Food truckers come in different sizes and from all sorts of backgrounds. But the one thing common to all is a passion for food and the spirit of entrepreneurship. Today we will be featuring Jimmy Sanchez, who used to be a race horse jockey for 20 years. He raced from 1976 up to 1996. But now he has replaced the thoroughbred race horses with a food truck powered by 339 more.

Jim and his wife moved east to Warfordsburg, PA because they wanted to be nearer their grand kids and Jim later found out that the area was lacking the kind of Mexican food he knew and grew up on. So he decided to introduce New Mexico food to the east. But Santiago’s New Mexican Foods wasn’t born just yet. Jimmy first needed to source the two most important parts of his business, a food truck and New Mexican green Hatch chiles. It took him more than a year to do this and actually found the food truck faster than finding a good supplier for those Hatch chiles, which are an integral component of his cuisine.

Santiago’s New Mexican Foods makes beef and chicken tacos with a recipe passed on from Jim’s grandmother, who fondly called him Santiago. Coming from a brood of 12, he was taught to cook early in life by his mother and he even enjoyed cooking for his fellow jockeys when he was younger. It was his chef brother though, that helped him when the food truck was starting and taught him how to cook bigger batches of food. The truck also sells a Novajo styled taco that uses Native American fry bread. Jim also does burritos, an ensalada bowl, Huevos Rancheros, frito pies, and a mean sopaipilla.

Since he is located in a tri-state area, he is licensed and gets to operate around South-Central of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia. He even has customers coming from Baltimore and Washington D.C. When he started out the food truck, he did a lot of events but did not make much money out of them because he wasn’t able to properly predict the demand and overstocked on supplies. Now that he has more experience, he will be trying more camp grounds during concerts next year. His tip to newbies in the biz is to operate within your city and to try events within a 50 mile radius.

When talking about his experience with Used Vending and finding the food truck, Jimmy shares “It was very simple. Melissa (Powers) was very easy to work with, very informative, and thorough. When I wasn’t ready to buy yet, she checked in with me every once in a while to know how far along I was and to see how I was doing. She got to know me personally and what I needed in the truck. Then when it came down to buying time, she sent me trucks she knew I wanted. Trust Used Vending. If you tell them exactly what kind of food truck you want, they’ll find exactly what’s out there for you”. Melissa eventually found him a truck that was about a two hour’s drive away.

He also shared that he opted to open a food truck because he likes working by himself and prefers to have total control of the situation around him. He says it is similar to his time as a jockey, when it was just him on top of a horse. “I love racing horses and there is nothing like it in the world. But operating my food truck is the closest thing to that enjoyment that I can get,” shares Jim.

Santiago’s New Mexican Foods is open six days a week, but Jim takes the first Monday of the month off to do bookkeeping, restocking, major cleaning, and maintenance work on the truck. When in operation, he is on a very tough schedule that starts at 4 o’clock in the morning, the truck is open until 5 p.m., then he goes home to clean up and spend some quality time with his wife. He is now a grandfather, but plans to continue operating the truck ‘til he becomes a great-granddad. So that’s maybe another 10 years or so, and Jim will be enjoying every minute of it.

You can always see Jim smiling, engaging with his customers, and showing them that he is having fun in the truck. His favorite question to customers who are undecided on what to get is, “How hungry are you right now?” He even got a little emotional when telling me about how his patrons share their

experiences with his food on social media. “Getting customer feedback like the ones I’ve been hearing is really rewarding. Talk about something touching your heart. That somebody could like your food that much is unbelievable”.

It seems to me that Jimmy was an endurance rider during the day, since he seems to have no plans of slowing down. As cliché as it may seem, but as they say, “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life”.  Visit their website at www.santiagosfoods.com and FB page here.  Or you may reach him at 505-975-0261.

Also catch his interview in Morgan County USA here.

This is for Jimmy. Still racing and still burning, but unlike the song he got the girl.  Best wishes and all the luck from Fatty.