Wanna open a taco truck

Sell cigarettes too. Then you can call it tacos and faggots.

Here's the thing. You've never had authentic Mexican street tacos and you'll likely never be able to get it perfect without some legit training. Here's the other thing. None of your customers have either and those who have, shouldn't be expecting authentic street tacos in New Zealand. Following a recipe will get you close enough. Like other user' said, serve with radishes, sliced or not, but raw. Sauces should be available on the side, in little plastic cups. There should be at least one medium red and one mild green. If you're going to offer more, add a spicier red. The guac shouldn't be too thick, as mentioned. Keep it simple. Shredded beef, chicken and pork. It's a truck, not a restaurant. Keep a globe out front with a red X over New Zealand that says "you are here" for any asshole who wants to bitch about a lack of authenticity. I'm from Arizona, if I was visiting New Zealand, the last place I'm going is to a fucking taco truck. I have plenty at home.

Go to mexico for a vacation, 2 birds with one stone.

You don't have to be exact, but there's enough traffic between NZ and the west coast that going "eh whatever" is a great way to torpedo your business. Remember, many of his first customers are going to be expats and travelers; autismal devotion is silly for street food but he'll live or die based on them recommending it as "almost as good as the real thing" or panning it as "basically Taco Bell".

Checking things out in person will also tell you a lot about how to portion and plate in a very practical sense, how your line should be set up, and let you calibrate for differences in available ingredients. Since it can be done so inexpensively in the greater scheme of things, it'd be insane not to.

I like the globe thing. OP cpuld name his truck The Last Tacos on Earth.

The expression is "get two birds stoned at once".

>never had authentic Mexican
Why not take a trip to Mexico or southern CA for the express purpose of eating Mexican street food? You could write it off as a business expense. You could make contacts for suppliers in case certain peppers and ingredients can't be found in NZ.

underrated.

It's kind of already done in Los Angeles. Customers pay anywhere from $1-1.75 per taco. Thats 2 small tortillas+meat. Onions/cilantro/salsa are condiments organized on a table for customers to pick for themselves. This table usually doubles as a spot for customers to get refreshments and pay for their meal.

Remember OP
Most real taco stands rely on an honor system. Customer asks for tacos, keeps track of how many they ate and then pays when they are finished. A bit weird but in local spots, where the tacos are almost to die for, people swear by it. But on no occasion should you put your guard down.

I didn't say, eh, whatever. I said follow a recipe. Maybe I wasn't clear enough. There should be no lettuce, tomato or Cheese anywhere near the place. Beef, chicken and pork should all be shredded. I guess I took some things for granted that I assumed were obvious. No flour tortillas ect... I'm not sure where you read Taco Bell. And again. Any asshole who goes to New Zealand from the west coast for a taco is a fucking moron who doesn't deserve so much as Taco Bell. It might make sense to have cilantro and chopped onion on the side, but I would keep them seperate, for the uncultured swine who may not want both.

Congratulations, you've just described a taco truck that doesn't deal in carne asada, lengua, mulitas, or pico. 5/7 I knew Phoenix was a wasteland of gringos but I wasn't aware it was THAT bad.

And that's before the obvious "user goes bankrupt after seasoning his meat with hojas de cilantro, because the recipe said cilantro, and then garnishing the finished product with chopped coriander, because the recipe said coriander" problems that always crop up with translating recipes by a dictionary.

I'm not trying to describe a Phoenix taco truck and if you think they do it better in L.A., than Phoenix, you just haven't been around much. You're an idiot. I'm describing a cheap and easy business that he can run well because there is no competition. He has plenty of room to expand later. You think he's going to have a full service truck from day one and should just not open until he can? Keep you autism to worrying about tongue tacos and let the adults discuss how to get a business off the ground.

Fat and salt. Hit up big factory's during their food breaks and you'll do fine no matter how "authentic" your shit is provided what you are offering is unique and tasty.

it's like you anons think I havent done any research into this at all. I know tacos, I know what goes on tacos and how to prepare them, but it's like when a Chinese restaurant wants a Chinese chef, they want someone familiar and raised with the flavours because they know the nuances.

Im not gonna put fucking cheese on a taco, I'm also not gonna fly to fucking Mexico or LA, get fucked.

>Remember, many of his first customers are going to be expats and travelers
No they're not, maybe 2 out of a 100 will be but not in my town.

>Most real taco stands rely on an honor system. Customer asks for tacos, keeps track of how many they ate and then pays when they are finished.
It's a food truck not a restaurant. They order, they pay, it's made and handed to them when ready.

NZ does not have many honour systems when it comes to food, I'm not going to have salsa and sauces available to the public because it will be abused, it'll also jam up the line while people fuck around dolling out their own toppings.

Throw in some extra glutamates too.

Shit user, you help me with a ticket to New Zealand and i'll work at your taco truck for literal tacos. Not even joking. If you pay me in food I will seriously work for free.

The menu you're describing is something absolutely no one wants. It's flyover fanfiction of what their landscapers eat, for flyovers, but flyovers don't like exoticism for the sake of it. Then you autistically focus on NO CHEESE NO TOMATOES MUST BE AUTHENTIC when that's what they do want (setting aside the fact that both are quite authentic.)

Enjoy setting your money on fire and blaming it on the Mexicans, I guess.

I know what I eat when I go to Mexican cook outs. You're an ignorant gringo. Vete a la mierda, cabrona

>grew up in L.A. until 14
>lived in Phoenix until 28
>lived in New Mexico until 30
>ran and sold three successful businesses
>arguing with a 14 yo on the Web about selling tongue tacos to Kiwis out of a truck.
Stick with what you know l, scooter

Mad Mex: Beyond Tacodome

No one else had real tacos either so who cares. Just get those shells from the supermarket and take the plunge.

