TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) —As we see more food trucks pop in Southern Arizona, there's a new group that is working to highlight the women behind the wheel and meals. "We make tacos, quesadillas, and sandwiches with all of our smoked meats," said Linda Duran with 420 Taco.
There's plenty of delicious food to choose from. "We've got meatball subs, Italian sausage, Italian casserole, pasta salad, homemade cheesecake. Everything's homemade;made from scratch," said Marina Kublius with Vinny's.
Tucson food trucks are coming together for ladies' night. "Mostly its a man industry. So, why not give it a shot," said Kublius.
But not anymore. "I think it's important to highlight everyone, but women in particular. It gives motivation. It shows that we're empowered," said Duran.
The Women Food Truck Owners of Southern Arizona is making sure to highlight all the ladies behind each truck.
"Well actually it's me and my aunt who actually got into it. She had the idea to do it," said Kublius.
"It kind of started off as us buying a smoker and going from there. We started inviting a lot of people," said Duran.
And it all just grew from there.
Both women were happy to jump at the opportunity to take part in ladies' night. "Well, we started doing the east side rally and met Mary from the lemonade truck and she invited us," said
"We got all kinds of stuff out here so women empowered," said Kublius. Customers like Jeff Brown grabbing a bite to eat are taking notice.
"I haven't seen too many lady-owned or female-owned small food trucks or anything like that. So, hey why not support a small business," said Brown.
Small businesses with big plans. "We're bringing people together one taco at a time," said Duran.
The next 'It's Ladies Night Food Truck Rally' is set for Wednesday, July 21st at Blue Willow starting at 5 p.m.
To learn more and stay up to date on future events, click here.
Overall, the Pima County Health Department tells me there are 537 food trucks throughout the county in 2021. This includes everything from ice cream trucks to full service mobile food. Back in 2020, there were 501 and then in 2019, there were 479.
The numbers do show a steady increase of food trucks across the Pima County, but the county health department wants to point out, for this year, 160 of those food trucks are late to renew permits. They could either be out of business or operating on expired permits.
