want to get into catering big time and the volume out of a food truck is never going to be the same as [having a] stationary location.
HG: Do you plan on always keeping a truck?
VF: Yes! Yes, because the truck is out a solid three days a week. We do both [the truck and restaurant] at the same time. When we do fairs, the restaurant is still open, while the truck is doing business. During the [ASUO] Street Fair, the truck is doing three times the volume of the restaurant. When you can come to big events it’s always really good.
HG: What is the hardest thing that you have had to overcome as a food truck and restaurant owner?
VF: Food service is an incredible, incredible amount of hours. It is way more than I had ever anticipated and really hard. On an average day, we are working fifteen hours. [At the end of the day] my feet hurt, I’m tired, my whole body hurts. And then all you do is go home and go to bed and then get up and turn around and do it all again. It’s exhausting, but it’s still fun.
HG: What is your favorite menu item?
VF: We have a very unique item. It’s called “pig balls and fries.” The pig balls are a play on words, but they are really delicious. It is pulled pork, jalapeno, and cheddar cheese formed into balls and then deep fried. The pulled pork sandwich is always a classic barbeque favorite. And [we have] pulled pork nachos. I don’t know anybody that does nachos on a smoked barbecue truck. They sell really well.
Author: Hannah Giardina