>tfw actually wanted to sell tongue tacos so Im not pleb Mexican and because I like offal

its also cheap.

Then do it. Don't listen to my ass.
Have you thought about fish tacos?
Baja has some good food too.

>Classic mexican cuts

No Al pastor. I am disappoint.

This is the way every mexican taco spot in mexico operates. Its meant to be hygienic since usually the guy taking orders doesnt handle the food. And you dont touch money until you finish eating. Of course it relies on honor system but ive never seen a bill dispute between patrons and owners.

Chicken is not a very popular ingredient amongst mexicans, but is very popular with white people(especially women).

can you elaborate on the recipes you are going for?

Are limes, radishes expensive as shite? What cut of beef will you use? Pork?

You can't make authentic tacos without using dog meat anyway.

>food truck
>nuances
This isn't a fucking Michelin Starred food truck, you double nigger. It's for grabbing a quick lunch when there aren't a lot of options nearby. Whoever buys Tacos By user should be grateful if he doesn't end up with the squirts.

That's Australia.

maek jackfruit taco :D

Why even make a taco truck then

>Wanna open a taco truck

Wow how original, none has ever done that before, how do you come up with such original ideas user?

Wow user, a taco truck? What a fresh and creative concept! Way to innovate!

The irony

>never had mexican street food
>want to open a truck that serves mexican street food
>refuse to visit places where I can learn how they make mexican street food and what it's supposed to taste like

Just make hotdogs and hamburgers, you fucking worthless kiwi, you're doomed to fail anyway, lol.

Why would you give a rat's ass about authenticity in New Zealand of all places? Mexicans aren't all that great at swimming, so I doubt all that many could possibly be in New Zealand to scrutinize your cooking.

Just say it's "authentic", use a fuckton of cilantro, spanish words on the menu, and hire the most beaner-looking Maori you can find to man the grill and occasionally shout broken Spanish back to him and have him nod, pretending to understand. As long as it tastes good and seems at least semi-exotic, people will eat that shit up. You'd be amazed what can pass as "authentic" with a body of water in the way of the place of origin.

Ever seen Chef with Jon Favreau?

I want to open up a nighttime noodle stall in the Canadian arctic but I've never been to Japan and I've only seen ramen in cartoons, what are my options?

And no, I'm not going to visit Japan-- don't speak the language!

OP I'm mexican and live in LA, I know tacos very well, buy me a plane ticket to NZ and I'll teach you all I know.

Thank God for the internet. You can still find authentic recipies, save up after 1 year and travel to Mexico for a taste test.
I would suggest that you order spices online directly from Mexico and just go with that.
Just do it!

Do you think NZ is ready for real authentic Mexican food? I've just come back from NZ and Oz and the Mexican food there is either non existent or really terrible, like they never seen real ingredients for the dishes.

And this brings me to point number 2. The ingredients are expensive and hard to get. In Melbourne the only places that had mexican chili powders were small shops that only sold mexican ingredients at highly inflated prices. I assume it's even worse in NZ.

Yeah, you should have known better than to ask here.
Having eaten at all sorts of different trucks from Baja California to El Salvador I got to say it's not difficult to replicate. Salt & fat. Also the "runny guac" people are talking about is just avocados and mayonnaise pureed. Seriously.
You still could travel though, just for kicks and you might find something unique that you may not have known about. R&D, mang.

user, just so you know, 90% of the advice in this thread is from either well-meaning idiots or people who are actually trying to sabotage you. Have you ever worked in the food business? Starting a food business is hard, and a hell of a lot more work than you think it will be. Starting a food truck based around a style of food you've never even eating is so goddamn stupid I actually can't wrap my mind around it. So I'm gonna give you the only good advice in the thread: If you have to go on a Tuvan Throat Singing forum to ask autists for business advice, YOU ARE IN WAY OVER YOUR GODDAMN HEAD. DON'T FUCKING DO IT, YOU ABSOLUTE GLORIOUS MORON. YOU WILL THROW TENS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS OR MORE INTO A BOTTOMLESS PIT AND THEN REALIZE AT THE END OF TWO YEARS THAT ALL YOU HAVE TO SHOW FOR IT IS A LIFETIME WORTH OF DEBT. That is all, best of luck friend!

its probably cuz you've travelled but we actually have some really well vetted mexican places here. theres an amazing taco place in chch apprently that my sister says is great and she's been to mexico before.

>Yeah, you should have known better than to ask here.
its mostly for shits n giggles, trust me.

>Have you ever worked in the food business?
me and my partner have both worked in food business long term, ive already got an investor lined up I just have to polish up my business plan.

i've tried mexican before, I actually been to LA before, I just find the concept of going over ridiculous, its not as easy as buying a ticket and booking air bnb which is what was pissing me off. i'd have to buy travel insurance and get time off work and loads more. its just not worth it. what would be more worth it is starting it up, then when I have time going over to experience it and work up even more menu ideas.

i was mostly shit posting when i did this, i hoped to get truck names i anything but people went off the deep end.

theres a lot of room in the market here for food trucks, its just trying to find something to fit in to the current scene and tacos do that. I've done a lot of research and hashed out pricing, even found a few people i'd be able to buy from.
also finding ingredients isnt that hard. the only issue would be finding a few spices but there are already importers for them. hellt he supermarket by me imports them

Take this from a guy that owns his own market food stall and does the night markets, New Zealanders don't know what good mexican food is and it's been done to death. Mexican Food never works out.