The Seedling Truck

The Stacys often use the same ingredients for dishes served by their catering company and food truck, Dan said. He said that buying the ingredients in bulk allows them to keep their costs down, and they can in turn pass on the savings to customers.

A gradual decision

Dan said he and his wife talked for years about opening some kind of food truck or trailer but were in no rush because they felt the Austin market was saturated with mobile food vendors. The couple decided to go ahead with The Seedling Truck after concluding that a mobile food truck serving fresh, local food dishes could be successful, Dan said.

"Trailers have to work very hard to get people to come to them," he said. "With a food truck, we just have to figure out where there are people, and we can go to them."

The Seedling Truck typically sets up in locations with a high amount of foot traffic. For lunch, the truck often goes to office building complexes where employees don't have many food options, Dan said.

The Seedling Truck is in Austin at House Wine, 408 Josephine St., every Saturday night.

The Seedling Truck's Twitter account is continually updated with where the truck will be serving food that day.

A booming industry

Dan credited Austin's mobile food vending boon to local diners not taking themselves too seriously and their desire to sample variety. The East Side Trailer Park and Eatery is one of the best business locations for The Seedling Truck, as many people sample a little bit from The Seedling Truck and the surrounding food trucks, Dan said.

"Most people in Austin are casual when they go out to eat," he said. "That's helped food trucks like ours be successful."

The Seedling Truck, 761-1721, 814-9743, www.theseedlingtruck.com, Twitter: @seedlingtruck, www.facebook.com/TheSeedlingTruck