St. Petersburg has opened a food truck academy to help small business owners start their own mobile kitchens. The city paid $65,000 for the program. It is the first of its kind, according to City Council Member Deborah Figgs Sanders.
Students get hands-on practice as well as classroom instruction. Each one competed in a supermarket-style contest for money to buy supplies.
Saturday Shoppes owner Renee Edwards runs the program. “In this class the vendors get to work on an actual food truck 10 to 12 times at different events and once they graduate, they should have between $10,000 to $15,000 to buy their own food truck,” Edwards said, according to Bay News 9.
Graduates leave with the right licenses and training for running a truck. They also learn how to stay safe and prevent fires and other accidents. The city teamed up with groups such as the fire department to teach those safety lessons.
Edwards saw the need for classes while working with many vendors at her outdoor market. “When we first started out, vendors were setting up wrong, vendors were displaying their equipment wrong, vendors didn’t have the tools,” Edwards said.
Figgs Sanders said the council backed the program because of the good it could do for families and for the city. “Any opportunity that we can have to socially and economically impact, not only households of individuals living in the St. Petersburg area but as a city, as a whole, it’s a good look to be able to provide those alternate opportunities for entrepreneurs,” Figgs Sanders said.
Kelly Harrington is one of the students. She already has a menu and a business plan. Her goal is to open several food trucks.
“Comfort food. I’m not gonna put myself in a box because everybody is different,” Harrington said. “The ultimate goal for my truck is I want to have a place where for those single parents who have a full-time job, but they still can’t make ends meet. I want to be able to give you an opportunity.”
Her mother is on hospice care at home. “My mom is currently on hospice, and she’s in home and she doesn’t have much time left. They’re telling me there’re days left, and I know her dream was to see my dream come through,” Harrington said.
Renedra Rhodes Cox started as a vendor and became a student. Her family had already bought a food truck on their own. “We got a food truck at first,” Rhodes Cox said. “The first one and it was okay. Trucks have their ups and downs. There were things we didn’t know. We went in there with our eyes closed and we just prayed about it, and as an experience to get a second chance to join this academy, I’m like why not.”
Edwards wants to take the academy to other places. “In the last seven years, food trucks have popped up everywhere, especially during COVID,” Edwards said. “So the message I want other cities to know is invite us to your city, let us bring the food truck academy. That’s less stress on the fire department, less fires, less injuries, less people not being equipped.”
The next class begins in March. A waiting list is open, but people can still apply at saturdayshoppes.com.