One Month Later
This week will be one month since we launched the Blue Sparrow Bus and I have not really shared anything because it has been so crazy. With the holidays, and being booked every day I just have not found time to make a post on here. I am trying to switch over from sharing on facebook (hopefully to delete it soon) to only sharing here periodically about whats going on in my life for those that care. This past month has been mainly bus service, bus fixing/upgrading, some holidays, and I turned 30. I’m going to share about little about what this has been like, and share some pictures that I have taken and some that talented friends have taken. The cover image was taken by Rachel Rowland.
First Meal made:
Beef Bibimbap
The first night of service was at Dancing Gnome Brewery in Sharpsburg. We have been working with this brewery for about 2 years and it was so great to be able to launch our bus with them. We so overwhelming support from friends, family, and regular customers who came out to see this new rig. Luke, Jess, and I are so thankful for everyone that has supported us in this ridiculous venture.
This was one of those nights where I was happy someone took pictures because it was essentially a blur. This was the first time Luke and I had ever worked/cooked in this new kitchen, so we had no systems in place for service. We had a full rail of orders all night which made us develop systems on the fly. The first thing we realized is that we had a TON of space inside this bus which makes it a lot easier to work. After a full night of making food, and having so many people come on the bus and see what we made, I am happy to say that the bus works really well. At one point we had 6-8 additional people on the bus talking to us, and it didn’t seem crowded, a little hectic because it was the first night, but not crowded.
My father in law and uncle ordering (Photo Buzzy Torek)
The first week of the bus being out we went to all of our regular spots, and parking this became second hand. One the most nerve racking things about this idea was the act of parking it in the various Pittsburgh neighborhoods. With all of the tight roads, street parking, and 90 degree turns I had to do a lot of scouting a prep to bring the bus in. Thankfully all of the spots we scouted out worked really well. We only had one tricky spot at Eleventh Hour where we had to do a 13 point turn in an intersection to get oriented properly.
Again there was amazing support from our home bases and we had great turnouts at each location. It was a nice way to start the holiday season seeing everyone and introducing the bus to them.
All these events went off with out a hitch and we have developed systems in the kitchen to make everything efficient. These first 4 weeks have been such a great experience and a big reassurance that this thing works. The look of the Christmas light on the outside was a temporary outdoor lighting solution but we are rather happy with how it looks, it might become a permanent fixture.
Seeing peoples reactions to this bus has been so much fun. We see people coming up who just want to know about the history of it, people that are so happy that we did this, and people that never heard of us before. It is definitely going to be an interesting new way to reach people and share our food with them. We have a fully booked schedule through 2020 and hope to see you out there. Our schedule is posted on the blue sparrow website located here. So come visit us and we will feed you some delicious food!
Thank you again for following along, this adventure has been fun and full of surprises which I am so glad to share with you.