The Miguel’s Salsa location at the Peacock Market in Clovis came with more space for the business, which meant the need for delegation. Contributed by Miguel Segura

The path from food truck to storefront is paved with long hours, lean margins, lots of savings and a whole lot of heat — both in the kitchen and on the street.

But for a growing number of local entrepreneurs that grind is paying off.

Businesses like Miguel’s Salsa and Taqueria, Roma Italian Kitchen and Spicy Mayo Hibachi have each taken the steps from pop-up service to brick-and-mortar restaurants. Their success shows that the risks associated with opening a food truck can definitely result in rewards down the line.

 

Delegation mindset

For Miguel Segura and Lisa Jensen, co-owners of Miguel’s Salsa and Taqueria, the journey started with jars of homemade salsa passed out in Napa during Segura’s delivery routes for his former employer.

“My customers would actually trade me bottles of wine for the salsa,” Segura said. “That’s when I knew I had something.”

Launched during the pandemic, the salsa business began in earnest online, fulfilling orders from their kitchen. Tamales followed, and a tip from Fresno Street Eats founder Mike Oz helped the couple break into the event scene. From there, demand exploded — moving from a tent to a trailer and eventually, a food truck.

With their popularity, however, came limitations; the kitchen space at the Clovis Culinary Center — an incubator for many start-up food businesses in the Fresno and Clovis area — couldn’t keep up with their rapid growth; they opened their first storefront inside the Peacock Market in Clovis in December 2023.

The opening came just months after the then taco truck gained recognition as Yelp’s No. 1 place to eat in the Valley.

Jensen said that the fixed location has allowed more customer connection, a broader menu developed by Jensen and Segura’s mother, Josephine, and a larger staff — but it also required a shift in business mindset.

“When you’re in a food truck, you’re doing everything yourself,” she said. “Now we have to hire, delegate and trust others. It’s about building a team.”

 

Invest in something bigger

The transition from an all-hands-on-deck food truck to a full-scale operation is a common thread for many food truck owners heading indoors; but no two journeys look the same.

Xai Thao, who owns Spicy Mayo Hibachi with his brothers Kong and Shue, said the move to a storefront was built on sacrifice.

The Thaos, who grew up in poverty, launched their business shortly after the COVID-19 shutdowns in 2020, selling food from their car cooked out of their home — often working 16-hour days on just $1,000 a month while funneling the rest of their profits back into the business.

“It depends on how bad you want it,” Thao said. “We could have stayed in the truck, but we invested in something bigger.”

After a few years of the grind, they found a space, opened a storefront and scaled their popular hibachi menu to serve a wider customer base, adding sushi and a variety of drinks to their expanded menu.

Thao said the move was the result of hard work and good fortune.

“It was really all luck for us,” Thao added. “We were just looking for a nice, decent location and found one.”

Located at the corner of Shaw and West avenues, Spicy Mayo Hibachi sits in a highly-visible location, next door to a Starbucks and just up the street from a 7-Eleven — one of just a few in the Valley with a gas station.

Location and visibility are both extremely important elements of a business. zin the food-truck industry, visibility is hit and miss; with mobility comes convenience, but also confusion if a food truck isn’t in the same location it previously was.

 

Food family

 

Andrew DiNuzzo, owner of Roma Italian Kitchen, grew up in a restaurant family; his grandparents emigrated from Italy and ran Mike’s Pizzeria at the corner of West and Shields avenues, and much of his extended family owns or operates local Italian eateries.

DiNuzzo, seeking to chart his own course, opened Roma as a food truck in 2019, naming it after his daughter. The truck gave him flexibility to experiment and the chance to build his own identity in the food industry.

But it also came with constant stress.

“There’s a lot of work before you even go to work,” he said. “You need storage space, prep time, multiple locations — and if it’s 110 degrees in Fresno, no one’s eating pasta on a tailgate.”

After years battling cramped conditions inside a food truck, along with inconsistency in location — always chasing the next Fresno Street Eats’ event or parking lot pop-up — DiNuzzo was able to eventually take over the former Primo’s Pizza shop at the corner of Shepherd and Chestnut avenues, transforming the former pizzeria into a cozy, full-service Italian restaurant. The setup lets him consolidate operations and connect with regular diners.

“And obviously, you’ve got an A/C,” he added.

 

Brick and challenges

All three owners credit the food truck world for giving them a platform to not only test their product, but also sharpen their brand recognition and build a reliable customer base. But they also agree that with the storefront came a new set of challenges.

“The truck was tight, and it was hard to have more than two or three people working,” Jensen said. “Now we’ve had to learn how to train, how to scale and how to lead.”

Financially, the growth happened gradually. Miguel’s Salsa, for example, grew without major outside investment — buying equipment piece by piece, applying for loans through the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Fresno branch, and reinvesting revenue at every available opportunity.

“You don’t have to start with everything,” Jensen said. “Start small, be compliant, build your following, and keep moving forward.”

Whether it’s a family recipe passed down from generations or a bold new twist on classic comfort food, Fresno’s truck-to-brick-and-mortar restaurateurs say the road from food truck to storefront isn’t easy — but if you put in the time and effort, it’s worth the sweat equity.ret

“You just can’t stop,” Segura said. “If you believe in what you’re making, there’s a way to grow.”