LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Some food businesses are operating on street corners in the valley, cooking and serving up fresh food on four wheels. While many food trucks have shut down during the novel coronavirus pandemic, at least 2 trucks are still open for business and stepping up sanitation to keep the community fed.
On most Tuesdays and Saturdays, you can find Brett and Cherish Geiger at the intersection of Warm Springs Road and Tenaya Way in the southwest part of the valley, serving up delicious Detroit-style pizzas out of Izzy's Pizza Bus.
"It's a pan-proof dough. It kinda looks like a deep dish, but I'd say it's like a focaccia-style bread with some cheese toppings on it," said Brett Geiger, one of the owners of Izzy's Pizza Bus.
Before this pandemic, Brett Geiger says their pizza bus business was booming. But, COVID-19 has canceled nearly all of their catering orders and cut their income in half.
"Instead of knowing what I was going to prep for the day, I just make what I would be happy to sell and come out on the street corner, like this, and we just kinda hope for the best and see what happens," said Brett Geiger, describing his new business model during this pandemic.
To keep sales somewhat steady and put potential customers at ease, the Geigers are practicing strict sanitation on board the bus, swapping out gloves in between every order and no longer serving single slices. The Geigers argue their bus is even cleaner than a traditional restaurant.
"It's a lot smaller space to keep clean as well. We don't have as many things inside the bus as a brick and mortar would. So, we only have a few things to wipe down and only a couple hands-on everything. So, it makes it nice and easy," said Brett and Cherish Geiger.
Across the parking lot, the Batistas are serving up bold, Latin-American flavors out of their empanada food truck, YourPanadas. They're practicing some of the same sanitation techniques and literally drawing a blue line in the dirt to enforce social distancing.
"We have transitioned into a curbside, drive-thru. So now, we've set up in a lot like this, people drive up, they don't get out of their cars, they preorder, they get their bag handed to them on our pickup here table, there's no contact," said Jon Batista.
Batista says they've suffered similar losses, but are hoping to bounce back by bringing fresh food to a neighborhood near you.
"We want to let the community know we're here. It's not about a money grab. We're all in this together. We're Vegas Strong. Even though I'm from New York, we're Vegas Strong now," said Batista.
YourPanadas and Izzy's Pizza Bus typically set up shop on the lot at Warm Springs and Tenaya on Tuesdays and Saturdays. But, during the rest of the week, they move locations as food trucks tend to do. To find out where they'll be on a given day, it's best to check their social media pages:
