Name of business: Farm Truck Catering

Type of business: Food truck

Specialty: Barbecue

Location: 16490 Letteau Ave. in Delhi

Hours: 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday 

History of business:

John Gardner has seen just about everything in the restaurant industry. In 2015, he helped found Table 26 in Turlock, where he served as head chef. As the restaurant grew in popularity, he found himself involved in their personnel management. He left the restaurant nearly five years ago to serve as a director of food and beverage for a large casino operation. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, shutting down many restaurants and businesses, he wondered how he could get back to doing what he loved most.

“I was at a crossroads. My grandfather had passed away three days before the lockdowns. I didn’t want to get back into the restaurant business because there was so much uncertainty. They were all shut down,” he explained. “But my grandpa left me all this catering equipment…”

That equipment that his grandfather, Gene Tucker, left behind included a double barrel smoker that could cook approximately 200 tri-tips at a time. Not only could it hold lots of tri-tip and other meats, but it held happy memories of his grandfather barbecuing for local school and church fundraisers.

“I learned that you don’t need a restaurant to serve good food,” Gardner said. “You just need to have passion and desire. My grandpa was a huge driving force in that.”

The passion Gardner has for cooking that was passed down from Tucker is apparent with his latest venture, Farm Truck Catering, a new food truck parked at 16490 Letteau Ave. in Delhi, the back lot of the Valero gas station and the M&M Mini Mart. The custom-built truck has an open kitchen complimented with a wood burning grill. The menu, which Gardner said will change on occasion, is what he described as a tribute to the San Joaquin Valley.

“Our mantra is celebrating the San Joaquin Valley,” he said. “We’re going to grow our own food, farm to fork, like the heirloom tomatoes. We’re taking Hispanic, Portuguese and Okie cultures… We're going to do tri-tip, chicken and fish. Why? We are the Central Valley. We do Santa Maria barbecue. We're going to use certified Angus beef from Harris Ranch, right down the street. We're also only an hour and a half from Moss Landing and Monterey, an hour and a half away from the Pacific Ocean, so we have chowder. We have bread from M&S Portuguese bakery downtown. The list goes on…

“It really became hardcore that were going to celebrate local foods. All these steps, all these identifiers, went into building the brand. It’s bigger than a food truck. It's supposed to be bigger than me. It's supposed to be bigger than anything. It's just supposed to be about the Central Valley. It's supposed to be about who we are as a community and as a region.”

As Gardner said, Farm Truck Catering is quite literally bigger than a food truck. The back porch of the mart has been completely transformed into a patio with a gazebo, a fire pit, accent lighting, and custom-made redwood tables and benches handcrafted by Grant Sutton of Outback Creations in Turlock.

Gardner’s experience in the restaurant industry has clearly rubbed off on this small gas station and mini mart.

“It’s just beautiful,” he said.

The truck officially opened the very last week of 2023. In that short time, Gardner has done minimal advertising. Despite efforts to keep things slow paced, he shared that there have already been lines forming.

“People, of course, are interested to see what it’s all about, and when they stop here, they see the work we did, and then they love the food, so it’s been good.”

The most popular items on the menu through the first three weeks of operations have been chowder fries, the “Okie Sandwich,” which features oak-smoked tri-tip, caramelized onions and muskogee sauce, and the “Chimi Chimi,” another sandwich with oak-smoked tri-tip, but with garlic confit, charred chili and onion, arugula, tomato and chimichurri sauce.

Gardner isn’t alone in the operation, though. His business partner is Annette Lemos, who was also a part of the Table 26 venture before Gardner left. His staff of four also worked with Gardner at Table 26. 

“We’re all back together and loving that we get to work together again,” he said.

“A lot of what we put on the menu is inspired by my grandfather. He changed my life,” Gardner added. “He's the one that impacted me and said, ‘Let's go fire up the barbecue.’ It gave me purpose. It made me realize that you get to nourish people, nurture and nurture people through good food. Food is a universal language. He was definitely the man.”