Keep on trucking? Bellingham burger spot highlights pros, cons of moving inside
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Doug’s Burgers owner Matt King expanded from food truck to storefront in 2024.
- Operating a fixed kitchen streamlined prep, despite rising costs and maintenance.
- Running both models showed food trucks face weather, space, and rental limits.
Owning a restaurant in Bellingham comes with a long list of difficulties, from a lack of foot traffic, to rising costs of goods, or consumers choosing to cook at home. But how does running a food truck compare to running a brick-and-mortar restaurant?
Doug’s Burgers owner Matt King launched his restaurant as a food truck back in October 2023, serving up burgers in downtown Bellingham.
“I worked on a few friends’ trucks in Houston and had a pop-up tent for a while. I was going to have my first truck there but wanted to give Bellingham a late-night option after visiting family. I named it after my dog — if everyone visited as hungry as him I would definitely sell out immediately,” King told The Herald in 2023.
Then in May 2024, King decided to open a brick-and-mortar version of Doug’s Burgers at 2527 Meridian St. in Bellingham, the previous location of El Rey Latino Restaurant and next door to Menace Brewing. King has also kept his food truck running.
How do the two business models compare, specifically in downtown Bellingham?
“We’ve been keeping the lights on, but we’re still relatively new so the influx of new customers may be balancing out the lull in business I have been hearing about,” King told The Herald this month. “Rising prices, luckily, have not hit us that hard since we make most things in house. Insisting on only using high-quality fresh beef has helped a lot. Since we are already paying a premium we have been insulated from the wild fluctuations of frozen and competitively priced beef.”
Since operating both a food truck and a brick-and-mortar location, King has been able to see the pros and cons of both business models.
“With a food truck, you have to find and rent a commercial kitchen space. There are very few, and the rates may surprise people. You also have to find a permitted place to park, and are not immune to things like bad weather or winter,” King said.
“With a restaurant, you have your own kitchen with its own utilities and bills versus renting a commercial kitchen. For me I was happy to migrate into our own space. There are very limited commissary kitchen spaces, and the rates have been steadily rising.
“It’s similar to owning a house versus renting. You have to maintain the equipment but it’s yours. You do not have to wait to use the dishwasher or appliances during peak hours. It’s also nice to multitask — you can prep and do dishes, while on a truck they are separate processes, and it is a lot more time-consuming.”
Recent changes in the cost of goods also have affected King’s approach.
“We have had to raise prices a bit but that is due to recent rising costs of goods. We are transitioning to making more things from scratch like buns to combat this.”
“I have noticed slightly less Canadian visitors but don’t discuss things that may become political at work,” King said. “I’m happy with the minimum wage increases. However, as goods start to get more expensive and rents rise, it’s hard not to think why? Sometimes it’s easy to think we’re all just subsidizing landlords and big box stores, which have also been closing.”
Despite the challenges of running a profitable business, Doug’s Burgers has continued to grow from the small food truck it once was.
“I enjoy the structure we have now, with a central kitchen with a mobile food unit. In a perfect world I would add additional mobile units before I would add an additional restaurant space,” King said.
Doug’s Burgers brick-and-mortar restaurant is open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily at 2527 Meridian St. in Bellingham. The food truck location and schedule changes, and is updated regularly on the restaurant’s Facebook profile.
