CLAY COUNTY – Like many local restaurants, food trucks in Clay County are feeling the strain of prolonged reduction in profits due to COVID-19 and the restrictions that have come with it.

Just because restaurants have closed their dine-in sections and are only able to do take-out or delivery orders doesn’t mean that people don’t still have a taste for the food they prepare. Third-party delivery services are also doing well right now in efforts to keep up with the demand.

One would think the same about food trucks. That, however, is not entirely the case.

“Everyone, pretty much, at least that I’ve spoken to, is down approximately between 40-60%,” said Manuel Granados, co-owner of Manny’s Cuban Food Truck with his wife, Yvonne. “These types of things that we do, the neighborhoods and things like that, that have become popular since the virus, are fine, and they’re good, and we’re being supported very much by the public. The public is very grateful, more so than ever before.”

Where the issue arises, he explained, that cannot be currently resolved, is the cancellation of all the big festivals and events. He calls those things, the food trucks’ “bread and butter.”

Things like Food Truck Fridays in Green Cove Springs, the Riverfest Celebration held for Memorial Day and the Clay County Agricultural Fair, among others, are huge drivers of commerce for the vendors who operate food trucks. The different events are a significant part of the annual income for the food trucks.

“It’s really bad,” said Zergihno Garcia, owner of the El Agave Azul food truck and restaurants. “I had to close my other to restaurants. I have nine employees, so I had to lay off the people. Right now, I’m working only with two employees. I just opened a restaurant on Baymeadows and Phillips Highway two weeks ago. I invested like $140,000 in that restaurant… that hit me real, real hard.” Garcia says he applied for stimulus money, but he has to wait because of the number of people who have also applied. He also says that he doesn’t use any other delivery services such as Uber Eats or DoorDash because they are taking advantage of this situation. He says the fees are really high; up to 20-25%of sales and that isn’t good for business.

“This food truck is doing really well,” said Garcia. “This saves all of my profit right now because everybody stuck in their houses, they’re tired of cooking, so they want different kinds of food. So the food truck is really good, and I’ve got the income to be afloat to my other restaurant expenses.”

El Agave Azul travels to random locations. The schedule can be found on Facebook and Instagram.

King’s Tacos is another food truck that has a permanent position on the corner of the U.S. Highway 17 and Old Orange Park Road. Frank Mendez works the truck, and it has been at its location since last December.

“It’s been OK,” said Mendez. “It’s been a little less than we were making before. We actually took two weeks off because of the coronavirus, so we stayed home for two weeks. We came back last week, but it’s been ok. It’s been ok.”

All of the food truck vendors are now working with a short staff. Most, however, have social media, or some sort of online or phone order process to help comply with social distancing mandates, by attempting to limit crowding around the truck. In the ideal situation, customers can order, pay, and then show up to pick up their food completely contact-free.

Granados won’t turn away a customer who wants to order at the window, however. “I wouldn’t turn my 83-year-old mother away from the window. I had one cute, very sweet little old lady show me her flip phone and ask me, ‘Can I use this to order?’ “As long as there’s no crowd, vendors are willing to do what they have to do to continue to work.

“We continuously hear thank you for giving us an alternative,” said Granados with a chuckle. “Different funny ways of saying, you know, thank you for not making me eat my own food again today.”