Costa Rican entrepreneur finds a niche with a food tuk-tuk

You've heard of food trucks. You've heard of food trailers. But a food tuk-tuk? A tuk-tuk — for those who don't know — is a motorized vehicle commonly used as taxis and personal transportation, often in Asia.

Ryan Billib designed his food tuk tuk through a process of trial and error.

Ryan Billib designed his food tuk-tuk through a process of trial and error. Eight months ago, Ryan Billib of Surfside, Costa Rica was looking for a business opportunity that did not cater to tourism. Billib — a Sarasota, Florida native who moved to Costa Rica 10 years ago for a more laid-back lifestyle — was trying to find the right career for himself.

He tried working as a boat captain for tourists, but he did not like having to find a new way to earn money when tourism season ended. He and some partners tried operating a boating rental business with a sailing school and a restaurant, which led to 15-hour workdays.

Since his wife, Katelyn, is an accomplished baker, he considered opening a bakery. But, that would involve a longer work day than the couple wanted. Catering sounded like a better idea.

A versatile solution

Tuk-tuks are not large enough to carry a lot of food preparation equipment, but with a shelf mounted in the back, they have enough space for a warming tray, a crockpot, steamer and waffle iron.

Billib purchased a tuk-tuk — which is 7 feet, 7 inches-long, 4 feet, 2 inches-wide and 5 feet, 6 inches-tall — for about $5,000 from a local dealer.

He installed the appliances in the vehicle, known as Zaguate Food Tuk. He also installed a 3.5-watt DC inverter to power the appliances. He did not wish to divulge the appliance costs.

"It's a silent, non-fuel use way of generating power to cook," he said of the power inverter.

The build-out took two months since he had to determine which equipment to buy and where to install it through trial and error, with six different mock-ups before arriving at the final design. The vehicle gets 60 miles a gallon of regular gasoline in the city and is small enough to fit into most serving locations.

"The nice thing is we can swap out any appliances we want, on and off that platform, and we can cook pretty much anything that a customer wants. It's extremely versatile," he said.

He sometimes uses a coffeemaker and a panini press. Billib prepares some of the food in a cooperative kitchen near his home in Surfside, but most of the cooking is done on the vehicle. Corn dogs, waffle hot dogs and Italian beef sandwiches are specialties.

Positive customer response

Corn dogs, waffle hot dogs and Italian beef sandwiches are specialties.

"It's been a much bigger hit than we expected," he said. "It's photogenic. People are just drawn to it." 

The business is doing between $500 to $1,500 per event, he said. One of the best-selling products is a waffle hot dog. Other favorites are corn dogs, macaroni and cheese, and Italian beef sandwiches.

"All of that stuff is really easy because you're not using ovens and fryers and grills," he said. "We've really simplified the process so there's really not any variation in cooking needed," he said.

More importantly, the tuk-tuk is not classified as a truck, so it does not have to follow food truck requirements. 

"As a caterer, instead of a food truck, we can sell food on anyone's property who's invited us," he said.

Catering, public events

Weddings, with 90- 250 guests, are a main focus.

"After the big fancy catered dinner, we pull in when everybody's drunk and still partying, and then we serve comfort food from 11:30 p.m. to 1 or 2 a.m.," he said.

He typically has three food items for a wedding. Set-up typically takes 20 minutes.

"One, there's a premium for weddings. Two, we know exactly what we're getting into as far as how many people are going to be there. And three, people prepay for what food they want," he said.

Other catering events he provides include birthday parties and house-warming parties. He also catered a party for a movie premiere. 

Public locations include a couple of farmers' markets near schools and a Sunday bed and breakfast. Farmers markets can have as many as 150 servings, he said. All events are within a two-hour radius of Surfside. Billib uses Facebook and Instagram to promote the business.

In the meantime, he is thinking of expanding to a second tuk-tuk that will be for public events, and a third one that would be stationary. Food tuk tuks exist in China and Italy, he said, but Billib is confident his is the first in Costa Rica.

Pictures courtesy of Zaguat.

For more information check outwww.TukingAround.com or follow on Instagram.