TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — As Amber Donahue walked around her new location in Midtown near Grant and Country Club, she imagined where everything would be once her new concept Truck to Table is open.
“We’ll have the bar that will go in right here,” she said, explaining her plans.
Her new plans include having a brick and mortar restaurant and food trucks outside.
She used to own the Pit on the Eastside before it closed down at the end of last year.
However, she’s been working on her new concept for about nine months.
“Sometimes things that would work for a restaurant wouldn’t work for us or things that would work for a bar are not going to work for us,” Donahue said about the challenges of opening up.
Originally she wanted to open up in March, but is still in the process of getting permits with the City of Tucson, including one for a parking structure.
“How many parking spaces do we need? How many of those need to be bicycle parking? And adding in those food trucks kind of skews that a little bit,” she explained.
One other challenge that has been presented to her is Grant Road’s expansion project, which she said has been tough because it includes part of the area her new concept is going to be in.
Truck to Table is going to have about 8 spots for permanent food trucks and about five spots for trucks that want to come for the day or week. Donahue is hoping construction is going to start soon so she can open it up before the summer.
Donahue is grateful for having the Pit and all of the food trucks that contributed to her success. She said some of them are even considering coming over to her new location.
“Without the food trucks that parked with us, we would not even have been able to get this far,” she said.
Samurai Sombrero is one of the food trucks that used to be at the Pit, but they have relocated their truck to a new location on 22nd Street and just had their grand opening for their new location at American Eat Co. this past weekend.
Their new location is a space amongst several other food spots within the same food court. They’re going to have not just their spot, but also a sushi bar at the same location.
They are sticking to their two locations and don’t have any plans to expand just yet, but are hoping to own their own brick and mortar restaurant one day.
“We’ve always kind of wanted a brick and mortar concept and this is giving us the opportunity,” Samurai Sombrero owner Gabriela Delgadillo said.
She said they’re grateful for their time at the Pit because it gave them an opportunity to grow their customer-base in one location.
“If it wasn’t for the Pit, we would be doing events here and there, but that gave us a chance to be stable, to have a permanent spot,” Delgadillo said.
Both her and her husband Chuy are also grateful to the customers from the Pit who helped them expand. They are already seeing them at their new location.
“When you support local, it makes a big difference. It’s like we’re helping our community, so I’m just very grateful,” Delgadillo said.
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Andrew Christiansen is a reporter for KGUN 9. Before joining the team, Andrew reported in Corpus Christi, Texas for KRIS6 News, Action 10 News and guest reported in Spanish for Telemundo Corpus Christi. Share your story ideas with Andrew by emailing andrew.christiansen@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, or Twitter.
