MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - On July 30, Joseph Toomey and a handful of his friends sat on benches at Court Square, some of them finishing pulled pork sandwiches from the Central BBQ food truck.
Regulars? Nah. New Yorkers.
They were here for a bachelor party weekend.
"We just got in town about an hour ago," Toomey said. "I didn't want to go to Atlantic City or Vegas, and we all love barbecue, so we came here. We were walking down the street and saw the Central BBQ truck and so here we are."
Talk about luck. Memphians hungry for food-truck fare often find themselves wondering where to find it.
Jessyca Davenport was also in Court Square on July 30. She pointed to an office across Second Street where she works.
"I don't know why I didn't know they were here, but today I had to deliver a file to another lawyer's office and I just saw the trucks and stopped," she said. "Maybe I've never walked out here on a Thursday before."
Court Square is on the short but growing list of places diners can count on to find a gathering of food trucks at one spot. If it's Thursday, 11 a.m.-2 p.m., there will be trucks, maybe three or four, maybe nine or 10, at Court Square.
Mark Goldsmith, who runs the Central BBQ truck, said this is one of three ways trucks operate. Parking in a visible spot, alone or with other trucks, and waiting for customers is the curbside model. The second is parking a truck at a permanent location.
"Think of the taco trucks along Summer," he said. "They're on wheels, but they're de facto restaurants."
And the third, which makes up most of Central's business, is invitation events, when companies or individuals ask a truck to come to a specific event, such as a corporate party or a wedding.
Those are often, though not always, private.
Through September, Dixon Gallery and Gardens hosts Food Truck Friday and invites trucks, but the public is also invited and there's no admission during lunch hours.
On the second Tuesday of the month, Memphis Botanic Garden hosts Food Truck Garden Party. The public is invited to that, a small fee is charged (which includes one drink ticket), there's live entertainment and family activities.
Food trucks are always on hand for events at the Levitt Shell and at local breweries (Memphis Made, High Cotton and Wise Acre).
"I'm seeing more and more people coming around when there are more trucks," said Jacqueline Johnson, who owns Fresh Gulf Shrimp. "But I know it's hard for them to know where we are, so when I come down here (to Court Square), I park in the same place every time. In Nashville, their truck organization tweets out everyone's location, but we're not there yet. I'm confident in time we will be, but I don't think people anticipated this kind of growth."
Mark Hamilton, who owns Mark's Grill, was active in the food truck community from the start, which was 2011 in the city. His term as president of the Memphis Food Truckers Alliance just expired and a new president hasn't been named.
He said there are 130 licensed food trucks in the city, but some go out only for special events and aren't out and about on a daily or near-daily basis. And some come and go quickly.
"TV has glorified the food truck industry," he said. "People think they can just buy a truck for a few thousand dollars and it'll be easy. Well, it's not."
Johnson, who is from Mobile, Alabama, has had her truck for two years.
"I came here to teach, and for a while I sold shrimp from the side of the road, like we do at home," she said. "But an 89-year-old man gave me some good advice, told me to save up and get a truck, and I took it. I quit teaching in 2013 and this is what I do full-time now."
She's a regular at standard spots. She's at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital every Wednesday; and while there are food trucks there daily, the campus is closed to the public.
"I have clients who meet me outside the gate so they can get their shrimp," she said. "They know I'm going to be there."
While there's not a central spot to find where food trucks will be, all active food truckers post where they are through social media, usually Twitter but also on Facebook. You can find their Twitter handles and Facebook addresses by going to memphisfoodtruckers.org.
___
Information from: The Commercial Appeal, http://www.commercialappeal.com