A barbecue on wheels

It’s no sin to get sauce on your chin’. This is the motto of the newly-established ‘The Spitfire BBQ Truck’.  In a short span of time, this mobile eatery has gathered a large fan-following with its massive, meaty burgers and hot dogs.

Siddhanth Sawkar and his gang ‘prowl’ the streets every evening, selling food to innocent and unsuspecting ‘victims’ who can’t help but come back for more. 

Siddhanth says that he started off with a catering business but that didn’t really take off. “I decided that instead of going to people, I would make them come to me.” It took him two months to conceptualise the idea for the barbecue truck and another month to build it.

“The name comes from my old company. It has two meanings: ‘Spitfire’ was a World War II aircraft and I’ve always been fond of it. ‘Spit’ also refers to the barbecue pit.”

The concept revolves around a term he calls ‘dude food’ (which he says is not sexist!). “It’s a term that describes people who have no inhibitions and drop everything to concentrate on the food. Next thing you know, they get engulfed by it and the expression on their face after the first bite is what we look for.”

According to him, the Bangalore Bruhat Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials have been very helpful. However, there have been a few bumps along the way. Twice, the residents of Indiranagar complained and asked them to leave. Other restaurants in the area have also accused them of stealing customers. 

“We try not to bother anyone. So we move when we get a complaint,” says Siddhanth, while pointing out that the road is public property. He informs that he plans to expand his business. “I want to do something fun that people will like. I’m a professionally trained chef; this is more of a passion for me.” 

Interestingly, he doesn’t put up the specials on the menu. He likes to tell people about them when they come in so that they keep coming back for more. If you have any qualms about your health, worry not! Siddhanth says that he either grows all his vegetables on his uncle’s farm or buys them from a local farmers’ market. And the meat is brought in fresh everyday from Ananthapur.

“I wake up at 5.30am and start baking the bread,” he says. While people are used to seeing these trucks parked at street corners in English movies and TV series, these aren’t popular on Indian roads yet. Stationary food trucks can be found in the City but ‘Spitfire’ and Siddhanth are pioneers in this field. Their online presence is growing by the day. 

“The concept is not popular yet. So we want to publicise ourselves only through word-of-mouth and interviews. We want to generate a demand before we do anything else. We don’t have any sponsored posts (on Facebook). We only have the ones through our fan following.”

Their Facebook page ‘The Spitfire BBQ Truck’ has received over a 1,000 ‘Likes’ already and keeps the fans informed of the area that the truck is in. 

People have travelled from all over to get their hands on one of these saucy delights. “We’ve been wanting to try the food for some time now,” says Seema, a foodie as she orders two hot dogs and a BBQ chicken steak burger. 

Shyam and his family, who chanced upon the truck during an evening walk, love the place too. Shyam’s nephew Ritesh says that he prefers the food from the truck over that from a hotel. 

Every night, customers go home with their tummies filled. This mobile eatery showcases a whole new side of the culinary arts and the art of dining. 

‘The Spitfire BBQ Truck’ currently operates in areas like Indiranagar, Kammanahalli and Koramangala. For details, call 9611539310.