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Why don't Taco Trucks have a recognizable theme song and menu like Ice Cream Trucks?
(sh.itjust.works)
La Cucaracha
this post was submitted on 22 Feb 2025
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I would buy lots of tacos from a truck playing “Lowrider”.
Because they are not trying to target kids, in a semi-subliminal way like icecream trucks do.
Because they don't drive around looking for customers the way an ice cream truck does. They need to actually park so they can hook up to gas/electric lines and actually cook.
In nyc they're all free standing trucks that work off of generators and stored fuel
I think running a gas stove while driving is wrong for so many reasons.
An ice cream truck is ... Freezers. You stop, scoop, score, move on. Taco trucks need to stop, heat the ovens, and in like an hour can start taking orders.
It's not the same.
Electric stoves are a thing, though.
Admittedly, they could still have a jingle for when they stop and setup shop. It would be especially useful if they are moving around and not often in the same place every day.
Native Rhode Islander here.
Food trucks are a staple of life. They are a quintessential part of RI culture. We have events at Roger Williams Park like every week in the summer and there's lines of food trucks that each have like a 30 minute queue.
When I was in highschool (over 20 years ago now...), there were two big hangout spots: the coffee shop, and the hot weiner truck.
You all haven't lived till you've choked down 4 all-the-way, lovingly crafted on some old Mediterranean guys hairy forearm, and washed it down with 24oz of iced cold coffee milk (milk with coffee-flavored syrup) at 2am.
It's definitely become more of a thing in the past 10-15 years. When I was a kid, outside of ice cream there was just Del's. The hot wiener trucks did not come our way I guess... or they didn't want to compete with the brick and mortar ny systems.
I'm thrilled with the food culture we have now though. We punch way above our weight when it comes to food.
The music is because those trucks drive around.
You can't make tacos on the move, or any other kind of hot food really.
Which is why food trucks park in locations and operate
Not with that attitude you won't, partner!
*sloshing oil sounds, car slamming the accelerator, pedestrian yells in the distance*
Business idea, solve the moving hot food issue and find a way to cook and sling tacos on the move. I don't go out for ice cream trucks but I would for tacos.
Easy, precook and keep heated meat and bread at around 160F in a box with controlled temp and humidity.
Scoop veggie toppings on as needed, wrap and deliver on the spot.
Problem in the USA is if you make more than 11k as a sole proprietor you pay 12% federal taxes and also some state taxes, if you make more than 47k you pay 22%, and you can decrease your total taxable income with the costs of doing business and the depreciation of your vehicle or business building (you pay depreciation recapture if you sell but would have payed tax on the income of the sale regardless so it cancels out) so for example:
A person hypothetically sold an average of 25 tacos every day without break for a year they'd have $56,000
If it costs $3 to make each taco then $28,000
Assume the vehicle and equipment together is $100,000, on a 10 year loan at 6% apr then you'll pay $13,322.52 for the year, that leaves $14,677.48
We're gonna say the vehicle depreciation is an amount of $13,000 lost for tax purposes, you'd have to calculate that based on the vehicle specs.
With all that you might owe like $236.95 to the IRS and more to state, so that brings us down to $14,440.53
Congratulations you've accomplished poverty without any employees AS LONG AS THE VEHICLE NEVER DRIVES ANYWHERE thanks to accruing a debt that would absolutely shatter you if anything went wrong.
I stopped being excited for the Ice Cream Truck decades ago, but if I heard the Taco Truck coming around I'd be super excited and run outside with a big grin.
If only you could prepare food in some sort of edible wrapper so that it stayed contained as you move from one location to another or could be launched from a truck on the move… hang on! I have an idea!
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La cucaracha! La cucaracha!
I've never even heard of taco trucks, that would be cool.
Well, there's food trucks and many of those sell tacos. But no songs, usually, and are only moving when going to or from their setup location.
I am really much more interested in why all the food trucks seem to be taco trucks. It's like it's some kind of national conspiracy.
Where is the pasta truck, the stir fry wok truck, the BLT truck, the foie gras truck, etc.?
Mena, AR has two BBQ trucks and a Hibachi truck. It's not all tacos.
I don't know about where you live, but here there's thousands of different cuisine trucks. Burger trucks, Indian, Portuguese, pasta, Korean, baked potatoes, etc.
We have food trucks where I am that serve cuisines other than Mexican food, even though Mexican is by and large the dominant food truck type I encounter.
I've seen vegan food, macaroni, southern United States cuisine, pizza, and African cuisine. In larger cities, I've heard of stuff like a grilled cheese truck. They are out there! But now I would be happy to see a Chinese food truck or a Vietnamese food truck.
In Oklahoma totally 100% agree. We have 3 taco trucks in our small town. We're the variety? I love a BLT truck, and definitely a stir fry truck. I love to start one but damn the cost of the trucks can get expensive.
Damn, I need to find a foie gras truck!
Probably has to do with the fact that you can stock a whole menu with just a few ingredients and everyone likes a taco
You don't have a variety of food trucks where you live? We have fry trucks, sushi, smoothies, fries, pierogies, burgers, you name it.
We have like eight food trucks in the region and they're all Taco trucks.
Come to Rhode Island.
We have a surplus of JWU culinary arts graduates who can only afford to cook in a van down by the river.
lmao, I can't believe someone actually beat me to this. I don't live there now, but used to and worked in Cumberland in that CVS business park. There's a little pull off spot in there where food trucks setup shop during lunch hour. I've never seen such variety in my life!
Also, no taco truck is better than Pollos Locos, especially at 2AM while drunk stumbling out of the Scurvy.
ETA: wait a sec. Jason, DJ, Rhode Island. You don't work in that same business park, do you?
ETA2: nvm, I stalked your posts a little bit and I very seriously doubt you are who I thought you might be. Weird coincidence, though!
Nope. I worked for CVS (corporate) once upon a time, but not on the hill...and literally almost everybody in this state has worked for CVS, APC, or Electric Boat at some point in their lives.
I didn't work for CVS, just in the same business park.
But yea, especially in Cumberland/Woonsockett it's a CVS town.
They do, you just can't hear it
It's like how elephants communicate
I feel like I saw one once that was playing “The Elephant Never Forgets”, used as the theme song on the Mexican TV comedy El Chavo del Ocho
That song would work! Now to convince all the Taco Trucks to play the same song so we know when they're around the corner.
Just to be clear I don't want to own and run a Taco Truck, I just heard the Ice Cream Truck and wished it was a Taco Truck.
Seems like missed opportunity to me, though.
Put ice cream on tacos
They tried that, but it got cancelled. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choco_Taco
They discontinued the Choco Taco?! Those were great! I knew I’d had a hard time finding it lately but that was my go-to from an ice cream truck!
Yup. Made the news and night show talk shows and everything… just not enough to actually bring it back. :(
While it doesn’t answer your question this episode of the Decoder Ring podcast gives a good history of ice cream trucks and how they got the jingle.
https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/decoder-ring/id1376577202?i=1000446695402
The biggest problem in my area is they hardly advertise. There are plenty of taco trucks out there but it's basically word of mouth or following their social media, and their social media isn't even written on the side of the trucks half the time.
The music is the delicious scent of tacos
Mariachi music would work
You try making mariachi music sound unique to other mariachi music.
I vote for "Mexican hat dance"
Because no matter what you come up with, it's going to be at least a little bit racist.
"It's Raining Tacos" would work.
The song is not public domain though.
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