Food trucks hit by virus find new foodies

Customers line up to order from the food truck.Long seen as a feature of city living, food trucks are now finding customers in the suburbs during the coronavirus pandemic as people are working and spending most of their time at home.

Julie and Greg Schwab stand in front of their home after walking back with their orders from the Dreamy Drinks and YS Street Food food trucks. In June, Julie Schwab started organizing a regular schedule to bring food trucks to their neighborhood as a way to both help small businesses and give families staying at home during the coronavirus pandemic different options for meals.

Food trucks adjusted their business model as they headed to the suburbs: They focus on dinner, adding kid-friendly options and preparing for larger orders. A new neighborhood means being unsure how many customers they'll get and gambling on how much food to bring. To avoid that, many trucks urge customers to order ahead online.

Customers line up to order from the Dreamy Drinks food truck. As food trucks hunt for customers that used to flock to them, they're finding a captive audience thrilled to skip cooking dinner, sample new kinds of cuisines and mingle with neighbors on what feels like a night out while safely staying close to home.

Athan Freitas, center, and Kaye Fan, left, make drinks and take orders in thier Dreamy Drinks food truck near the suburb of Lynnwood, Wash., north of Seattle.

Bobby Price, left, and Catherine Vogt, right, stand with Catherine's daughter Avery, 8, and their dogs as they wait to order from the food truck. Weekday lunchtime business is the bulk of the revenue for an average food truck, which may make $800 to $1,200 a day. Since stay-at-home orders earlier this year emptied city centres and cancelled gatherings, many food trucks like brick-and-mortar restaurants have gone out of business or aren't sure when they'll open again.

YS Street Food Group owner Yuli Shen discovered the hilltop Seattle-area neighborhood through Facebook, and she and a friend who runs the Dreamy Drinks boba tea truck went out together recently and served customers for three hours.

Greg Schwab holds a boba tea he ordered from the Dreamy Drinks food truck,near the suburb of Lynnwood, Wash., north of Seattle. Greg's wife Julie Schwab started organizing a regular schedule to bring food trucks to their neighborhood as a way to both help small businesses and give families staying at home during the coronavirus pandemic different options for meals.

Bobby Price, right, and Catherine Vogt, center, walk with Catherine's daughter Avery, 8, and their dogs after ordering food and drinks from the YS Street Food and Dreamy Drinks food trucks near the suburb of Lynnwood, Wash., north of Seattle. Long seen as a feature of city living, food trucks are now finding customers in the suburbs during the coronavirus pandemic as people are working and spending most of their time at home.

The Dreamy Drinks and YS Street Food food trucks sit parked, Monday, Aug. 10, 2020, near the suburb of Lynnwood, Wash., north of Seattle. Long seen as a feature of city living, food trucks are now finding customers in the suburbs during the coronavirus pandemic as people are working and spending most of their time at home. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)