Today we’d like to introduce you to Ping Su.
Ping, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I stepped my foot in the US five years ago as an international student. I spent three years for my academic studies and graduated from the University of Miami in May 2016.
During the time, I studied at UM, I figured out that there are not any authentic Chinese food around campus. Therefore, I want to open a food truck that serves authentic Chinese food. This is how I get the idea of my food truck. An Asian street food truck.
Then, I started to build my own food truck. Searching online for a company that can custom make food truck within my budget. At the same time, I need to design everything of the truck by myself. Including the layout of inside and the wrapping of outside. The most difficult part is the wrapping, and I would say that is the most important part for a food truck. There were so many things that I had done for the truck. In return, my food truck was finished early that I expected. I do remember how excited when I received my truck.
After that, we starting to do business in Miami. However, there is not any easy way for a new business. Luckily, we got inside of the University of Miami. Besides that, Mr.Q food truck also driving around Miami: Dadeland Mall area, Haulover Park, Wynwood, Miami Design District, Key Biscayne, North Bay, and Tamiami Park. Now, we finally settled down in Wynwood Yard.
All in all, I am so proud of what I have done today. And I get so excited about continue serving my food to the customer. We are not only sharing food, we also share the culture of the food.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I really wish that there’s a smooth road for business, but the truth is NOT.
Staying authentic as a food-truck’s concept is a tough road. That means we have to educate our customers. Where is the food from, what’s in it, and how we make it, etc. Because people don’t know our food and they are afraid to try it, we lose our competitive edge. And most of the time, people rather go for some food they are familiar with or used to have instead of trying our authentic food. I really want to say: at least, come and try ONCE!!!
Meanwhile, seeing other food trucks are able to make a lot of money and we are barely to make the food costs. This makes us very depressed. However, we are still staying authentic, because we know we will succeed in one day!!! And until that time, people will appreciate it.
There is an idiom in China called “Drip water through the stone”, which means that dripping water can pierce the stone. The analogy that although the power is weak, as long as you persist in doing one thing, even it is difficult, you will succeed. This is what we believe and do.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Mr.Q Food truck – what should we know?
Mr.Q food truck specializes in Asian street food, and we are the only one doing this in Miami.
All the food we serve, it’s been carefully selected before we placed on the menu. We will make sure that the food is tasty and fresh when it’s given to customers. This is our insistence on making food.
For the appetizers, we have takoyaki, edamame, chicken wings, spring rolls, shrimp tempura, and popcorn chicken. Each of them is very authentic street food, but I would like to explain a little bit about takoyaki. Takoyaki is original from Japan, and also it is one of the famous street food over there. It has octopus and vegetables inside, then we fired it as a ball shape. When you taste it, it will crispy outside, soft inside. Takoyaki also comes with homemade sauce, mayo, and fish flakes on top. The combination of the taste has to try.
For the main course, we have Noodle Combo. Two types of noodles for a customer to choose, ramen and udon. Then you can custom your noodle combo: spicy or not spicy; soup or without soup; and pick three add-ons. If people try our ramen for the first time, surely they will come back. This is how confident we are.
For the dessert, we have one of the famous street food from Hongkong, the Egg Waffle Combo!!! The taste of egg waffle is completely different than the original American waffle!! This is very very important. The Egg Waffle Combo comes with a whole waffle, two flavors of ice cream, as many topping as you want and the syrup you like. Sounds good?! The taste is even better.
Overall, we are different because we keep our food principles – tasty and fresh. We are different because we keep our truck nice and clean. We are different because we won’t just satisfy what we are doing, we always looking for improvement. This is Mr.Q food truck!
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Persistence and circumspection.
Pricing:
- Appetizers: $6.99 – $10.99
- Noodle Combo: $15
- Desserts: $5 – $10.99
Contact Info:
- Address: 56 NW 29th Street, Miami, FL 33127
- Phone: 786-626-0410
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: Mr.qfoodtruck
- Facebook: Mr.qfoodtruck
- Yelp: Mr.Q
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