05/18/2022
I don't know if it's because I work in the restaurant/brewery industry, or if it's because I'm clinically obese, but when I'm on social media, I'm consistently getting bombarded with Facebook & Instagram ads for food and food related products & services. In years past, when I was deservedly targeted for Facebook group pages like S*x Without Partners and products & services on Instagram for erectile dysfunction and male enhancement supplements, all of those ads weren't so relentless. But today, the amount of restaurant ads targeting me is starting to get a rise out of me - something those worthless supplements could never do.
Recently, I've been receiving a lot of Food Truck "meet-ups" in my local area. I usually just ignore all these ads, mainly because the last time I got on a scale it read, "One at a time." But a social media marketer more annoying than me managed to grab my attention today with a Cuban food truck in the area serving lunch less than a mile away from Nessie Media Group's World Headquarters here in Tustin. So naturally, I had to go.
Typically, I'm not a big fan of Cuban food. Or Cuba for that matter. I thought Ricky Ricardo's rendition of "Babalu" was a bit pitchy, and Gloria Estefan's, "Rhythm Is Gonna Get You," actually did get me - right in the gag reflex. But there is one life-raft to communist Cuba that I will always cling onto harder than Elián González - and that would be the Cubano sandwich.
The Cuban sandwich, better known as a Cubano, begins with soft, slightly sweet Cuban bread. Heaps of heavily seasoned pork roast and sliced ham alternating between layers of Swiss cheese and sour pickles. The sandwich is cemented together with yellow mustard and a garlic butter schmear.
People that know me know I'm a sandwich snob. When I'm not sending food back at one of Gordon Ramsay’s restaurants, I'm critiquing every sandwich some poor $15 an hour rube puts in front of me. So today I arrived at this Cuban food truck the same way my wife arrives in the bedroom with me - with low expectations.
Admittedly, I don't often eat at food trucks. But in fairness to me, my family was never in the circus when I was growing up.
So I walked up, stood in a small queue in the hot sun, and placed my order for one Cuban sandwich. They asked if I wanted anything else, and I said just a small bottle of water. I kid you not, the sandwich by itself was $15.95, and the bottle of water was $4. With tax and tip, I walked away from there with those two items for $26. WTF!!!
Please educate me here, but what is the point of paying restaurant prices at a food truck when I can simply just go to a restaurant for the same price, get waited on, have a choice of sides that they don't offer, hit on a waitress half my age, and eat in an air-conditioned building, all while watching re-runs of Maury?
I may be late to the game here, but I was under the impression food trucks had great food with matching great prices. Don't get me wrong, the sandwich was good, and the Costco bottle of water was cold. But standing in line in the hot sun only to pay restaurant prices and then having to eat it in my car like a homeless Steve Harvey isn't what I would call value.
After I ate my $26 lunch, I headed over to my favorite restaurant for a drink and to moan about my expensive food truck lunch. And I'm glad I did. As it turns out, Bobby, the country hick on Maury, in fact, was not the father.
Digital / Social Media Marketing Agency for restaurants, breweries, bars & QSRs. There’s always something new when it comes to social media.
