Queen Creek will soon have a new food truck on its streets. Owned and operated by 26-year-old Queen Creek resident, Jack McQuarrie, Queso Sando will hit the streets this month serving all types of signature grilled cheese sandwiches.
McQuarrie picked up his food truck in mid-June and pending health department approval, he plans to have it up and running this month. In the beginning he plans on operating the truck in Queen Creek and the surrounding cities, eventually planning to attend events all over the Valley.
Opening his own food truck has been a long-time dream of McQuarrie’s since he first began working in one many years ago.
“Since I was in high school I've always wanted to have a grilled cheese food truck…that's always kind of what I wanted to do,” McQuarrie said. “I worked at a waffle food truck, a Venezuelan food truck, another sandwich food truck just saving up money to start my own, then I finally got to the place where I could do that.”
While living in Washington, he saved up enough to finally get a truck of his own, then he brought it to the health department where he hit a snag.
“I was at the same exact point in Washington where I had (the truck) built, I took it to the health department and they're like, ‘Yeah, we can't approve it for 12 to 14 months,’ and that was last December…so I was like, well, I don't want to wait that long, so then I moved here,” McQuarrie said.
His interest in a grilled cheese food truck specifically, stems from his childhood meals after school. “I was a latchkey kid, my parents worked, so when I got home from school I always made grilled cheese and then that gets boring, so you start making different kinds and stuff; and then everybody in my family is kind of an entrepreneur too, so I knew that I wanted to work for myself or start a business, so it's just kind of those two things combined,” McQuarrie said.
Queso Sando’s menu items reflect his experimentation as a child. They have the Chester Cheesetoes which features “Sourdough Bread Crusted with Flamin’ Hot Cheetos,” or the Chicken Tendy which has “Breaded Chicken Tenders With Cheese and Sweet Potato Fries Inside Of Grilled Sourdough,” according to his website.
“Probably one of my favorite ones that me and my mom used to make all the time was, taking one piece of bread, cutting a hole in it, cracking an egg in it and then using that as the top piece of the grilled cheese,” McQuarrie said before adding, “The best way to do it is wait till you're really hungry and go to the store and see what you find.”
While a business needs to make money, it first needs a quality product and that product has to come at a fair price, both priorities for Queso Sando.
“I want to have a good product at a good price…I'm going to have a small menu that's always available and then have monthly or however often specials…I want somebody to come and know that they like something, but then they can also try something else and it's not going to be too expensive,”
Upon opening Queso Sando, McQuarrie plans to operate the truck in Queen Creek, Mesa, Chandler and Tempe before eventually expanding further into the Valley for various events such as Spring Training.
“…The hardest part about that is letting people know (your location), because you will get somebody driving by if you have good signage and stuff, but then also if people become loyal followers you have to let them know where you are going to be,” McQuarrie said.
Social media is a big part of that and McQuarrie plans to use the Queso Sando Instagram to inform customers of the daily locations, but there’s more to it than just that.
“You can make videos and post stuff and people see it, but I think the best way is you meet someone because…if you make some type of personal connection by meeting someone, I think that goes further, but it’s important to do both,” McQuarrie said.
While his full attention is on the successful opening of Queso Sando, that doesn’t mean there aren’t still goals for the future. If Queso Sando is as successful as McQuarrie hopes, then he plans on opening more food trucks, each with a different focus.
“Ideally I'd like to start this truck and then have someone manage it for me so I can do other trucks,” McQuarrie said. “I want to do like a trendy coffee truck and I want to do a crepe truck and there are just other kinds of food that I want to do. I don't want to have five grilled cheese trucks I’d rather have five different kinds of trucks.”
But first, he’ll focus on the opening of Queso Sando, which is sure to excite residents around the Valley with its fun and unique grilled cheese sandwiches. For all the latest information on Queso Sando’s upcoming opening and menu, you can check out its website at quesosando.com or its Instagram @QuesoSando.
