By: Melinda Hambrick
Since December 1st of last year, a day Caroline called the “worst time of the season to open”, Mac’s has been delighting the quad cities with a taste of authentic Chicago street food – namely, the Chicago dog. For those less versed in what sets this sandwich apart, a few standards must be met to qualify as the real deal. First, the frank must be made with Vienna beef and housed in a properly steamed poppy seed bun. Equally important are the toppings: diced onions, sliced tomato, mustard, pickle spear, nuclear green relish, sport peppers, and celery salt. Mac’s also offers Italian beef sandwiches and gyros served with perfectly grilled slices of lamb/beef and scratch-made tzatziki.
The inspiration for these offerings came from a craving for the food Wayne grew up on and his mounting frustration in a successful sales position with a bathroom remodeling firm. “The job had lots of layers, from the sale, scheduling the installation, and then the installation. Inevitably somebody would mess up in that process and I would be the one to get the brunt of [the customer’s] unhappiness. I had no control. It was really a helpless feeling if you’re very customer-centric and you’re selling a vision and a dream and that vision or dream can’t be executed.” Wayne’s commitment to quality found its place on the food truck. He tells customers who hail from Chicago if they aren’t 100% satisfied, he will return their money. So far, he says, “no one has asked for their money back.”
Both Wayne and Caroline worked in food service in their younger years, and Wayne is no stranger to serving crowds. He spent six years in the United States Marine Corps cooking three meals a day for over 9,000 people and can literally say he’s cracked a million eggs, broken down a million pounds of chicken, and peeled over a million pounds of potatoes. It was during active duty in Arlington, VA that Wayne met Caroline during a co-ed softball game. He met her for the second time at a party he threw. Six months later, they were married.
While Wayne deeply appreciates not having to answer to anyone but himself, Caroline’s favorite part of food truck life is working with Wayne. Typically a difficult thing for spouses to do, Caroline and Wayne worked together for sixteen years in the self-storage industry not long after they married. Then, as now, Caroline assumed the public-facing roles while Wayne took care of everything behind the scenes. Though really, that isn’t entirely accurate. Both emphasize how much is involved in operating a successful food truck and how much they rely on each other. Wayne admits he’s very particular about how food looks when it goes out the window and adds that Caroline is much better with the public. When it comes to delegating the many aspects of running a food truck, Wayne takes care of the events and scheduling while Caroline takes care of the shopping, ordering, administrative duties and, she jokes, “french fries and dishes.”
Other aspects of the couple’s past also influence their day-to-day operations. Since opening, Caroline and Wayne have donated their cash tips to the Prescott Community Cupboard (an average of $100/month). “We struggled at ourselves as young people, lived paycheck to paycheck and on food stamps at one time; and in the military, you didn’t make a lot of money. We really feel that giving back is important; nobody should go without food.”
Now approaching retirement age, Wayne finds himself “working harder than [he has] in [his] whole life” and Caroline, three years older, simply laughs at the mention of retirement. Wayne readily admits he had no idea operating a truck would be this difficult but is also quick to assert that he has “absolutely no regrets.” From the unexpected necessary upgrades so the truck can handle winter weather to dealing with poor customer turnout because of the same, both Caroline and Wayne evince pragmatism and humor. As they described one of the major difficulties in operating a mobile food business (battening everything down, making sure nothing is going to fall, making sure the fryer doesn’t have too much oil in it, etc.), Caroline wryly recalls the time Wayne forgot to bungee the refrigerator and so when they next got in the truck, 15 sodas were spraying in all directions. Wayne adds “Lesson learned. We will always bungee the refrigerator now. You just mop it and move on.”
Ultimately, Caroline and Wayne’s goal is to lose the wheels and serve from a permanent location. They plan to continue serving authentic Chicago fare made from scratch whenever possible. Until then, you can usually find them serving lunch from 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. and dinner from 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. at The Yard Gastropark (214 N. Montezuma) Tuesdays – Saturdays. Check their FB page as they regularly do events and truck schedules are heavily dependent on the weather.
