Phoenix is home to a wide array of food trucks; these are their stories. To read the last installment of the Phoenix Food Trucks series, click here.
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The sun was just starting to peek over the downtown Phoenix skyline as one man backed his bright yellow truck into its temporary home.
Vendors hustled and bustled about in the still Saturday morning, gearing up for the farmers market. During the commotion, food-truck aficionado and sole proprietor Scott Schraml set up Mojo Bowl.
Schraml, a 46-year-old Wisconsin native, has lived in Arizona for 16 years. A fit man, standing somewhere near 6 feet tall, he clearly takes his health into consideration — but when you run your own health-food truck, that should be a given.
Schraml graduated with an MBA from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and spent more than 20 years working for corporations such as Honeywell, Frito-Lay and Kraft Foods.
But, Schraml said, “I’ve always had this burning desire to be an entrepreneur.”
Though the idea to open his own business came to him five years ago, he finally took the plunge last year. He left the corporate world, bought a food truck off Craigslist and opened Mojo Bowl, a food truck geared toward selling food that tastes great and fuels your body.
Schraml is a four-time Ironman triathlon finisher with an effervescent Wisconsin accent and a smile from ear to ear. Aside from a love for health food, he had no culinary experience before embarking on his food-truck adventure.
“I’ve learned everything as I’ve gone along,” Schraml said. “Making mistakes is a good teacher.” He laughed as he jumped to turn off the faucet just before the sink began to overflow.
Everything on the Mojo Bowl menu is something of Schraml’s own invention and is all-natural. He wants to show people that healthy foods can taste good, too. His motto is “Fuel Food for Energy” and sells smoothies, salads, shaved ice, frozen dipped bananas, soup and Greek yogurt parfaits.
As the farmers market gets under way, cars begin to fill the parking lot and people of all ages gather around the merchants’ tables in the cold weather. Schraml sets up shop inside the white-and-black tiled food truck straight out of a ’50s catalog.
Schraml says people at the farmers market are much more receptive to the idea of all-natural health foods, but he really wants to gain a following on Food Truck Fridays.
Schraml lives in Chandler and sets up shop around Chandler and Tempe, but he loves downtown Phoenix because “that’s where the people are,” he exclaimed.
Next door, Brad and Kat Moore of Short Leash Hotdogs think Schraml is going to go far.
“It’s getting progressively better for him,” Brad said. “He’s tying his package together really well.”
Schraml calls the Moores his “biggest cheerleaders,” and they could not agree more.
“We liked him and his concept,” Kat said. “He really didn’t need too much; he’s got it down.”
Neither Brad nor Kat was a professional chef when they started their food truck. So they understand where Schraml is coming from and want nothing more than to see him succeed.
“He’s got good mojo,” Kat laughed.
Currently, Schraml is going through a lot of what he calls “growing pains.” He is struggling as he sets down the groundwork for his business, but he hopes that some small changes he is making will help.
Schraml has recently removed a large neon sign from the front face of his truck that read “Funky Town of Flavors.” He is replacing it with a sign meant to go around the entire truck that will read “Fuel Food for Energy.” This way, no one will get confused about what he sells.
When Schraml bought the truck, it was equipped to be a strictly shaved-ice vending truck, but he planned to gut the entire vehicle and start from scratch. However, time and money were not on his side, and he has not done all the interior remodeling he wants to.
“I’ve never worked harder in my life than I have owning my own small business,” Schraml said.
He knew it would be difficult, but he didn’t realize just how hard it would be until he opened for business.
“I’ve pulled all-nighters; I thought that was only in college,” he said jokingly.
But Xena, Schraml’s female black Lab, always brightens up his day: “When I come home, it’s like a huge welcome.”
Schraml is focusing on getting all the kinks worked out so Mojo Bowl can blossom into a successful business.
“I’m really hoping it will grow into a brick-and-mortar,” he said about his goals for the future.
By 9:30 in the morning, the farmers market had become jam-packed with people young and old wandering, laughing and smiling. Dogs sat upright near almost every table just waiting for that scrap of food that would inevitably hit the floor.
Schraml turned on a stereo system attached to his truck and pumpe out some ’70s classics to get the crowd going.
As customers waited outside Mojo Bowl, a few brave souls struck out with the occasional hip shake and dance pose before continuing conversations with their friends.
Among these was Susan Baer, a regular at the farmers market. She heads down to the market almost every Saturday morning, but this was her first taste of Mojo Bowl.
“Amazing,” she said, smiling, after taking a gulp of a Funky Monkey smoothie. “This is yummy!”
Baer is from Austin, Texas, and is a big supporter of food-truck businesses. She would love to see downtown Phoenix morph into what Austin has become, with hundreds of food trucks around the city.
And after having her first Mojo Bowl smoothie, Baer became a fan, saying she will certainly return.
“It was worth it,” she said.
Contact the reporter at amanda.ames@asu.edu
