A food truck of their own had always been in the minds of enterprising couple JP and Jomai Arnaiz, but they never got the opportunity to put up one until March 2021, when they had to look for an alternative to their events planning business, which had been halted by the health pandemic.
“Since 2017, I have wanted a food truck but the proposal was always rejected by the city as they didn’t know what to do with us. Then the pandemic hit, there was no work in the weddings and events business. I found my colleagues selling food and such. Then I left for the US, saw food trucks again,” Jomai told Daily Tribune.
“When I came home, I wanted to build a truck to have it rented out by my colleagues to help them get back on their feet — two months max each. When we went to the city, they asked us to help the ambulant vendors instead. So off we went to explain the rental to the ambulant vendors. But they couldnt grasp the idea yet. So what we did was we adopted the vendors instead. We came up with Yolk Korean Egg Sandwiches as a case study to show the vendors that they, too, can have their own food truck someday.”
Denise Laurel with JP Arnaiz.
Their first food truck opened at Burnham Park in Baguio serving four staple sandwiches at P95 to P120 only. They have “season Spam, nori sandwich, and avocado toast,” she added.
This “case study” boomed fast, and now they have branches in La Union and San Fernando, which are franchises, and will be opening the brand’s first restaurant in Olongapo as the newest franchise.
“All our stuff is made from scratch. Our son makes our aioli. Our bread is a hybrid of ciabatta-brioche, created by a local baker also affected by the pandemic,” Jomai said.