Trailer Food Diaries

From trailer to restaurant: Food trailers that went brick and mortar

Man Bites Dog brick and mortar
Photo by Lars Frazer
Man Bites Dog trailer
Cutie Pies Pie House, brick and mortar
Cutie Pies Trailer
Hat Creek Burger Co. trailer
Hat Creek Burger Co. brick and mortar

Most trailer food vendors open their doors with hopes of one day growing into a brick and mortar restaurant. For some, that dream has come true.

The Austin street food scene is comprised of various blends of business models. For the most part, carts and trailers have gathered together in pods where they are as permanent a fixture as any restaurant. These vendors might as well take their wheels off, because they don’t move around. Others are truly mobile, driving to and from various locations throughout the city. And of course, there are hybrid models that are a blend of both.

Regardless of their mobile status, trailer food vendors in Austin have at least one thing in common: they like to cook. And most of the vendors would tell you their ultimate goal is to one day open a restaurant. Many of them started their concept on a shoestring budget while still working a full time job based on their belief in their menu. But it takes more than a devilishly good chef to make the leap from trailer to brick and mortar.

Take some of Austin’s favorite trailer vendors for example: Franklin BBQ, Odd Duck Farm to Trailer, and Hey Cupcake all now have legitimate store fronts and indoor seated dining. After building up their clientele over at least one year, these vendors have put the proof in the pudding; their menus were built to last. Franklin is still selling out of food every day they are open, Odd Duck’s chef is receiving noteworthy awards and Hey Cupcake remains a best-selling dessert in Austin.

One of the more recent trailers to have purchased a brick and mortar location is the Flying Carpet. Previously located on South Congress, the Souktourri family moved their green trailer and Moroccan “Souk food” business to a house on 504 West Oltorf. They are remodeling it themselves and anticipate opening the doors this month. Some of the benefits they are expecting: Increased parking, indoor seating, air conditioning and heating and indoor bathrooms. One twist, they will still be cooking out of the trailer but serving inside. There will be a Moroccan tea room inside. Co-owner Maria promises, "no hookahs, no belly dancing, just good food."

Burnet Road seems to be the haven for ex-trailers, with at least five vendors having moved into their permanent restaurants there. Most of these operations opened since last Spring (2011). Fortunately business has been good; no trailer that has opened as a brick and mortar restaurant has closed yet.

Jaynie Buckingham of Cutie Pie Wagon was the first vendor behind Torchy’s to open on Burnet Road in April of this year. When I asked her advice for people making the leap from trailer to brick and mortar she said, “Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it. Do your homework. You need to be ready for it. Running a restaurant is totally different than running a trailer.”

Jaynie said one of her biggest challenges in making the transition has been overhead. “It didn’t take much more than a freezer when I was in the trailer, but the restaurant requires much more budget to run,” the self-proclaimed Pie Queen shares.

Where are they now?

The Flying Carpet: From Soco to 504 W. Oltorf

Cutie Pie Wagon: From Soco to 7329 Burnet Rd.

Man Bites Dog: From South 1^st to 5222 Burnet Rd.

Lucky J’s Chicken & Waffles: kept his trailer locations and opened shop at 5035 Burnet Rd.

Hey Cupcake: kept their trailers and have a storefront at 5530 Burnet Rd.

Hat Creek: has their trailer for events, and locations at 5400 Burnet Rd. & 5902 Bee Caves Rd.

Odd Duck Farm to Trailer: the trailer is still open at this point, and their brick and mortar is called “Barley Swine” located at 2024 S. Lamar

Franklin BBQ: From S. I-35 to 900 E. 11st St.

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Best of BBQ

Austin favorite declared best BBQ joint in Texas by Southern Living

Franklin Barbecue/Instagram

Franklin Barbecue has topped another Texas barbecue list.

Don’t be surprised if the almost ever-present lines grow even longer outside East Austin’s Franklin Barbecue, one of the darlings of the local barbecue scene. Offering yet another culinary accolade, Southern Living has crowned Franklin the best barbecue joint in Texas for 2025.

In all, the magazine singled out one barbecue restaurant in each of 16 states — although Texas had plenty of influence elsewhere, too. Southern Living based its 2025 winners on the results of an online survey of the magazine’s readers.

Here’s Southern Living’s take on Franklin Barbecue:

“In 2009, Aaron Franklin helped launch the craft barbecue movement from a small Aristocrat Lo-Liner camper trailer parked near I-35 in downtown Austin. Flawless prime-grade brisket, tender pork ribs, and snappy jalapeño cheddar sausage — plus a dose of nascent social media — rocketed him to Internet celebrity. Franklin Barbecue moved into its current blue and white building on East 11th Street in 2011, and barbecue fans from around the globe have been lining up for hours to experience it.”

Franklin himself is no stranger to professional kudos. For instance, he won the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Southwest and is a member of the American Royal Barbecue Hall of Fame.

Southern Living spiced up its 2025 barbecue list by mentioning winners in other states that have embraced Texas-style barbecue.

“Texas-style brisket continues to spread across the South, winning over fans from Charleston to Little Rock,” the magazine pointed out.

Here’s a taste of this year’s Texas copycats, as cited by Southern Living:

Wright’s Barbecue, the 2025 winner in Arkansas, “is a noteworthy practitioner of the Texas-inspired craft style that is taking the South by storm, and barbecue fans in Arkansas are eating it up.” Wright’s even serves a combo of meats known as the Texas Trinity: thick-sliced brisket, tender pepper-spiked ribs, and juicy sausage links. The barbecue chain smokes meats for Arkansas customers in Johnson (near Fayetteville), Bentonville, Little Rock, and Rogers.
In Kansas City, where barbecue icon Arthur Bryant’s BBQ grabbed Missouri’s top spot, the barbecue scene “has shifted in recent years thanks to a parade of aspiring pitmasters bringing the styles of Texas and elsewhere to this storied smoked meat capital.” It’s worth pointing out, though, that Arthur Bryant’s hasn’t adopted this Texas trend.
Former Austin pitmaster John Lewis, who grew up in El Paso, opened South Carolina’s top barbecue joint, Lewis Barbecue, in Charleston in 2016. He added a second barbecue joint in Greenville in 2022. As you might have guessed, both restaurants specialize in Texas-style barbecue.

Aside from rating barbecue joints, Southern Living readers identified the South’s 10 best cities and 10 best beach towns for 2025 based on the survey’s findings. Charleston landed at No. 1 on the list of the best cities, and St. Simons Island, Georgia, snagged first place on the list of the best beach towns. No Texas community showed up in either ranking.

“Southern hospitality is more than just a saying — it’s a way of life — and no one knows the best experiences better than the locals. That’s why, year after year, we turn to our readers to share their favorite places that define the South,” said editor in chief at Southern Living Sid Evans in a press release.

barbecue bests southern living lists