The food trucks you see during summer events in West Valley City at places like Fairbourne Station Plaza and Centennial Park don’t just randomly show up.

They are set up there through the coordinated efforts of a company that pairs food trucks with event organizers. 

The Food Truck League is a private venture that has been helping cities and businesses offer a variety of cuisine at their public and corporate shindigs since it started in 2015 “with the concept to make food trucks more accessible,” said the league’s operations manager Eliot Steimle.

The Food Truck League generates revenue by scheduling the trucks for various events and the operators of those trucks pay the league for hooking them up with the functions that want them there. Events include city-sponsored activities like West Valley City’s annual WestFest in June or businesses that hold employee gatherings that might require catering that the truck owners can provide. Wedding receptions are another destination for mobile kitchens.

Steimle said the league keeps a database of information on the food trucks it directly works with, which totals about 150 food trucks each year and they have 250 registered. “We track the metrics, including how fast they can go, how much they can sell, how popular (they are), whether they show up on time, all of that kind of stuff,” Steimle said.

The majority of the trucks operate along the Wasatch Front, but the farther reaches of the state are also seeing more meals on wheels. “St. George is actually improving quite a bit as a food truck scene. There’s a lot more festivals and a lot more food truck use than there used to be,” Steimle said. 

The truck operators are usually based in or near where they do business, rather than the trucks traveling long distances to get to an event. Steimle said that the truck owners often weigh the cost of running their operations and getting to the events against the amount of money they hope to make when deciding whether an event is worth attending. 

The type of cuisine cooked up in the trucks is more than just tacos and other Mexican fare often seen around town. It can range from American favorites like burgers and fries to waffles, Chinese food and a fusion of international flavors. Sometimes the food truck operators dish up creations derived from family recipes. Other offerings are sweet treats such as ice cream and churros. 

That mix of trucks is important in that too many serving the same or similar type of food can dilute the amount of business each truck can draw. A variety of edible delights is more likely to benefit each of the operators. “It’s all different kinds so everyone has a different option,” Steimle said. 

For San Diablo Artisan Churros, the truck lineup helps determine what locations are best for the company’s trucks and its sugary treats. “If there’s a lot of sweet trucks there, we try not to go because the competition takes away from profits,” said Krystal, who preferred not to give her last name.  

During the summer, Fairbourne Station Plaza is a regular spot for food trucks. Several of them line the street along the grassy area of the plaza just west of city hall and West Valley Central bus and TRAX station on Wednesdays from June through August. WestFest in June is another hotspot for food trucks. 

Besides Utah where the league is based in South Salt Lake, it also operates in Arizona, Denver, Dallas and even New Zealand. Steimle said its goal is to take one more thing off the plate of both the organizations planning an event and especially the food truck operators who are trying to find places to feed the crowds. “It’s outsourcing their front desk a little bit, so they can focus on sourcing food and prepping and everything like that.”