SACRAMENTO, CA – Local food trucks do brisk business at lunch and dinner, popping in for a short time before heading off to the next location, but the Mini Burger truck’s co-owner, Davin Vculek, said the business typically requires 12-hour days, with only four or five hours of actual food service.

“We start about 8:30 in the morning,” he said Wednesday as he stood next to his truck, which was parked in Rancho Cordova awaiting the opening rush. “We do a lot of prep work at our commissary, and that’s what most of the trucks will be doing at that time.”

Once the preparatory work is complete, Vculek and three or four employees head out to the day’s first location.

The truck itself – made in the 1970s – holds a driver, and two passengers can sit sideways on a bench seat. Any additional employees follow the truck in another vehicle, and they typically arrive at the first location by about 10:30 a.m. to prepare for opening at 11 a.m.

On Wednesdays, Vculek and crew set up at 11000 White Rock Road in Rancho Cordova, where the local laws allow them to park on private property with the permission of the property owner and do business.

About 20 people were lined up at the truck on Wednesday waiting for it to open, and business started with a rush, which didn’t die down for the next few hours.

“We sell about 1,000 burgers per day,” Vculek said, adding that most are sold at lunchtime.

The truck is a tight fit, and on Wednesday the 14-foot kitchen held Vculek and four employees, all working in tandem to get the burgers out quickly.

“A lot of people think that you just have to get a food truck and park somewhere, and you’ll draw crowds,” Vculek said. “But really, it’s hard work. I was working 16- or 18-hour days in the beginning, and it was tough to break even. We really worked on efficiency and building our brand. That didn’t come easy.”

Recognition has spread over the course of the past year, and David Siedlecki, a 50-year-old driver for Regional Transit and resident of Rancho Cordova, wore a Mini Burger T-shirt Wednesday and said he is one of the truck’s biggest fans.

“I used to have a (bus) route here, and I saw it parked here one day and called my wife and told her to stop by,” he said. “I like all of it, and I’m looking forward to them getting their next truck.”

Vculek said a new, 30 percent larger truck will debut in three weeks, and the current truck will be transformed into a taco truck.

Find the entire article by Brandon Darnell at The Sacramento Press <here>